Northampton Stun Bath with Dominant Performance

The champions have been mugged at home by the team they deposed. Well, not quite the team.Northampton rung the changes for this match, but the understudies proved the stars of the show to terrorise their hosts. Six tries, a hat-trick for tommy Freeman and the lead, no less, of the Prem for good measure.

The bookies gave northampton a 20-point head start for this one. In the end it was Bath who needed it. Bath were at full strength, the Saints some way short of it, but this will surely prove one of the performances of the season.

“I’m lost for words,” Freeman said.”There’s been a lot of rotation and a lot of people wrote us off, but we just wanted to leave nothing out there and take every opportunity.”

If only they had been allowed to. Northampton were unlucky not to have won by more,after three tries were ruled out,a couple of them very harshly.

Both sides had changed 10 players from their pleasant wins last weekend, but Bath had strengthened their side, while Northampton left a host of first-teamers at home. The Saints are the sort of club whose backup players thrive in this habitat. Hard, flexible and above all smart, they seemed to relish their underdog status.

the scores were level at the break,but that was something of a travesty,what with those disallowed tries. Freeman, making his first Prem start since October, was selected at outside centre and scored the first try in only the third minute, picking a superb line off an attacking lineout to stroll over in style. Which was when the officials turned nasty.

Williams shines in defeat as Saracens end losing streak

Mark McCall hailed Tomos Williams as a “great, great player” after the Wales international underlined the quality that Saracens can expect by shining for Gloucester in a 30-21 Prem defeat against McCall’s team at Kingsholm. the 30-year-old British & Irish Lion created two of Gloucester’s three tries and was a constant threat in a first appearance since Saracens announced their high-profile signing on Christmas Day.

“He is a great, great player,” the Saracens rugby director said of Williams (pictured laying the ball off for Arthur Clark’s try). “He didn’t really have the best platform today, but everyone can see his quality every time he attacks.”

Saracens ended a run of three-successive league defeats by seeing off Gloucester in bonus-point fashion. The flanker Theo McFarland inspired a first Prem win since mid-October by scoring two of his team’s four tries, while the hooker theo Dan and the scrum-half Ivan van Zyl also crossed, with the fly-half Owen Farrell kicking two penalties and two conversions.

McCall said: “it was one of our better 80-minute performances. Today

Gloucester’s rugby director, George Skivington, said: “We are creating some pressure and some good line-breaks and then just not finishing them off. That is a sign of not quite connecting – we have not quite got the experience at the moment to get across the line.”

“On the flipside, the boys stayed in the fight the whole game. They were desperate to try and get a losing bonus point at the end and never threw the towel in.”

To compound Gloucester’s frustration,they lost wing Ben Loader – a pre-season signing from the South african side the Stormers – after 15 minutes of his comeback game following injury. They ultimately slipped to a seventh loss from eight Prem games this season.

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Photograph: Dan Istitene/Getty Images Europe

Bath 21-41 Northampton: Saints overpower Bath to reach Premiership final

Northampton Saints emphatically ended Bath’s 18-match unbeaten run with a dominant 41-21 victory at the Recreation Ground, securing their place in the Premiership final. The Saints’ forwards proved too physical for Bath, and their clinical finishing ensured they controlled the game from start to finish.

Bath’s early dominance, built on a strong set-piece and the dynamic running of their backs, quickly evaporated as Northampton’s relentless pressure began to tell. The visitors’ defense stifled Bath’s attacking threats, and their own attack proved incisive and potent.

Northampton’s tries came from a variety of sources,showcasing their attacking versatility. Their forwards crashed over for close-range scores, while their backs exploited gaps in Bath’s defence with slick passing and clever running lines.The Saints’ half-backs, Belleau and McParland, orchestrated the attack with composure and precision.

Bath struggled to find any rhythm in the second half, their attacks repeatedly repelled by Northampton’s resolute defence.Frustration mounted, leading to errors and penalties, which Northampton ruthlessly exploited. A late sin-binning for bath’s Frost compounded their woes.

Du Toit scored two tries for Bath, and Dunn added another, but these were mere consolations. Russell added three conversions, but they couldn’t prevent a complete defeat. Northampton’s victory was a testament to their physicality, discipline, and clinical finishing.

the pattern continued into the second half. Bath scored a third try – Du Toit again, from a tapped penalty again – and Northampton had a third disallowed. Hutchinson’s try was awarded initially. This time the TMO rightly drew attention to the fact Hutchinson was inches short.