Match Centre: Northampton Saints 40-19 Bath Rugby

Northampton Saints 40-19 Bath Rugby, Cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens

Juarno Augustus and Courtnall Skosan scored doubles as Northampton Saints went on to beat Bath Rugby 40-19 in the 10th round of the Gallagher Premiership at Cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday.

This is sixth win for the Saints as they are positioned third in the Gallagher Premiership table with 30 points while Bath now have lost all their nine games.

It took Northampton just one minute to start the proceedings as Rory Hutchinson exchanged offloads with Tommy Freeman to crossover and Dan Biggar kicked the conversion to make it 7-0.

By the 11th minute, it was Freeman's turn to get his name in the scoring sheet as he went over riding on a perfect offload from Courtnall Skosan. Biggar was spot on with the conversion once again as the home side raced to a 14-0 lead.

Just as the first quarter was about to end, Bath Rugby made a response with Sam Underhill dotting down at the back of a line out maul but Danny Cipriani's conversion went wide.

Nevertheless, the Saints looked dominant among the two teams as in the 23rd minute Fraser Dingwall was hauled down just before the line, but got the offload away for Juarno Augustus to score and a conversion from Biggar made it 21-5.

Around the half-hour mark, Bath Rugby were down to 14 players temporarily with Mike Williams sin-binned for a high tackle on Biggar and with the numerical advantage on their side, a swift line out move saw Augustus complete his second in the 35th minute.

The Welsh fly-half also improved making it 28-5 before Bath managed to reduce arrears leading into the break as Lewis Boyce crossed over after a fine break and Tom De Glanville kicked the conversion to ensure the opening half ended with a 28-12 scoreline.

With Northampton losing Sam Matavesi to yellow card early in the second half, Will Stuart dotted down for the visitors and de Glanville kicked the extras as the gap between the two sides came down to nine points.

Nevertheless, the Saints once again seized the control with Lewis Ludlam allowing Skosan to dive over and in the 69th minute Furbank created a perfect cross-field kick for the South African wing to touchdown for the second time in the game to complete a 40-19 victory.

Team line up:

Northampton: Furbank; Freeman, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Skosan; Biggar, Mitchell; Waller, Matavesi, Painter, Ribbans, Moon, Wilkins, Ludlam, Augustus.

Reserves: Fish, Auterac, Hill, Ratuniyarawa, Coles, James, Litchfield, Sleightholme.

Bath: De Glanville; Rokoduguni, Butt, Ojomoh, Muir; Cipriani, Spencer; Boyce, Dunn, Stuart, Williams, Ewels, Ellis, Underhill, Bayliss.

Reserves: Du Toit, Vaughan, Rae, Merigan, De Carpentier, Richards, Fox, Hamer-Webb.