Bath 38 - 8 Northampton
Saturday 19 February 2011
Bath Rugby 38-8 Northampton Saints
Northampton Saints slipped to their heaviest defeat of the season as Bath recorded their fourth straight win with a classy performance at the Rec. The home side are now right in the hunt for a play-off place in the Aviva Premiership whilst the Saints continue to slide whilst their top players are away on international duty.
First Half
Both sides started the game openly and were looking dangerous and the Saints thought they had opened the scoring as prop Soane Tonga'uiha crashed over, only for the TMO to rule out the try for a double movement. Bath capitalised on that missed opportunity on 13 minutes and after the visitors were penalised in the scrum, Olly Barkley slotted over the points. Bath 3-0 Northampton
Straight from the restart, Bath were penalised for not rolling away in the tackle but the usually reliable Stephen Myler dragged his kick wide. Once again it was a case of Bath taking the chance that the Saints couldn't to get points on the board. Ben Skirving broke through the visitors' back line and quick ball allowed Michael Klaasens to set up Matt Banahan to go over. Olly Barkley added the conversion. Bath 10-0 Northampton
The away side were fluffing their lines with forward passes and fumbles and their misery was compounded when Greig Tonks was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Bath winger Tom Biggs. With just five minutes left in the first half, the home side could smell blood and Banahan was at the centre of the second try. The winger made a powerful run and made a sweet offload to Matt Carraro to dive over. Barkley again added the two points. Bath 17-0 Northampton
Myler managed to find his range with his kicking enough to slot three points for the Saints after Bath gave away a penalty in the contact but with the last act of a terrible half for Northampton, the fly-half hit the post with another penalty that just dropped the wrong side. At half time, Bath 17-3 Northampton.
Second Half
If the Saints thought they could regroup and start climbing the mountain, it was made a lot steeper on 44 minutes by a fluent Bath move involving Klaasens and Banahan once more. Klaasens drew in the Northampton defence and stepped through with a cute side-step only to feed Banahan to go under the posts for his second score to the delight of a capacity home crowd. Barkley converted simply to make it Bath 24-3 Northampton.
The game slowed down in tempo and incident as substitutions were made, including the introduction of Lewis Moody on his return from injury, but Banahan completed his dream game on 57 minutes with his hat-trick try and also put the match beyond the visitors. Bath had obviously done their homework on the Saints, knowing that they had to move the ball quickly through the backs in order to stand a chance against the powerful visiting pack. The ball was moved from left to right and allowed Banahan to slip through the Saints defence and a Jon Clarke tackle and over the line. Barkley kept up his 100% record with the boot and made it Bath 31-3 Northampton.
The Saints gave the travelling fans something to cheer about as Tonks crashed through a few home tacklers and over the line on 61 minutes. Bruce Reihana fared no better with the boot as he missed the conversion but the Saints did at least have a try and a scrap of positivity to take from the game. Bath 31-8 Northampton
Both teams almost seemed content to take what they had but with just two minutes on the clock, Bath had the last say which would send the sell-out crowd home happy. The Saints knocked the ball on and the home side had the scrum. They came forward with wave after wave of attack and with the Northampton defence in tatters, Sam Vesty went over for a fifth and very deserved try. Barkley finished off the day in style with another conversion and ensured the final score as Bath 38-8 Northampton.
Full Time
Northampton continue to struggle without the likes of Ashton and Foden but Bath's impressive run of form goes on as they climb to sixth in the Aviva Premiership. The Saints face a tough clash at home to Gloucester next Saturday afternoon whilst Bath have a local derby away at Exeter on the same night.
Man of the Match “ Matt Banahan (Bath)
Bath Rugby:
Tries - Banahan (3), Carraro, Vesty
Conversions - Barkley (5)
Penalty Goals - Barkley
Drop Goals: None
Northampton Saints:
Tries - Tonks
Conversions - None
Penalty Goals - Myler
Drop Goals - None
