Gloucester Rugby 27-15 Northampton Saints
Gloucester cemented 3rd place in the Aviva Premiership with a 27-15 home win over Northampton Saints at Kingsholm on Tuesday night.
The game started in beautiful conditions at Kingsholm in front of a capacity and very vociferous home crowd. With Northampton playing what was essentially a second string side, many people expected them to struggle early on but in the 10th minute, the visitors took the lead. A fine flowing move led to Alex Waller scoring his first try on his Aviva Premiership debut but only after the TMO had checked the score was legal. Shane Geraghty hit the post with his attempted conversion but Northampton had made a great start. Gloucester 0-5 Northampton
Gloucester hit straight back though on 14 minutes through a try from Tim Molenaar. The home lineout came to fly-half Nicky Robinson and he sent a fizzing ball across to Molenaar who jinked through a gap in the Saints defence to go under the posts. Freddie Burns converted simply to put Gloucester ahead for the first time. Gloucester 7-5 Northampton
Tackles were flying in at Kingsholm from both sets of players as the game stepped up another level. That step up in pressure forced Geraghty to knock-on in his own territory and from the resulting scrum, the Gloucester forwards forced a penalty. Full back Burns slotted the ball through the posts and the home side moved further clear. Gloucester 10-5 Northampton. In a game that was going back and forth, Northampton closed the gap on 25 minutes. Gloucester were guilty of standing up in the scrum and Geraghty knocked over a penalty from in front of the posts. Gloucester 10-8 Northampton
Gloucester were straight back on the offensive though and were straight over the try line once again. Quick ball for the home team allowed Charlie Sharples to chase a kick through and dot the ball down. The TMO checked the score over once more and gave the try with Burns converting for a second time. Gloucester 17-8 Northampton
The hosts were putting an increasing amount of pressure on Northampton but the visitors were defending well. However, just thirty seconds before half-time, Northampton gave away a penalty after Tom Wood went in at the side. Surprisingly though, Burns missed a fairly simple kick and the score remained 17-8 to Gloucester at half-time.
Northampton were under huge pressure at the start of the second half and gave away a penalty on 58 minutes after not rolling away in the tackle. This time Burns didn't miss and Gloucester moved 12 points clear of their visitors. Gloucester 20-8 Northampton. That pressure never relented and on 53 minutes, Gloucester all but killed the game off. A huge maul came from the home lineout and Olivier Azam powered over for the hosts third try of the evening. Burns converted again to give the hosts a commanding lead. Gloucester 27-8 Northampton
Northampton made heavyweight changes just before the hour as Soane Tonga'uiha, Brian Mujati and Dylan Hartley entered the fray. The replacement front row made a positive impact but couldn't quite find a try as the TMO adjudged that Hartley had dropped the ball as he went over the line on 69 minutes.
The Saints weren't to be denied though as from a scrappy scrum, the ball flew off a visiting boot and Lee Dickson reacted quickest to score. Geraghty kicked well to add the extras and Northampton had their second try of the night and put themselves back in sight of a bonus point. Gloucester 27-15 Northampton
However, despite a vast amount of pressure from Northampton which saw them camped on the Gloucester line, they could not find the try which would give them the bonus point they craved. The full time whistle blew and Gloucester had the victory they richly deserved.
Thoughts: Gloucester hold onto 3rd place and stretch the gap between themselves and Northampton to five points. The home side now move to within five points of Saracens, who they play on Sunday afternoon in what is sure to be a cracking game. Northampton will be disappointed that despite a superb last 15 minutes, they couldn't come away with a bonus point and now face a massive away game on Saturday at London Irish, the team challenging them for a play-off spot.
Gloucester:
Tries: Molenaar, Sharples, Azam
Conversions: Burns (3)
Penalties: Burns (2)
Drop-goals:
Northampton:
Tries: Waller, Dickson
Conversions: Geraghty
Penalties: Geraghty
Drop-goals:
