Northampton Saints edge out Wasps 31-35 despite Collins red-card

Wasps 31-35 Northampton Saints, Ricoh Arena
Scorecard

Northampton Saints overcame a Tom Collins' red-card as they edged out Wasps 31-35 in their Gallagher Premiership encounter at Ricoh Arena on Sunday.

The Saints continued to remain at second with 28 points in the table behind Exeter Chiefs while Wasps are at ninth place with 13 points.

The opening points in the game came in the 16th minute when Cobus Reinach grabbed a pass from Dan Biggar to dot down and the fly-half also slotted the extras to make it 0-7 but Wasps seized the lead back with a touchdown from Macus Watson with Jacob Umaga kicking a conversion and a penalty on either side.

The first half ended with a 10-14 lead for the visitors with Teimana Harrison crossing the whitewash in the 35th minute and Biggar followed with the conversion.

The Saints went on to achieve the bonus point with Wood and Reinach scoring tries after the break while Dan Biggar kicked both the conversions but their efforts were cancelled with Wasps' Jimmy Gopperth and Matteo Minozzi crossing the whitewash.

However, Northampton suffered a huge setback when Collins was red-carded after colliding with Jacob Umaga in the 65th minute and five minutes later Reinach was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on that also resulted in a penalty try for the hosts making it 31-28 before Naiyaravoro's try in the 77th minute sealed a thrilling win for the Saints.