Northampton Saints earned their second victory of the Aviva Premiership rugby season by beating Gloucester 15-3 at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday evening.
There were no tries in the match which was decided by penalty kicks – five from Stephen Myler for Northampton Saints and one from Gloucester’s Billy Twelvetrees.
Both teams have now played five matches and won two in the Premiership this season.
On a grim, wet night in Northampton, the hosts opened the scoring through Stephen Myler, who went on to kick all their points.
Saints came into this one on the back of a two game losing streak at Franklin’s Gardens, and a third would have been the first time the feat had happened since 2011.
Saints’ kicker had more opportunities inside the first 20 to fully find his range, and was in fine form from the off. His second penalty came when John Afoa was pinged by the referee, in a spell where Saints really took a hold of the game.
And six turned into nine with Northampton searching for a first try. Instead they had to make do with Myler’s third three pointer.
Billy Twelvetrees cut that lead back down though, as Gloucester’s skipper sent through a perfectly weighted kick from out wide.
And it looked as if more points were on their way as Saints’ found themselves temporarily reduced to 14. Tom Wood was issued with the yellow following a promising drive from a line-out by the Cherry and Whites, with the hosts a man down for the remainder of the half.
But in the time Wood was off, Saints didn’t concede. Saying that, they didn’t score either, as the second-half was played in the same manner of the first.
Another constant was Saints defence, as they kept a shut out in the second 40.
A theme of penalties for the hosts was another repetitive nature of the game, and that let Myler go through more target practice. 25 minutes after the break, he added three to a growing personal tally.
And he finished the scoring, taking his night to 15 points, sending through another perfectly angled penalty to put a 12 point gap between the sides and seal the victory.
The result moves Northampton up from 10th place to fifth place in the Aviva Premiership standings while Gloucester drop to 10th place.
Final Score Northampton Saints 15 (9) Gloucester 3 (3)
Scorers
Northampton Saints
Tries –
Pen – Myler 5
Con –
Drop –
Gloucester
Tries –
Pen – Twelvetrees
Con –
Drop –
Match Officials
Referee :Greg Garner (86th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Paul Dix and Ashley Rowden
TMO: David Sainsbury.
Teams
Northampton Saints
15 Ben Foden, 14 Ahsee Tuala, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i,8 Sam Dickinson, 7 Tom Wood (c), 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Christian Day, 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Matti Williams, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Victor Matfield, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 Jj Hanrahan, 23 Ken Pisi.
Northampton Saints
15 Rob Cook, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Bill Meakes, 12 James Hook, 11 Jonny May, 10 Billy Twelvetrees (c), 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 4 Tom Savage, 3 John Afoa, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paddy McAllister.
Replacements: 17 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Paul Doran-Jones, 19 Mariano Galarza, 20 Sione Kalamafoni, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Henry Purdy, 23 Jacob Rowan
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