Winning return for Saints
by Joseph Caron Dawe, 07 September 2008
Northampton’s return to the Guinness Premiership was marked with a win on Sunday afternoon when Jim Mallinder’s side beat Worcester 21-13 at Franklin’s Gardens.
The Saints were 6-3 down at half time after Matthew Jones had outscored Bruce Reihana by two penalties to one, but a second-period surge saw the hosts seal victory.
Reihana added another penalty before Dylan Hartley and Jon Clarke crossed to give Saints an 1806 lead.
Aleki Lutui scored a converted try for Warriors to close the gap with seven minutes remaining, but any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Reihana tucked away his third penalty of the afternoon.
Bath triumphed over Bristol in the West Country derby at the Memorial Stadium as Steve Meehan’s men won out 33-20, thanks in large part to the accuracy of returning fly-half Butch James’ boot.
James was welcomed back into the fold on Tuesday after his Tri-Nations duties with South Africa and chalked up an impressive 18 points.
Andre Blowers crossed for Bristol to get the scoring underway before Joe Maddock scored a long-range try, and Matt Banahan’s incursion inside off the left wing allowed Tom Cheeseman to get the ball over in the corner, both efforts which James converted.
David Lemi scored a magnificent try just before half time as he picked the ball up inside his own 22, and ran the length of the pitch – chipping and gathering towards the end – to dot down a fine individual effort.
However, Jonny Faamatuaina scored a third try for Bath as they sealed a convincing win.
Sale did what they had failed to do in 16 attempts and won away at Newcastle in the league as Mathew Tait’s return to Kingston Park was a happy one, with the Sharks winning 14-9.
Charlie Hodgson took advantage of some poor tackling to score the only try of the game and despite Rory Clegg’s efforts with his boot Newcastle were unable to overcome their opponents. A penalty from Hodgson and two from Luke McAlister completed the scoring.
And in the late kick off Toby Flood’s competitive debut for Leicester ended in glory as he scored the final try in a 20-8 win over Gloucester at Kingsholm.
The summer acquisition from Newcastle – playing at fly-half in his first Tigers game – missed his first penalty attempt but sent two over before Olly Morgan opened the scoring for the hosts with a try.
Ryan Lamb added a penalty for Dean Ryan’s team as they took a slender lead into the break, but Geordan Murphy gave Heyneke Meyer’s side the lead in the South African’s first competitive game at the helm with a converted try.
Flood then intercepted a wayward pass to run in and cross, converting his own effort.