Northampton grind out victory over Exeter Chiefs

Northampton Saints recovered from last week’s loss to London Irish by grinding out an 8-3 victory over Exeter Chiefs in the Aviva Premiership at Franklins Gardens.

Saints were beaten on Boxing Day by the previously winless London Irish but they turned it around and are back to winning ways.

The result gets Northampton’s title bid back on track and was achieved in front of a record 15,430 Franklin’s Gardens strong crowd.

Saints hooker Mike Haywood scored the game’s only try after 17 minutes before the encounter turned sloppy as rain lashed down in the second half.

JJ Hanrahan added a first-half penalty to put the hosts in command.

Gareth Steenson scored three points for Exeter seven minutes from full-time, but they never threatened to complete the comeback as Northampton climbed up to fifth in the table.

Final Score Northampton Saints 8 (8) Exeter Chiefs 3 (0)

Scorers

Northampton Saints
Tries – Haywood
Pen – Hanrahan
Con –
Drop –

Exeter Chiefs
Tries –
Pen – Steenson
Con –
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee : JP Doyle (102nd Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys & Gareth Copsey.
TMO: Stuart Terheege.

Teams

Northampton

15 Ben Foden (c), 14 Tom Collins, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Sam Dickinson, 7 Teimana Harrison, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Christian Day, 20 Michael Paterson, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Harry Mallinder.

Exeter

15 Phil Dollman, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Tom Johnson, 6 Don Armand, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Ben Moon.

Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Moray Low, 19 Ollie Atkins, 20 Ben White, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Will Hooley, 23 James Short.