Match Report: Saints 47-21 Sale Sharks

A brace from George Hendy helped Saints on their way to a convincing bonus-point victory at home to Sale Sharks in Round 7 of the Gallagher PREM.

The men in Black, Green and Gold returned to PREM action off a perfect start to their Investec Champions Cup campaign and carried the momentum back into the domestic competition with the bonus point secured before half-time courtesy of Hendy’s first as well as tries from Henry Pollcok, Toby Thame and Josh Kemeny.

Sale showed more fight in the second half, but it was to be Saints’ day with Hendy finishing his second as well as more tries from George Furbank and Tom Pearson to put the angel on top of the festive fixture tree.

First half

Saints opened the scoring courtesy of a Pollock Christmas special as Hendy went through the gap and got the pass out to the No.8, who put on the afterburners and finished under the sticks before the five-minute mark.

The men in Black, Green and Gold were on the front foot from the off, and Hendy got Saints’ second in quick succession, picking up an offload and finding open space which he hit at speed and crossed the whitewash for his fifth try in three matches for Saints.

Shoe Army was ringing round, proud and loud, the cinch Stadium faithful invigorating the men in Black, Green and Gold as they were dominating every area of the contest against the Sharks, and it was full free-flowing Saints ball in hand with slick handling finished by Toby Thame for his first PREM try.

Sharks finally got on the board after a dominant first quarter from Saints, with a diving finish by Tom O’Flaherty in the far corner, but the bonus point score for Saints was one of pure magic, with some sumptuous stepping and agility from Kemeny to beat multiple defenders and go over an individual try of the season contender to go in with a 19-point lead at the break.

Second half

Saints’ opening try of the second half was almost as wonderful as their previous. Almost. With a penalty advantage inside their own half, Fin Smith managed to cut his way through the defence and find Hendy on the wing, who had work to do but managed to find himself over for his brace. 

The visitors had their second courtesy of a small bit over of Saints overplaying their hand from inside their own half, as a pass was whipped out wide from inside their own 22 and intercepted by O’Flaherty, who walked it in. 

Northampton were sent down to 14 men shortly after for ten minutes following a yellow card to Thame for a high shot, and Sale immediately capitalised on the advantage with Arron Reed diving over in the far corner.

Despite the fight back from Sale, the Saints’ DNA was still flowing through the side with wonderful offloading and support play across the park; it was captain Furbank who crashed over the final defender, and the Fin Smith conversion took the points tally to 40.

The final 15 were a tight affair with both sides aware of the importance of the result, but it was Saints who would have the final say with Tom Pearson striding over following a beautifully timed tip pass on from Callum Chick. 

Line-Ups

Saints:

15 George Furbank (c), 14 George Hendy, 13 Toby Thame, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Edoardo Todaro, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Craig Wright, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Alex Coles, 5 JJ Van Der Mescht, 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Henry Pollock.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Cleopas Kundiona, 19 Chunya Munga, 20 Callum Chick, 21 Tom James, 22 Tommy Freeman, 23 Ollie Sleightholme

Sale: 

15 Arron Reed, 14 Tom O’Flaherty, 13 Joe Bedlow, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Alex Wills, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Raffi Quirke; 1 Si McIntyre, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 WillGriff John, 4 Tom Burrow, 5 Ben Bamber, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 7 Ernst van Rhyn (c), 8 Tom Curry.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Jibulu, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 James Harper, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Dan du Preez, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Ollie Davies, 23 Tristan Woodman