Augustus helps Saints thrash Newcastle
PREMIERSHIP REPORT: Northampton kept their hopes of a place in the English Premiership play-offs alive with a 66-5 hammering of basement club Newcastle on Friday.
Both Tom Collins and England scrumhalf Alex Mitchell grabbed two tries apiece for visitors Northampton, who scored 10 in total, with Juarno Augustus, Paul Hill, Fin Smith, Sam Graham, Tommy Freeman and David Ribbans all going over as Newcastle suffered their heaviest defeat of the season.
Only the top four at the end of the regular campaign qualify for the title-deciding play-offs and Saints must now wait to see if they are overtaken by London Irish, who have two games in hand.
Newcastle, in complete contrast to the bulk of the match, opened the scoring when wing Adam Radwan went in for a try at the corner after just four minutes.
But the Saints hit back when Mitchell sidestepped his way through a tackle for a try to leave Smith with a simple chance for the first of his eight conversions.
From then on it was one-way traffic with Collins, showing good speed and awareness, scoring two tries before the break.
And when Augustus went over on the stroke of half-time it meant Saints had a valuable bonus-point try, with Smith’s fourth conversion of the opening 40 minutes giving Northampton a 28-5 lead at the interval.
The scorers:
For Newcastle:
Try: Radwan
For Northampton:
Tries: Mitchell 2, Collins 2, Augustus, Hill, Smith, Graham, Freeman, Ribbans
Cons: Smith 8
Newcastle: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Matias Orlando, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Michael Young (captain), 8 Callum Chick, 7 Freddie Lockwood, 6 Pedro Rubiolo, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Mark Tampin, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Logovi’i Mulipola.
Replacements: 16 Conrad Cade, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 Conor Kenny, 19 Philip van der Walt, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Tom Penny, 23 Alex Tait.
Northampton: 15 George Furbank, 14 Tom Collins, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tommy Freeman, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Lewis Ludlam (captain), 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Alex Moon, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Sam Matavesi, 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Alfie Petch, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Sam Graham, 22 Tom James, 23 Tom Litchfield.
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce, Adam Leal
TMO: Stuart Terheege
