SA lock gets two yellows as Northampton go top of English Prem

FRIDAY WRAP: Northampton went top of the English Prem with a hard-fought bonus-point 36-19 victory over rock-bottom Newcastle Red Bulls on Friday as Bristol downed Gloucester in a 12-try thriller.

Last year’s beaten Champions Cup finalists, Saints were off to a fast start at Kingston Park with two tries in the opening 10 minutes through lock JJ van der Mescht and scrumhalf Alex Mitchell.

Oli Spencer and Japan international Amanaki Mafi hit back for Newcastle either side of South African Van der Mescht’s yellow card but wing Tommy Freeman’s try gave Saints a 21-12 half-time lead.

Van der Mescht was shown a second yellow card early in the second half, earning a 20-minute sin-binning, with South African Stefan Coetzee striking back for Newcastle.

But Italian wing Edoardo Todaro then crossed for the visitors and any hopes of a late Newcastle comeback were ended when flyhalf Fin Smith kicked a penalty before lock Alex Coles touched down.

Northampton have now won their last three straight league games to move top of the fledgling table, ahead of champions Bath’s trip to Leicester on Saturday, while Newcastle remain winless at the bottom.

At Gloucester’s Kingsholm Stadium, Bristol ran in seven tries to earn an attacking bonus point in a 49-34 victory that moved them up to third, ahead of the rest of the weekend’s matches.

Gabriel Oghre scored two tries while Fitz Harding, Viliame Mata and Sam Worsley also crossed the whitewash for Bristol, who led by just a single point with 10 minutes to play before a Kalaveti Ravouvou brace finally ended the Cherry and Whites’ resistence.

Worsley added seven conversions for a 19-point haul.

Gloucester conjured five tries of their own – Matias Alemanno, Seb Blake, Josiah Edwards-Giraud, Will Joseph and James Venter crossing – with Ross Byrne kicking three conversions and a penalty.

But it was a fourth straight defeat to start the season for George Skivington’s team.

Tries from flyhalf Worsley, hooker Oghre and back row Harding had seen Bristol race into a 21-10 lead but hooker Blake and wing Edwards-Giraud scored in the last five minutes of the half, adding to Argentine lock Alemanno’s earlier effort, to close the gap to one point at the break.

Oghre and Fijian loose forward Mata twice extended Bristol’s lead, only for tries from centre Joseph and South African flank Venter to each time close the gap back to a single point.

But there was no coming back for Gloucester after Fijian centre Ravouvou’s late brace.

See below for Friday’s scores and scorers!

Newcastle 19-36 Northampton

The scorers:

For Newcastle:
Tries: Spencer, Mafi, Coetzee
Cons: Connon 2

For Northampton:
Tries: Van der Mescht, Mitchell, Freeman, Todaro, Coles
Cons: F Smith 4
Pen: F Smith

Teams:

Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Boeta Chamberlain, 14 Oli Spencer, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Max Clark, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Tom Gordon, 6 Fergus Lee-Warner, 5 Freddie Clarke, 4 Jamie Hodgson, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 George McGuigan (captain), 1 Adam Brocklebank.
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Murray McCallum, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Oscar Usher, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 James Elliott, 22 Rhys Beeckmans, 23 Stefan Coetzee.

Northampton Saints: 15 Tommy Freeman, 14 Edoardo Todaro, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Tom Litchfield, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Sam Graham, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 JJ van der Mescht, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Robbie Smith, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Luke Green, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Ed Prowse, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Archie McParland, 23 Anthony Belleau.

Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, James Clarke
TMO: Peter Allan

Gloucester 34-49 Bristol

The scorers:

For Gloucester:
Tries: Alemanno, Blake, Edwards-Giraud, Joseph, Venter
Cons: Byrne 3
Pen: Byrne

For Bristol:
Tries: Worsley, Oghre 2, Harding, Mata, Ravouvou 2
Cons: Worsley 7

Teams:

Gloucester: 15 Charlie Atkinson, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Max Llewellyn, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Caolan Englefield, 8 Hugh Bokenham, 7 James Venter (captain), 6 Josh Basham, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Thomas, 3 Afo Fasogbon, 2 Seb Blake, 1 Ciaran Knight.
Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Archie McArthur, 18 Kirill Gotovtsev, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 Jack Mann, 21 Harry Taylor, 22 Mikey Austin, 23 Josiah Edwards-Giraud.

Bristol Bears: 15 Benjamin Elizalde, 14 Max Pepper, 13 Matías Moroni, 12 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 10 Sam Worsley, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Fitz Harding (c), 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Joe Batley, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 3 George Kloska, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Jake Woolmore.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Sam Grahamslaw, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 James Dun, 20 Joe Owen, 21 Benjamin Grondona, 22 Oscar Lennon, 23 Toby Fricker.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant referees: Sara Cox, Neil Chivers
TMO: Dan Jones