Saints annihilate Bristol in record-breaking PREM clash

MATCH REPORT: George Hendy ran in four tries as PREM leaders Northampton confirmed their place in the play-offs with a 94-33 rout of Bristol.

Saints scored 14 of the 19 tries and recorded the most first-half points scored by any team in PREM history (61) as they put their loss at Leicester emphatically behind them.

Bristol’s semifinal hopes now look in tatters as they fell to a record league defeat and lie four points behind fourth-placed Exeter ahead of their match against Harlequins on Saturday.

A crazy night started with Northampton striking with just over three minutes played, Henry Pollock’s long pass led to Hendy scoring down the left.

Bristol quickly levelled when Harry Thacker squeezed over, but Saints were just as swift in retaking the lead when Rory Hutchinson ran in after his side won possession deep in Bears territory.

The hosts had a third try after 11 minutes when Fin Smith’s pass meant for Tommy Freeman went to ground, but no knock-on meant Callum Chick could kick ahead before grounding the ball.

The Bears were soon back within five points at 19-14 when a swift move involving Harry Randall and Rich Lane led to Louis Rees-Zammit flying in to score down the right.

But their hopes of a turnaround took a big blow when Kalaveti Ravouvou was sin-binned for deliberately knocking on George Furbank’s pass inside his own 22.

Northampton were ruthless in his absence, with Alex Coles securing the bonus point on his return from injury before Archie McParland picked up Freeman’s loose pass to run in his side’s fifth try.

Hendy’s ball inside to set up Furbank made it a half-dozen before half an hour had been played and there was not let-up after Ravouvou’s return as Hutchinson had an easy finish for his second.

Quick passing from Coles and Chick then led to Josh Kemeny running in untouched before Hendy finished the half as he started to make it nine first-half tries for Northampton.

With Joe Batley in the sinbin for Bristol, for a late hit on Smith, there were three more scores in the first six minutes of the second half as Pollock and a second for McParland for Saints sandwiched a Randall effort for the ragged Bears.

Hendy made it a hat-trick by running in the hosts’ 12th try in the 52nd minute, but after Northampton lock Ed Prowse was yellow-carded, Lukas Ivanishvili snuck in for Bristol’s fourth.

The Bears had another consolation when Noah Heward scored under the posts, but after Matias Moroni saw yellow for tripping Pollock, Sam Graham stretched over for Saints before Hendy’s fourth completed the rout.

The scorers:

For Northampton:
Tries: Hendy 4, Hutchinson 2, Chick, Coles, McParland 2, Furbank, Kemeny, Pollock, Graham
Cons: Smith 11, Hutchinson

For Bristol:
Tries: Thacker, Rees-Zammit, Randall, Ivanishvili, Heward
Cons: Jordan, Williams 3

Teams:

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

Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Santiago Grondona, 7 Fitz Harding (c), 6 Joe Owen, 5 Joe Batley, 4 James Dun, 3 George Kloska, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Tomas Gwilliam, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 George Taylor, 20 Luka Ivanishvili, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Matias Moroni, 23 Noah Heward.

Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Sara Cox, John Meredith
TMO: David Rose