Saints Force Aussies into submission
Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:40
The Western Force has suffered its second United Kingdom tour defeat, after a 3-22 loss to Northampton Saints at Franklin Gardens last Saturday.
Chris Ashton scored a pair of tries for the home side while their dominant scrum paved the way for the 19-point victory after the two sides were locked at 3-all at the half-time interval.
The Western Australia (WA) side tested the Saints defence in a torrid opening stanza and after several attacking raids, Scott Daruda kicked off the scoring with a penalty goal in the eighth minute.
The impotus was with the visitors in the first half, with Matt Hodgson and Haig Sare heavily involved, however they failed to convert their dominance into points, hitting the change rooms with just three points to their credit.
Former All Blacks gun Carlos Spencer was in ominous touch for the Saints, while the physicality of the match was the standout feature of the first half with some solid hits rousing the crowd of 7,263 at Franklin's Gardens.
The Western Force spoiled a golden opportunity to break the stalemate less than a minute into the second half when prop Gareth Hardy knocked on while attempting to intercept with the line at his mercy.
For all the running of both sides however it was some good old-fashioned forward play that created the next chance.
The Saints scrummaging had gained intensity throughout the match and as the hour approached the Force pack had begun to crumble.
Referee Chris White's patience was running out too, firstly with flank Matt Hodgson, who he sent to the sin bin on 58 mintues, and then the pack as a whole as a penalty try was awarded in the 60th minute.
Saints added the simple conversion and took a seven point lead lead, a margin maintained when Daruda scuffed a penalty shot three minutes later.
The subsequent flurry of replacements did not disrupt the game's flow as much as the August heat, and with 10 minutes to go both sides were showing the effects.
Dane Haylett-Petty and Josh Tatupu constantly threatened on the left edge and Chris O'Young continued his impressive tour campaign, sniping around the fringes.
The home side kicked on however and as injury time approached, Ashton scored the first of his two late tries from a scrum win close to the visitors' try-line.
With the game all but sealed, Ashton added a final flourish with his second try, a score he also set up by stripping a Force runner of the ball inside his own half.
The next match for the Western Force will also be their final of the tour, against last year's Premiership finalists Leicester Tigers next Saturday.
A match against the Northampton Academy squad, scheduled for Thursday morning has been cancelled due to the WA side's injury situation.
Four players have been forced home from the tour to date, including Scott Staniforth (knee), Sam Wykes (shoulder), James Dougall (hand) and Caleb Brown (hamstring).
Scorers:
For Northampton Saints:
Tries: Ashton 2, Penalty Try
Cons: Reihana 2
Pen: Reihana
For Western Force:
Pen: Daruda
Teams:
Northampton Saints:
Backs: Joe Ansbro, Chris Ashton, Jon Clarke, Lee Dickson, Barry Everitt, Ben Foden, Sean Lamont, Nils Mordt, Bruce Reihana (captain), Carlos Spencer.
Forwards: Neil Best, Christian Day, Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, Joe Gray, Scott Gray, Dylan Hartley, Ben Lewitt, Euan Murray, Alex Rae, Tom Smith, Soane Tonga'uiha, Roger Wilson.
Western Force: Haylett-Petty, Tatupu, Pelesasa, Daruda, Sare, J O'Connor, Berryman, O'Young, Hardy, McIsaac, Holmes, Whalley, Takiari, Murphy, Tia Tia, P O'Connor, Hodgson, Pocock (captain), Horua, Manu.
Referee: Chris White
