Northampton had forgotten to score tries and London Irish could not remember what it took to win a Premiership match. Something had to give, but when the Exiles were reduced to 14 men with 16 minutes to go having just lost the lead they had held since the opening minutes, another defeat beckoned – but a late penalty try secured their first points of the season and took them off the bottom of the table.
Dylan Hartley led out Northampton on his first appearance for seven weeks after recovering from concussion. During his absence, he was feted as England’s captain-in-waiting as the national side seeks a more abrasive edge under Eddie Jones, and he was called on to make a decision in the opening minutes.
When Northampton were awarded a penalty on London Irish’s 22, Stephen Myler took the ball and prepared to kick for touch but Hartley, probably mindful that the Saints were the lowest try scorers in the Premiership and had only scored one in their previous five league and European matches, and that a Luther Burrell interception, ordered him to go for goal.
Myler duly missed in the swirling wind and when Irish were awarded a kickable penalty shortly afterwards, they opted for a lineout and the flanker Luke Narraway was driven over the line for the game’s opening try. Hartley did turn down the opportunity of three points near the end of the opening half and, although a driving lineout was repelled, Northampton’s decision to then move the ball quickly along the line caught out the defence and Ken Pisi scored in the corner.
It was Northampton’s first try in 230 minutes of rugby and partially repaired what had been a damaging opening period. They were 15-3 down, Myler’s penalty being cancelled out from one by Chris Noakes before a Jonny Williams break down the left wing resulted in a try on the right for Sean Maitland, having created little: their only other sight of the home line had come after a Kahn Fotuali’i pass bounced along the ground and caused enough confusion for George Pisi to have a hole to run through.
The try injected them with belief and within five minutes they had a restart. The referee was playing advantage inside Irish’s 22 when Fotuali’i’s kick to the left-hand corner changed the direction of the attack and the ball bounced kindly for North to touch down in club colours for the first time in nine months.
The Saints had remembered that they were playing against a team who were conceding an average of four tries every Premiership match, were rooted to the foot of the table with even fewer points than London Welsh at the same stage the season before and had not tasted success in this fixture for more than three years.
Irish cannot be compared to London Welsh in one sense, far richer in resources and squad depth, but they have been heading in the same direction. Some aspects of their game worked well, not least the driving maul, scrum and the running back of kicks from deep, but others were horribly lacking: David Paice was making his first appearance, but he struggled to find his lineout targets all afternoon against opponents who had Courtney Lawes in the back row and when another throw was seized by Northampton on 62 minutes, their third try followed, created by Teimana Harrison and finished by Kahn Fotuali’i, to give the Saints the lead for the first time.
Irish had led for almost an hour but looked as if they would be left clinging to a bonus point when the wing Asaeli Tikoirotuma was sent to the sin-bin with 16 minutes to go for making a tackle off the ball on Ben Foden and driving the full-back into the ground shoulder first.
Adversity has not captured Irish’s spirit. They did not concede a point during Tikoirotuma’s absence and just before he returned had won a series of penalties and set up camp in Northampton’s 22. When Jamie Gibson, the former London Irish flanker, was sent to the sin-bin four minutes from the end for killing the ball, the Exiles opted for a scrum.
Northampton decided against bringing in a back to make it eight against eight and when the scrum went down, the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try.
There was time for Cowan to charge down Myler’s attempt to win the match with a drop goal before the biggest crowd of the season here had some Christmas cheer.
London Irish
Maitland; Lewington, Hearn, Williams, Tikoirotuma; Noakes (Geraghty 60), McKibbin; Court, Paice, Franks (Aulika 63), Symons (capt), Lloyd (Sinclair 57), Narraway (Trayfoot 57), Cowan, Treviranus Sin-bin Tikoirotuma 64 Tries Narraway, Maitland, penalty Cons Noakes, Geraghty Pens Noakes 2
Northampton
Foden; K Pisi, G Pisi, Burrell (Hanrahan 57), North (Collins 61); Myler, Fotuali’i (Dickson 69); E Waller (A Waller 57), Hartley (capt; Haywood 60), Hill (Denman 60), Paterson (Dickinson 57), Day (Matfield 65), Lawes, Gibson, Harrison
Sin-bin Gibson 76
Tries K Pisi, North, Fotuali’i Con Myler Pen Myler 2
Madejski Stadium 9,842
Referee Ian Tempest
