Northampton go into Saturday’s east Midlands derby against Leicester on the back of two romps against Treviso while their rivals will be coming off far more taxing encounters against Toulon. The one will be fresh and confident, the other battle-hardened, and well before the end of this one-sided victory over the hapless Italian club the Saints’ director of rugby, Jim Mallinder, was thinking about the Tigers.
It is a fixture that has certainly not brought out the best in Northampton in recent years but last May, in the Premiership semi-final, they ended a run of nine league matches without victory over Leicester by coming from behind to win here late on in what Mallinder hopes was a shift in the balance of power in the region.
Northampton, the champions, are the Premiership leaders. They took 33 minutes to secure the try bonus point against game opponents who were hopelessly out of their depth and finished with 11 tries, three to the wing Ken Pisi and three to the replacement Samu Manoa, who took 13 minutes to collect his second hat-trick of the season.
The Saints opened their style book without becoming the Barbarians but it was not the sort of match envisaged during the talks to set up the Champions Cup. A mid-table Championship side would have asked more of the Saints and a question for Mallinder was whether it was better preparation for Leicester than a double-header against Toulon.
“Sometimes it can help playing at a high, intense level but all our players are used to that,” Mallinder said. “They have played in enough big matches over the years. We are in good shape, fit and confident. Leicester will be hurting after last May – a cracking game that could have gone either way – but before that they had tended to do a job on us and we need to win this one.
“Leicester will be totally different to Treviso and it was important that we kept our shape and focus to the end. We did that and played some very good rugby. Being drawn in the same pool as Treviso has helped us: in past years we have had Leinster and Ulster at this stage and that tests you. We kept going until the end and it was pleasing not to concede a point.” After losing their opening pool game in Paris and forfeiting a bonus point at the end, Northampton have recorded three five-point victories to take charge of the group.
Such was their dominance over Treviso in the two legs that their opponents had two players sent to the sin-bin in both matches and conceded a penalty try in each.
The Northampton captain, Dylan Hartley, said: “We know we are going to have to step it up this weekend but for those of us returning from international duty it was good to have two matches where we could ease ourselves back in.
“Our pool is very much alive and we have given ourselves a good chance of winning it. We have a strong squad and, fortunately, we do not have many injuries. We were really professional against Treviso and we have to take that on.”
The crowd was near capacity for what was always going to be a blow-out but anyone thinking about buying a ticket for Leicester can forget it. The match is already a sell-out.
Northampton Wilson; K Pisi, G Pisi, Stephenson, North; Myler (Burrell, 51),Fotuali’i (Dickson, 60); E Waller (A Waller, 67), Hartley (capt; Haywood, 51), Ma’afu (Denman, 51), Dickinson, Lawes (Day, 58), Clark (Manoa, 60), Wood, Dowson.
Tries Manoa 3, K Pisi 3, penalty, North, Fotuali’i, G Pisi, Foden. Cons Myler 4, Wilson 2.
Treviso Hayward; Ragusi, Morisi (Ambrosini, 58), Bacchin (Trevisan, 48),Nitolgia; Carlisle, Gori (Favaro, 72); Zanusso (Acosta, 58), Anae (Kudin, 49), Muccignat (Garfagnoli, 53), Pavenello (capt), Fuser,Swanepoel, Minto, Luamanu.
Sin-bin Fuser 29, Garfagnoli 69.
Referee P Gaüzère (Fr). Att 13,334.
