Myler's boot nails Bath
Stephen Myler kicked five penalties as Northampton overcame resurgent Bath 18-14 at the Recreation Ground.
Last Updated: 14/09/12 10:47pm
Stephen Myler kicked five penalties as Northampton overcame resurgent Bath 18-14 at the Recreation Ground.
But their second away win of the campaign and their third of the season was achieved at the cost of a nasty looking ankle injury to England's Ben Foden in the second half.
The home side got off to the perfect start as Nick Abendanon raced onto Tom Biggs cute chip-kick to touch down after just 70 seconds on the clock.
But then the west country outfit gave away a series of cheap penalties - and Myler made sure they were duly punished with four kicks to give the visitors an 12-8 half-time lead.
Bath were again reliant on the goal-kicking of Olly Barkley, who landed three penalties, bringing the hosts to within a point of their opponents at 14-15 in the second half and the packed Rec crowd suddenly sensed an unlikely victory.
The loss of Foden with an ankle injury appeared to have taken much of the sting out of the visitors' attack but Barkley missed a chance to regain the lead, the ball dipping under the bar from nearly halfway.
Saints' No 10 Myler then kicked his fifth penalty and his replacement, Tom May, wrapped things up with a drop goal four minutes from time leaving Bath little time to find a try to sneak victory.
Saints, though, managed to hold on and the home side had to be content with a losing bonus point.
