Saints' Rec win increases lead at top of the Premiership table
Last Updated: 22/02/15 12:37pm
Bath’s poor run against Northampton continued with a 21-13 loss at the Rec on Saturday.
James Wilson and Mike Haywood scored tries for the visiting team as Northampton recorded their first Premiership away victory since beating Harlequins in December, while the boot of Stephen Myler kept the hosts out of the game in the second half.
Bath winger Semesa Rokoduguni came close to registering the first points of the game when he almost dotted down on the right-hand touchline, but the home side was not made to wait much longer for points.
A try from winger Olly Woodburn opened the scoring in the second minute for Bath, but after relinquishing the lead late in the first half they were unable to make a thorough dent in the Saints defence thereafter.
Bath’s recruit from London Irish, Tom Homer, converted the Woodburn try and slotted a penalty to give Bath a 10-0 lead with 23 minutes gone, but it did not take the infamous Saints defence any longer to get into the game.
Capitalise
They kept the Bath attack at bay before their own break from left winger Jamie Elliott brought play deep into the Bath half, which led to Tom Stephenson putting Wilson over the line on the left side of the pitch, and after several views the TMO awarded Saints the try.
Myler failed with the conversion but was called upon soon thereafter. Hooker Mike Haywood cut back on the covering Bath defence and Myler made no mistake with his second conversion attempt as he gave his side a 12-10 lead at half-time.
In the second half Myler had extended the lead with two penalties within 12 minutes, and added a third in the 70th minute to go with one penalty from Homer.
With nine minutes to go George Pisi was shown a yellow card for taking Rokoduguni out in the air, but Bath were unable to capitalise on the extra man advantage as Saints closed the game out to extend their lead at the top of the Premiership.