Saints fly past Falcons

Ben Foden: Scored two tries

Northampton moved up to third place in the Aviva Premiership with a 32-14 victory against Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park on Saturday.

The Saints placed themselves in the driving seat for the win against their beleaguered opponents when Ben Foden scored two cleverly worked tries at the start of each half.

Giant prop Soane Tonga'uiha was driven over for the visitors' third while former Falcon Tom May delivered the fourth try - and the bonus point - four minutes from time.

Victory sees Northampton leapfrog from sixth to third and leaves Newcastle firmly anchored at the foot of the table - which makes next weekend's home game against Exeter a must-win.

Ryan Lamb kicked two conversions and two penalties and substitute Stephen Myler also landed a conversion for the Saints.

Jimmy Gopperth, meanwhile, kicked three penalties for Newcastle and Suka Hufanga scored a first-half try.

Northampton were 10-0 up in as many minutes against a Newcastle side who are notoriously slow starters and the Saints scored their first try with embarrassing ease after Lamb's fourth-minute penalty.

The try came from Newcastle's inability at the line-out - they lost five out of eight of their own throws in the first half - yet the Saints only made it really count when a slick move saw George Pisi push an excellent rolling kick behind the Falcons defence.

The ball then stood up nicely for Foden to cruise in at the corner, with Lamb converting.

Quick feet

Gopperth's inside break and Hufanga's quick feet had Saints backpedalling and Ally Hogg's drive brought a penalty which Newcastle's number 10 knocked over in the 14th minute.

Another Gopperth inside break then sent Hufanga racing in for a 20th-minute Falcons try.

Gopperth surprisingly missed the conversion but, trailing by just two points, Newcastle were back in the game.

However, their inability to win any consistent line-out ball was a persistent problem and Newcastle spent most of the time in their own half.

Despite that, all Northampton had to show for all their possession was Lamb's 31st-minute penalty.

In a rare period of Falcons pressure, winger Scott Armstrong conceded a 36th minute penalty in his own 22 which Gopperth kicked to bring the hosts back to within two points.

Newcastle edged into the lead for the first time when Gopperth landed his third penalty early in the second half - but it did not last long with Foden grabbing his second try in the 49th minute.

It was almost a replica of his first half score, with Lamb this time pushing a rolling kick through and Foden surged after it - leaving flanker Richard Mayhew trailing to touch down in the corner.

Lamb squeezed over the conversion for the Saints to lead 20-14.

It was the signal for Northampton to turn the screw and from a lineout Soane Tonga'uiha was driven over in the 56th minute for 25-14.

There could easily have been another try for Jim Mallinder's side just a few minutes later had Vasily Artemyev been able to hang on to Lamb's crossfield kick.

High tackle

Gopperth's 66th-minute penalty miss just about summed up Newcastle's afternoon and they then lost Tim Swinson to the sin-bin for a high tackle.

The last 10 minutes saw gaps aplenty appearing in Newcastle's defences and Northampton did pretty much as they pleased.

Thier fourth try came from some slick inter-passing down the right, with May scoring with his almost his first touch after coming on as replacement in the 77th minute.

It was enough to secure the four-try bonus point - and Myler converted.