Saints rally to sink Treviso

Northampton were forced to come from ten points behind before finally clinching a 30-18 Heineken Cup victory over Treviso at Franklin's Gardens.

The Guinness Premiership outfit found themselves 13-3 down just before half-time of the Pool 1 clash, but responded in emphatic style with four tries to ensure they remain just a point behind leaders Munster.

Ben Foden, Joe Ansbro and Chris Ashton (two) all touched down in a sizzling 15-minute period either side of the interval.

The hosts made a sloppy start and were punished on six minutes when Shane Geraghty took an unnecessary risk in his own 22 and was made to pay.

The England international attempted to chip a kick over the head of Benjamin Vermaak but was left red-faced as as the big second-rower comfortably gathered the ball and trotted over unopposed under the posts for the simplest of tries which Tobias Botes converted.

Geraghty did make partial amends in the 13th minute as he landed a penalty from 25 yards, but the home side still struggled for any sort of rhythm.

They fell further behind as Treviso fly-half Marius Goosen slotted a 17th minute drop-goal and, after the hosts had tried to run themselves out of trouble, the same player repeated the trick in the 34th minute with another accurate drop-goal.

Saints were awarded a penalty two minutes from the break for a lineout offence and Geraghty kicked for touch - a decision that looked to have paid dividends as James Downey crossed the line, but the centre was adjudged to have been held up.

But the incident spurred the home side on to their best spell of the match and Treviso were penalised three times as they desperately tried to defend their line.

But it was eventually breached just before the half-time whistle when the ball was whipped from right to left and Foden scored on the left with help from Jon Clarke, although Geraghty was unable to add the conversion.

Northampton picked up from where they had left off after the restart and Ansbro scored on 43 minutes after racing on to a long, flat pass from Geraghty.

Geraghty again failed with the extras, but Saints did hit the front just three minutes later as another sweeping move culminated in Foden releasing Ashton to score under posts - this time Geraghty made no mistake with the conversion.

Indeed, the fly-half had taken centre stage by this juncture and one lovely inside pass unhinged the door in the 54th minute, Saints working a two-on-one, this time on the right, and it was Ashton who scored with Geraghty converting.

Treviso did hit back just before the hour mark as Goosen crossed when Northampton failed to clear their lines.

Indeed, the Italians might have sensed an opportunity to get back into the contest shortly afterwards as Courtney Lawes was sin-binned for retaliation, but Northampton maintained their composure and it was Stephen Myler who completed the scoring with a penalty 12 minutes from the end.