Saints march into Heineken reckoning

Bonus-point win over Bath puts Saints just beihnd Gloucester

Northampton Saints went clear of the chasing pack in fifth place in the Guinness Premiership on Saturday, after a thrilling 24-21 win over Bath.

Second-half replacement Mark Easter, who was handed a full contract by Northampton last week, celebrated with the winning try.

Saints were trailing 21-19 with five minutes to go when 23-year-old Easter, recruited to the club's academy from Nottingham last summer, crashed over in the left corner.

After leading 14-5 at half-time, Northampton appeared to have fallen victim to a powerful second-half forward display from Bath who were sparked by the half-time switch of Olly Barkley to fly-half.

But the Saints had the final say with Easter's late try providing the important bonus point as they continued their late season charge for a place in the Guinness Premiership play-offs.

Full-back Bruce Reihana contributed 14 of the Northampton points, with two tries and two conversions, with England winger Ben Cohen also touching down.

But it was once again Carlos Spencer, the former All-Black fly-half magician, who conjured up all four Northampton tries.

The Saints were on the back foot in the opening stages with only Cohen's desperate last-ditch tackle on Andy Higgins by the right-hand corner flag denying them a first-minute try.

The visitors struck the opening blow in the 19th minute when fly-half Chris Malone's short pass put powerhouse left wing Salesi Finau over in the right corner.

But Northampton hit back with Spencer's electric 40-metre burst splitting the Bath defence before he provided a superb inside pass to send fellow Kiwi Reihana in after 27 minutes.

Six minutes later Spencer's quick pass enabled centres David Quinlan and Jon Clarke to provide the space for Cohen to dive over in the left corner and, with Reihana converting both tries, the Saints led 14-5 at the interval.

Barkley's move to fly-half, following the half-time withdrawal of Malone, reignited Bath.

Barkley, seen as the answer to England's inside-centre problem for this summer's tour to Australia after he missed the Six Nations Championship with a broken thumb, looked much more influential at half back.

He triggered a wave of attacks and also supplied full-back Joe Maddock for his 47th-minute try following a quickly taken tap penalty by scrum-half Andy Williams who burst through the Northampton defence from the halfway line.

Barkley weighed in with 11 points, converting Maddock's try and kicking three penalties.

Reihana's second touchdown for Saints, in the 51st minute, was down to Spencer. He figured twice, starting the move with an incisive pass to release number eight Daniel Browne before popping up again to provide the full-back with the final pass.

That briefly restored the Northampton lead at 19-15, and after Barkley kicked Bath back in front, Spencer was involved again before Easter struck the decisive blow.

Bath, despite dominating much of the second half, had to settle for a consolation bonus point.

It leaves them still not mathematically certain of avoiding relegation even though bottom club Leeds, 11 points behind them - and 10 behind Bristol and Newcastle who both have a match in hand - look almost certainly doomed. Meanwhile, if Wasps win the Powergen Cup tomorrow, fifth in the Premiership table for the Saints could easily be enough for a Heineken Cup spot.

The scorers:

For Northampton:
Tries: Reihana 2, Cohen, Easter
Cons: Reihana 2

For Bath:
Tries: Maddock, Finau
Con: Barkley
Pens: Barkley 3

The teams:

Northampton Saints: 15 Bruce Reihana (co-capt), 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 David Quinlan, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Carlos Spencer, 9 Mark Robinson, 8 Daniel Browne, 7 Sam Harding, 6 Paul Tupai, 5 Matt Lord, 4 Damien Browne, 3 Pat Barnard, 2 Steve Thompson (co-capt), 1 Tom Smith.
Replacements: 16 Dan Richmond, 17 Chris Budgen, 18 David Gerard, 19 Ben Lewitt, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Johnny Howard, 22 Robbie Kydd.

Bath: 15 Joe Maddock, 14 Andy Higgins, 13 Alex Crockett, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Salesi Finau, 10 Chris Malone, 9  Andy Williams, 8 Gareth Delve, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Peter Short, 5 Danny Grewcock, 4 Steve Borthwick, 3 Taufaao Filise, 2 Pieter Dixon, 1 David Flatman.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Duncan Bell, 18 Rob Fidler, 19 Isaac Feaunati, 20 Billy Fulton, 21 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 22 Nick Abendanon.

Referee: David Rose
Touch judges: Andy Watson, Paul Dix
Assessor: Tony Trigg
TMO/Timekeeper: Bob Ockenden