Seven-try Saints thrash Welsh

Northampton moved to the top of the table after securing a 43-14 victory over London Welsh at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday.

Despite a promising first half from London Welsh, the Exiles failed to turn the early pressure into points and Northampton managed to get three tries past them.

Tries from Calum Clark, Samu Manoa and Stephen Myler, along with two conversions from the fly-half, gave the Saints a 0-19 lead at half time.

London Welsh did manage to get some points on the board in the second half with tries for Taione Vea and Nic Reynolds. However Northampton were too strong for the home side, scoring four tries in the second half from Jamie Elliot, Ben Foden, James Wilson and Ben Nutley.

Northampton got the first half off to a dominant start with a try in the first five minutes of the game courtesy of Clark. Clark was driven over the line by his team-mates and it was the worst start possible for struggling London Welsh.

However the try seemed to rejuvenate the home side and they had a promising spell, competing well with the visitors but unfortunately they failed to turn this into points.

During the last 10 minutes of the first half, Northampton seemed to find their feet and once they were close enough to the Exiles line, Myler was through after spotting a massive gap in the defensive line.

Just minutes later, Monoa forced his way over and somewhat unfairly, the score suggested a very one sided game, 0-19 at the half time whistle. Northampton scored just two minutes in to the second half with a series of passes across the field to the hands of Elliot and he scored to give the Saints an extra bonus point.

Foden was in again for the visitors' just minutes later and it appeared that the floodgates had opened. London Welsh did manage to get over the line after a series of penalties put them in a good position and Vea took advantage but the home side still had a lot to do.

Northampton's reply was instant with a try for Wilson and despite being a man down with a yellow card being shown to Sam Dickinson, flanker Nutley was in for the Saints with what can only be described as an easy try.

Reynolds retained some pride for his team with a try in the 73rd minute but it was a mere consolation and the game finished 14-43 to Northampton.

The scorers:

For London Welsh:
Tries: Vea, Reynolds
Con: Ross, Robinson
Yellow Card: Reeves

For Northampton:
Tries: Clark, Myler, Manoa, Elliot, Foden, Wilson, Nutley
Cons: Myler 4
Yellow Card: Dickinson

London Welsh: 15 Seb Jewell, 14 Seb Stegmann, 13 Nic Reynolds, 12 Tom May (c), 11 Nick Scott, 10 Gordon Ross, 9 Paul Rowley, 8 Lachlan McCaffrey, 7 Carl Kirwan, 6 Pete Browne, 5 James Down, 4 Dean Schofield, 3 Taione Vea, 2 Nathan Vella, 1 Ricky Reeves
Replacements: 16 Nathan Morris, 17 Nathan Trevett, 18 Ben Cooper, 19 Matt Corker, 20 Ben Pienaar, 21 Rob Lewis, 22 Will Robinson, 23 Alan Awcock

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 Tom Stephenson, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 James Wilson, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Phil Dowson (c), 6 Calum Clark, 5 Christian Day, 4 James Craig, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Mike Haywood, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Sam Dickinson, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Dom Waldouck, 23 Ken Pisi

Referee: Tim Wigglesworth