Northampton top of Prem after victory at Newcastle

The Prem

Newcastle (12) 19

Tries: Spencer, Mafi, Coetzee Cons: Connon 2

Northampton (21) 36

Tries: Van der Mescht, Mitchell, Freeman, Todaro, Coles Cons: F Smith 4 Pen: F Smith

Northampton Saints went top of the Prem table with an ultimately comfortable victory at Kingston Park which left Newcastle Red Bulls still searching for a first league win of the campaign.

A five-try bonus-point win took Saints ahead of reigning champions Bath, who play at Leicester Tigers on Saturday.

It was a win made all the more impressive by the fact that Saints spent half an hour of the contest a man down after JJ van der Mescht was sin-binned twice either side of the break.

Newcastle will cling to positives having hauled themselves within two points of parity twice when they were a man to the good, but it will be a lasting frustration that they were unable to capitalise further.

Defeat left Alan Dickens' side still waiting to end to a league victory drought that stretches back to November last year.

Saints were rolling early with two converted tries in the first seven minutes, with Van der Mescht going over from close range and scrum-half Alex Mitchell touching down after a burst down the right flank from England team-mate Tommy Freeman.

And while Newcastle replied with Oli Spencer picking a crossfield kick from Brett Connon, the big opportunity to close came in the 31st minute when Van der Mescht was yellow-carded for hands on the ball in a Newcastle maul.

In the absence of the South African lock, the hosts closed the gap to two points, Amanaki Mafi muscling his way over after 35 minutes. But they were unable to put a further dent in Saints' lead, with Fin Smith teeing up Freeman just before the break to re-establish breathing space at 21-12.

A second transgression for Van der Mescht on 50 minutes, when he went high on a dipping Boeta Chamberlain, earned a second yellow and a 20-minute red to give a second window for Red Bulls.

Briefly they threatened to take the chance, Stefan Coetzee delivering off the bench with his first touch in the corner as Newcastle made it 21-19.

Yet Saints always appeared to have another gear to move into, and this time it was Edoardo Todaro who finished off a flowing right-to-left sweep through the fast hands of Mitchell and Rory Hutchinson to once again put daylight between the two teams

Newcastle briefly got level at 26-26 after Chamberlain finished off a swift break down the right wing, only for the TMO to rule it out for a lifting tackle in the ruck from George McGuigan in the build-up.

It was a blow that they failed to recover from and, with hope evaporating, a Smith penalty and a rampaging 30-yard dash from Alex Coles made it three wins and a draw in four Prem outings for unbeaten Northampton.

Newcastle head coach Alan Dickens told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"We were slow to start for whatever reason and that is something we will look at, but the character of the players at times during that first half was fantastic.

"There were big momentum shifts within the game but there were a lot more positives this week than last week.

"We have just played a team that lost in the Champions Cup last season. We have talked about cohesion in the last few weeks and they are a team that has been together for seven or eight years.

"We have talked about a Northampton model building from within and building from the academy and that is something we are looking to do here.

"It was a much better performance. The character and the way the lads stuck together for 80 minutes was a positive."

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton:

"We didn't help ourselves and it's the discipline issue rearing its head again. We made it a lot harder than it maybe should have been.

"The worst thing that could have happened was Newcastle's result against Sale last week. They're a proud group, they've got some quality and we knew there was going to be a reaction.

"We started very well but then we went off page and I think we were once again trying too hard and not really trusting the DNA as much as we possibly could.

"We gave Newcastle an opportunity in the game, they got their tails up and they were a handful."

Newcastle Red Bulls: Chamberlain; Spencer, Hearle, Clarke, Williams; Connon, Benitez Cruz; Brocklebank, McGuigan, Palframan, Hodgson, Clarke, Lee-Warner, Gordon, Mafi.

Replacements: Fletcher, McCallum, De Bruin, Usher, Lockwood, Elliott, Beeckmans, Coetzee.

Northampton Saints: Freeman; Todaro, Hutchinson, Dingwall, Litchfield; F Smith, Mitchell; Fischetti, R Smith, Davison, Coles, Van der Mescht, Kemeny, Graham, Chick.

Replacements: Wright, Iyogun, Green, Lockett, Prowse, Pollock, McParland, Belleau.

Referee: Ian Tempest.