Bok's score not enough to save Leicester, Sarries and Bath record wins
SATURDAY WRAP: Northampton Saints marched to a 40-17 Premiership bonus-point win over 14-man Leicester Tigers as they reinforced their status as table-toppers on derby day.
Leicester went in ahead at half-time leading 10-6 after a scrappy 40 minutes that included a yellow card apiece.
But the Saints showed their class after the break, pulling away with a helping hand from Solomone Kata, who was dismissed for a dangerous high tackle on Fraser Dingwall with the score at 18-17 in Northampton’s favour.
The home side scored five tries in total during the second period as they warmed up for trips to Twickenham and Croke Park in the coming weeks with a fourth-successive win.
Leicester had gone into the derby having won five of their past six meetings with their local rivals and the Tigers started well on the renewal of the old rivalry.
Referee Christophe Ridley sin-binned Saints prop Elliot Millar Mills for head-on-head contact with Ollie Chessum as the visitors pushed forward and they took the lead when skipper Julian Montoya went over on the back of a line-out drive.
Handre Pollard converted well but Northampton hit back with a George Furbank penalty.
Pollard cancelled that out with an effort of his own as the two sides continued to trade blows.
Northampton thought they had scored when Alex Mitchell went for the line, but he was held up.
Leicester remained under pressure and after Furbank claimed his second penalty, influential Tigers No.8 Jasper Wiese paid the price for his side’s persistent offending with a yellow card.
Northampton could not capitalise as their opponents held a four-point lead at the break but soon after the restart, the Saints had their try as Curtis Langdon went flying down the left and used his speed and strength to score.
The hosts were suddenly building momentum and they were awarded a penalty try after a deliberate knock-on from Jamie Shillcock when Furbank tried to send the final pass out wide.
Shillcock was sin-binned and the home fans roared their approval at how the start to the second half had unfolded.
But Tigers hit back with ferocity as Wiese powered over from the back of a lineout.
The key moment came four minutes later though as the referee saw replays of Kata’s hit on Dingwall on the big screen and consulted his TMO, coming to the conclusion that the high tackle had a high level of danger, earning Kata a red card.
Northampton took advantage in ruthless fashion, scoring from a maul via Robbie Smith before efforts from George Hendy and Tom James, along with a tidy Fin Smith drop goal, finished the job.
Hendy was shown a yellow card with nine minutes to go but it mattered not for a Saints side who had the game well won by then.
*Tom Parton scored the earliest hat-trick in Premiership history as Saracens eased to a 46-24 victory over a much-changed Gloucester.
It took just under 21 minutes of the game for Parton to run in the first three of the seven tries Sarries scored as they consolidated their place in the top four and put their Champions Cup thrashing against Bordeaux Begles behind them.
They were helped by Gloucester making 11 alterations from their European Challenge Cup quarterfinal win against the Ospreys, although wing Josh Hathaway did claim a hat-trick of his own for the visitors.
*Bath took a huge step towards securing a Premiership play-off spot with a battling bonus-point 26-14 win over Exeter at Sandy Park.
In claiming victory, Bath avenged their 21-15 Champions Cup loss to Exeter a fortnight ago but the Chiefs, following last week’s heavy quarterfinal defeat at Toulouse, looked a leg-weary side and are now in real danger of missing out on the play-offs.
Alfie Barbeary, Max Ojomoh, Miles Reid and Ben Spencer scored Bath’s tries with Spencer adding three conversions as they moved up to second in the table.
Olly Woodburn and Stu Townsend touched down for sixth-placed Exeter, both scores being converted by Henry Slade.
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All Saturday’s scores and scorers:
Northampton Saints 40-17 Leicester Tigers
The scorers:
For Northampton Saints:
Tries: Langdon, Penalty, Smith, Hendy, James
Cons: Furbank 2
Pens: Furbank 2
Drop-goal: Smith
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Montoya, Wiese
Cons: Pollard 2
Pen: Pollard
Teams:
Northampton Saints: 15 James Ramm, 14 George Hendy, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Tom Seabrook, 10 George Furbank, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Lewis Ludlam (cptain), 6 Alex Coles, 5 Temo Mayanavanua, 4 Alex Moon, 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Sam Graham, 21 Tom James, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Tommy Freeman
Leicester Tigers: 15 Jamie Shillcock, 14 Freddie Steward, 13 Dan Kelly, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Finn Carnduff, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Julián Montoya, 1 James Cronin
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Kyle Hatherell, 20 Olly Cracknell, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Phil Cokanasiga, 23 Mike Brown
Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant Referees: Joe James, Jamie Leahy
TMO: Andrew Jackson
Saracens 46-24 Gloucester
The scorers:
For Saracens:
Tries: Parton 3, McFarland, Willis, Hartley, Cinti
Cons: Farrell 2, Manu Vunipola 2
Pens: Farrell
For Gloucester:
Tries: Hathaway 3, Blake
Cons: Atkinson 2
Teams:
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Rotimi Segun, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Tom Parton, 10 Owen Farrell (captain), 9 Aled Davies, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Ben Earl, 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5 Theo McFarland, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Billy Vunipola, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Manu Vunipola, 23 Olly Hartley
Gloucester: 15 George Barton, 14 Josh Hathaway, 13 Louis Hillman-Cooper, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Jake Morris, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Caolan Englefield, 8 Jack Clement, 7 Lewis Ludlow (captain), 6 Albert Tuisue, 5 Freddie Thomas, 4 Arthur Clark, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Santi Socino, 1 Mayco Vivas
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Danny Eite, 20 Rob Nixon, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Jack Reeves, 23 Ioan Jones
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Rowan Kitt
Exeter Chiefs 14-26 Bath
The scorers:
For Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Woodburn, Townsend
Cons: Slade 2
For Bath:
Tries: Barbeary, Spencer, Ojomoh, Reid
Cons: Spencer 3
Teams:
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Tom Cairns, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Ethan Roots, 5 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 4 Lewis Pearson, 3 Ehren Painter, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Max Norey, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Jack Dunne, 20 Christ Tshiunza, 21 Stu Townsend, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Zack Wimbush
Bath: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Will Muir, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Ben Spencer (captain), 8 Alfie Barbeary, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Hame Faiva, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Will Butt, 23 Miles Reid
Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant Referees: Sara Cox, Jonathan Healy
TMO: David Rose