Saints leave it late again to sink Bath as England star steps up

Fin Smith’s last-second penalty snatched a breathless 41-38 victory for Gallagher PREM leaders Northampton Saints against second-placed Bath at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

Two weeks on from the epic Investec Champions Cup quarter-final these two teams played out at The Rec, they produced yet more drama as a much-changed Bath side almost claimed an unlikely draw.

Tommy Freeman scored his second hat-trick of the season against the visitors, who pushed the Saints all the way despite leaving out most of their leading players ahead of next week’s Champions Cup semi-final against Bordeaux-Begles.

It did not take Northampton long to score the game’s opening try as captain Fraser Dingwall stepped away from a would-be tackler before passing inside to put Smith through in just the third minute.

Smith converted his own try, but Saints were down to 14 men when Tom Litchfield was sin-binned for killing the ball close to his own line.

Bath made the most of their one-man advantage straight away as Ciaran Donoghue’s long looping pass towards the right wing gave Louie Hennessey a walk-in, with Donoghue’s conversion levelling matters.

But it was soon 14-a-side when Will Muir saw yellow for deliberately knocking on Alex Mitchell’s pass and from the resulting line-out Mitchell’s ball to the right gave Freeman an easy finish.

The hosts had their third try after 20 minutes when some slick handling saw the ball go through Dingwall, Litchfield and George Hendy whose final pass sent Ollie Sleightholme clear down the left.

Bath were momentarily back in business as Will Butt’s ball inside sent Arthur Green through, but Northampton had their bonus-point score after half an hour when Dingwall’s pass put Freeman in for his second, and a 26-14 half-time lead.

However, Bath reduced the gap to five points within a minute of the restart when Donoghue’s pass put Hennessey into space and his ball back inside put replacement scrum-half Tom Carr-Smith in the clear.

The tries continued to flow relentlessly as Sleightholme muscled his way over for his second before Bath secured a bonus point of their own when Tom De Glanville went over following a terrific break from hooker Dan Frost.

The visitors then levelled the contest when replacement tighthead Archie Griffin plunged over from inches out, with Donoghue’s missed conversion leaving the sides locked at 31-31 with an hour played.

Just when it looked as though Freeman’s hat-trick score had won the day for Northampton, Bath squared the match once again when Kepu Tuipulotu squeezed over near the posts.

But there was time for one last twist as Enoch Opoku-Gyamfu was penalised for a high tackle on Henry Pollock, following a TMO check, allowing Smith to snatch the latest thriller between these two sides.