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Six Nations statement: Tom Curry 'Tunnelgate' incident
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Red Bulls' miserable run continues as Saints go top of PREM
By PA
Northampton claimed their third Gallagher Prem win of the season with a 36-19 victory over Newcastle.
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Saints scored two tries in the opening 10 minutes through JJ van der Mescht and Alex Mitchell, but Newcastle fought back as Oli Spencer and Amanaki Mafi grounded either side of Van der Mescht’s yellow card.
Tommy Freeman extended the visitors’ lead to 21-12 at half-time, but Van der Mescht was shown a second yellow and a 20-minute red card in the early stages of the second half and Stefan Coetzee soon struck.
Edoardo Todaro then crossed for the visitors and any hopes of a late Newcastle comeback were ended when Fin Smith kicked a penalty before Alex Coles touched down.
Northampton have now won their last three straight league games to move top of the fledgling table, while Newcastle remain winless at the bottom.
England cricket captain Ben Stokes was in attendance at Kingston Park, where Northampton scored only two minutes in when Van der Mescht made the most of an energetic start to crash over the line and Smith added the extras.
They struck again after a fantastic break by Freeman down the right, Mitchell finishing the move with Smith extending their lead from the tee.
Newcastle had attempts stopped by a solid defensive display from the Saints on their own try line but the visitors were soon on the attack, with a brilliant link-up between Freeman and Todaro on the right wing well stopped.
Red Bulls eventually scored their first try following a period of pressure on the Saints’ try line, where Brett Connon launched a pinpoint cross-field kick to the right flank and the ball was retrieved by Spencer to cross in the corner, but Connon was unable to convert.
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A sloppy period followed for the visitors as Van der Mescht was shown yellow in the 31st minute and Newcastle capitalised moments later with a powerful driving maul from a lineout, with Mafi grounding and Connon converting.
However, the visitors recovered and extended their advantage on the stroke of half-time when Freeman broke away to touch down and Smith converted.
Northampton were once again reduced to 14 players when Van der Mescht was shown another yellow card for head contact on Boeta Chamberlain, leading to a 20-minute red after which he was replaced by Anthony Belleau.
Newcastle took advantage and only minutes after coming on for his debut, Coetzee broke away from a scrum to dive in the corner with Connon converting.
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However, Saints scored their fourth try when Rory Hutchinson quickly offloaded to Todaro on the left and the winger powered over the line, but Smith’s conversion attempt whistled wide.
Newcastle thought they had levelled through Chamberlain’s converted effort, but the try was chalked off following a TMO review.
Smith’s attempted long-range penalty from just inside the Newcastle half fell short as Saints looked to put more points on the board, but the fly-half’s next attempt from the 25-metre line was successful.
Coles then wrapped up victory with a brilliant individual effort, bursting through the Newcastle defence to touch down, and Smith converted.