Northampton stun champions Exeter to claim first Sandy Park win in seven years
Northampton stunned Gallagher Premiership champions Exeter at Sandy Park after Piers Francis kicked two second-half penalties to secure a 13-12 victory. It was the Saints’ first win on Exeter soil for seven years and they richly deserved to claim one of their most impressive triumphs under rugby director Chris Boyd.
But the game ended in dramatic fashion after Exeter lock Sam Skinner scored an 80th-minute try. Joe Simmonds had a chance to win it with the resulting touchline conversion attempt, only for Northampton players to attempt a charge-down and Simmonds was sufficiently distracted to not even make contact between boot and ball.
Exeter players complained to referee Christophe Ridley after he blew the final whistle, but it was to no avail and Northampton celebrated. No8 Shaun Adendorff scored an early try for the visitors, which Francis converted, but Exeter could only muster a Jack Yeandle touchdown in reply, converted by Harvey Skinner, until Sam Skinner struck.
Scotland captain Stuart Hogg returned from Six Nations duty and started for Exeter, while Josh Hodge moved to the wing instead of Alex Cuthbert and Skinner replaced fly-half Simmonds, who was among the substitutes. Northampton boss Boyd made five changes, including only a third start of his professional career at fly-half for George Furbank, with wing Matt Proctor and full-back Ahsee Tuala also among Saints’ call-ups.
Referee Ridley awarded numerous penalties during the early exchanges, and testing conditions – driving rain and a gusting wind – did not enhance the spectacle. Furbank’s first contribution was an impressive one, finding touch just five metres out and giving his team a platform to score the game’s opening try.
"Everyone was laughing at first and then the bus just went deadly silent."https://t.co/ydGh6oFd1C
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 20, 2021
Saints won the subsequent lineout, drove Exeter backwards, and South African Adendorff touched down for his fourth try in the last three games, with Francis’ conversion making it 7-0 after eleven minutes. It was an impressive effort by Northampton as they enjoyed scrum dominance in the opening quarter, rocking Exeter back on their heels.
And even when the Chiefs attempted their destructive close-quarter approach deep inside the opposition 22, Saints defended brilliantly for several phases before gaining a scrum put-in after Exeter knocked on. Chiefs flanker Dave Ewers went desperately close to an equalising try, but he was held up over Saints’ line, which underlined the quality of Northampton’s defensive organisation.
But Exeter kept banging at the door and it eventually came down when Yeandle scampered over from five metres out and Skinner’s conversion levelled things up. Exeter pressed for another try just before the interval and Saints were forced into some frantic clearance work to deny Chiefs centre Ollie Devoto as he chased a loose ball that had nestled behind Northampton’s line.
The opening half ended all-square with Northampton not budging an inch as they went in search of a rare success on Exeter soil. Chiefs began the second period with the wind against them but they quickly exerted sustained pressure and Saints lost Furbank to the sin-bin for a technical infringement.
Hogg became increasingly influential as Exeter looked to exploit their temporary one-man advantage, but it was also a case of staying patient in a contest high on attrition and littered with mistakes. The game remained level entering the closing quarter, and although Northampton had been dominated in terms of the territorial battle, they could still sense a famous win.
Francis missed a chance to put the visitors ahead 15 minutes from time when his 35-metre penalty hit the post, but Northampton had found renewed momentum and Exeter were defensively stretched. And Francis made no mistake four minutes later, finding the target following an illegal challenge by Ewers, and the Chiefs had it all to do.
Francis then kicked another penalty, and there seemed no way back for the Chiefs until Skinner struck and Simmonds was denied a conversion chance.
Ex-Wales winger Cuthbert was in flying form in his two-match Exeter comeback after an 18-week layoff#PremRugbyhttps://t.co/zEQcRnm7cR
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 18, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
More useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
22 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
1 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
22 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to commentsWho the heck is Billy Fulton?
13 Go to commentsCale has all the potential no doubt. So has Harry Wilson except for his dumb arse coach over the last few years who told him just to run at brick walls all the time. Valentini would be devastating at 6. As he was until some idiot thought oh yeah, move our best player to another position. Not mentioning any flightless or thank you names of course. I very much dislike claiming one player is the saviour, because injuries are so prevalent in the game these days as the players are bigger and faster, so the discussion should be who are at least the best two players in one position. For me it’s Harry Wilson and Cale at 8 at the moment with Valentini or Hooper from the Brumbies at 6. Great options. Seru Uru should be in the reserves too. A game changer.
21 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a card waiting to happen, Cane has been out with injury as well as playing in Japan, I think they’ll go with in-Japan-but-still-the-man Savea. Samisoni Taukeaho will be Captain after 2027, so he might get some Captain minutes against an Italy or Japan.
13 Go to commentsDissapointed that after 7 years Crusaders could not have found a coach that believed their system and improved on it. What was he expecting?
6 Go to comments