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Courtnall Skosan’s last-gasp try gave Northampton Saints an extraordinary 40-36 victory over Wasps, as the visitors scored twice in the last two minutes of a crazy Gallagher Premiership contest.
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Despite having full-back Jacob Umaga sent off, Wasps looked near-certain for victory as they led 36-28 going into the dying stages at the CBS Arena, with Northampton set for a fourth loss in five games.
Jacob Umaga is sent off for dangerous play on Courtnall Skosan.
After a heavy collision, the @WaspsRugby fly-half is able to leave the field on his own steam ?#GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/3C7h4KLDzK
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) October 9, 2022
But the visitors, who were far below their best for the most part, had other ideas as they left the majority inside the ground stunned by their late double salvo.
Wasps were forced into a couple of late changes, with John Ryan coming in for Vincent Koch at tighthead prop and Ben Morris replacing Tom Willis in the back row.
Dan Biggar, who announced on Friday he would be leaving Northampton at the end of the season, opened the scoring with a simple penalty from in front of the posts after five minutes.
But it was the hosts who scored the game’s first try in the 11th minute when Nizaam Carr slipped through some slack defence before timing his pass to put Jack Willis in the clear.
Biggar then reduced Wasps’ lead to one point with his second penalty, but it was soon increased again when a huge overlap on the right led to Josh Bassett putting Paolo Odogwu in at the corner.
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Umaga could not convert but he did add a penalty after Biggar was penalised for offside before nailing a superb strike from halfway as the visitors’ discipline deserted them again.
Saints then gave themselves a lifeline right on half-time as Biggar produced a brilliant off-load to set up Alex Coles to score and reduce the deficit to 18-14.
Biggar then slotted an easy penalty within three minutes of the restart, but two quick tries bagged the bonus point for Wasps.
Jacob Ugama's red card incident vs. Saints ??#GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/MaQkNKxoCS
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) October 9, 2022
Gabriel Oghre burrowed his way over from a metre out before Charlie Atkinson managed to ground the ball after chasing down his own kick ahead.
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Saints quickly pulled a score back when Fraser Dingwall drew defenders before passing to put Ollie Sleightholme in down the left wing.
Umaga then extended Wasps’ lead with another penalty, but he was then sent off for taking Skosan out in mid-air after he had claimed George Furbank’s cross-field kick, leading to Saints being awarded a penalty try.
A penalty from Will Haydon-Wood with three minutes left appeared to have finally secured the win for Wasps, only for Northampton to produce an astonishing finish.
Coles ran in for his second of the afternoon in the 79th minute and there was still time for Skosan to snatch the most unlikely of victories by running in down the left after Tommy Freeman had picked him out.
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
16 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
16 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to comments