Northampton Saints shatter scoring records in dominant win over Bristol Bears

All kinds of scoring records were spectacularly broken by a rampant Northampton on a lovely clear night in the East Midlands. Never before have the Saints scored more points in a Premiership fixture and never have Bristol endured such a grisly 80 minutes. To say the Bears finished a horribly distant second is to put it politely.

By the time the carnage finally concluded the home side had scored 14 tries with George Hendy bagging four of them and Archie McParland and Rory Hutchinson collecting two apiece. Saints scored no fewer than 61 points in the first half alone, assisted by a visiting defence who were ­chasing green, black and gold shadows from a very early stage.

Almost lost amid the crazy ­whirring of the scoreboard was the confirmation that Northampton’s playoff qualification is assured, with a home semi-final all but ­certain. Bristol’s prospects of ­making the top four, however, now look ­completely shot after a night that stripped away much of their dignity. They have a ­growing injury list but there can be no excuses for this kind of ­embarrassing blowout.

Admittedly they did rally slightly in the second half and finished with five tries of their own but the damage had long since been done. With Henry Pollock and Tommy Freeman looking in prime touch and ­McParland adding further to his growing reputation as a classy playmaker, this was some riposte by Northampton to their bruising loss to their neighbours Leicester at Welford Road last ­Saturday. It was a much less happy evening for Benhard Janse van ­Rensburg, the Bristol centre who is potentially in line to become available for England in July. Along with the rest of the visiting lineup, he endured a torrid night as Saints repeatedly sliced through them and supplied easy pickings for their quick men out wide. This was the Bears’ biggest pounding in the pro era, even beating the 81 points they conceded to Worcester in the Championship in 2011.

Given Bristol had topped 30 points on each of their two ­previous two ­visits to Franklin’s Gardens and smashed the Saints 46-12 in the reverse fixture, the chances of a dull, low-scoring contest were always slim. This time there were three tries on the board inside the first eight minutes, with a burrowing effort from Harry Thacker sandwiched between two slickly-taken scores by George Hendy, assisted by Pollock’s long pass, and then Hutchinson.

Northampton were only just warming up. Freeman somehow kept the ball infield on the right ­touchline and the alert Callum Chick was ­quickest to react to score the home side’s third. The Bears badly needed some kind of response and found one via a quick tap by Harry Randall and a lightning finish in the right corner by Louis Rees-Zammit.

The respite was only fleeting. Some of Saints offloading and handling was superlative and, with Kalaveti Ravouvou in the sin-bin, Alex Coles and Archie McParland turned the screw with another quickfire brace. Already it was 33-14 and when Hendy then put George Furbank away for the hosts’ sixth try the game was still not half an hour old.

Not everyone enjoys this kind of try-fest and from Bristol’s ­perspective it was certainly depressing viewing. On the other hand Saints’ dexterity and ability to create space almost at will was outstanding, particularly when allied to their energetic work at the breakdown. With Hutchinson and Hendy both crossing the whitewash for a second time and Josh Kemeny galloping past a flat-footed defence from 25 metres out, the hosts had a scarcely believable 61 points on the board by half-time.

The rest was largely an anticlimax after Pollock had scored a slashing try barely a minute after the restart. Northampton took off several of their leading lights and the scoring rate slowed appreciably until the end when, with Matías Moroni off the field for trying to rough up Pollock, the hosts eased into the 90s through Sam Graham and then Hendy again, even eclipsing the 90 points they stuck on Gloucester two seasons ago.

Bristol will be in no rush to rewatch the highlights but their director of rugby, Pat Lam, will feel this result keenly. This was supposed to be the season that the Bears’ expansive game really brought home the bacon; instead the foundations of their game have started to melt away.