Northampton hold off late Newcastle fightback in thriller to reclaim top spot

On the face of it, not a lot to see here. The league leaders return to the top of the table with a bonus-point win against the team placed bottom. But don’t you believe it. Newcastle may have shipped 60 the last time they played a Prem game here, but they pushed the Saints all the way.

Northampton, it must be said, were about as far from full strength as can be. George Furbank was given his latest run-out at full-back, but otherwise none of their myriad England internationals were present. They will consider this a smart collection of the full five points without them. And they may have to get used to some of the absences, Alex Coles and Alex Mitchell both rated by Phil Dowson as likely to be out for “a decent amount of time”, which he clarified meant more than a month.

Meanwhile, the feeling that Newcastle might be starting to build something (or rebuild, given they have a title and a few cups to their history) continues to grow. Now that relegation has been officially scrapped, the sort of investment that Red Bull have brought becomes a vaguely sensible decision for a prospector in sport. This week, Stephen Jones, the great Wales fly-half, stepped up from attack coach to head coach. The round before last, the Red Bulls (as we must get used to calling them) collected their first win of the season.

That said, the missing Saints stars and any stirring in the north-east seemed of no consequence at the start. The Saints had their first try after a mere 90 seconds – and it looked very easy indeed.

Tom Litchfield beat Oli Spencer with some ease on the outside, and he found Furbank inside him, who shipped it on to Archie McParland for a try as easy on the eye as it looked to score. But Newcastle were quick to dispel any thoughts of a stroll.

Ollie Leatherbarrow, one of a few up-and-coming talents harnessed by Newcastle, is now playing alongside a campaigner as hard and decorated as Tom Christie, the former Crusader. The two seemed to urge each other on in their very different ways. Leatherbarrow was a handful throughout the first half, never more so than when he picked a decisive line off a lineout a few minutes later to canter to the posts.

Eight minutes later, Harrison Obatoyinbo, who created havoc out wide with his elder brother Elliott, finished smartly after Spencer had looped round from his wing. Newcastle in the lead against the leaders.

Newcastle’s next test was to follow. Sammy Arnold was shown a yellow card with one of those obviously accidental head clashes, as Furbank came at him headlong in the shadow of the posts. Both men had blood pouring from their faces. Arnold was off for good (yellow plus concussion), and while Furbank was off to have his wound tended to, his replacement Ollie Sleightholme had a stroll-in off McParland’s long ball.

Tom Litchfield breaks clear to score Northampton’s fourth try. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images

Newcastle were further reduced next, this time with no argument. Adam Brocklebank’s stamp on Curtis Langdon’s leg was the kind to infuriate a coach. But the Red Bulls held out down to 13. Indeed, that was it for points-scoring for a good half-hour of rugby. A yellow card for James Ramm in the buildup to a near-try by Simón Benítez Cruz might have come with further punishment, but the Saints survived unscathed as well.

The denouement, when it came, was almost dramatic, if only the tries had come in a slightly different order. Langdon finished a driven lineout just shy of the hour to give Northampton some breathing space, but Newcastle would not go away. A spill on the halfway line was pounced on by Benítez Cruz, the Argentina scrum-half now playing on the wing, and he was away to pull the visitors back to within a point, a minute after Brett Connon’s penalty had drawn them three points closer.

Litchfield’s try for the bonus point with a couple of minutes to go seemed to have settled it, the centre streaking clear down the left after cute interplay between a host of Saints, but Newcastle had other ideas. They claimed both bonus points themselves when Christie drove over after an attacking lineout.

There was time for one last tilt at the win but one step at a time. An away win was too much to ask for but Newcastle might be serving notice of a new intent. “I’m wonderfully proud of the boys,” said Jones. “We want to improve our game and we’re going to work incredibly hard to do that. If we keep on upping our standards and habits daily, we’ll get what we want.”