Bristol dash Saints' prayers
By Simon Dilger
Last Updated: 01/01/70 1:00am
Bristol have compounded Northampton's woes at the bottom of the table.
Bristol have compounded Northampton's woes at the bottom of the table with an impressive 31-19 win over the Guinness Premiership stragglers.
Despite running in three tries the Saints were unable to stop a rejuvenated Bristol who, after resting several key players for their last match, halted a four-game losing run in convincing fashion.
Ben Cohen, Sean Lamont and Matias Cortese all crossed the line for Northampton but tries from Rob Higgit, Dave Hilton and Roy Winters and a fine kicking display by the recalled Danny Gray proved too much for the visitors.
A crucial tie for both teams saw Bristol getting off to a fantastic start with Higgitt crossing the line for the home team after just seven minutes.
Fly-half Stephen Myler had missed an earlier opportunity to put Northampton into the lead, sending a long range penalty effort wide of the posts in the second minute.
Northampton had problems with their set pieces from early on in the game and it was from a badly taken line-out that they found themselves under a period of sustained attack close to their line.
The pressure paid off with Bristol centres Neil Brew and Rob Higgit combining in a tremendous show of strength, with Brew's excellent offload putting Higgit over the line.
In the 13th minute a horrendous forward pass gave Bristol a scrum just outside the Saints 22. And when the Saints were penalised for failing to hold it up they could only watch as Danny Gray delivered three points from the kick, taking the score to 10-0.
Northampton looked like they might get back into the game when a crossfield kick by Myler found Lamont on the wing with Cohen in support.
The two big wingers combined brilliantly for the try, Lamont collecting and offloading to Cohen, who passed Bernardo Stortoni with a clever sidestep to score.
Myler missed the straightforward conversion and went on to miss another easy penalty minutes later in a miserable afternoon for the fly half, who was eventually replaced 10 minutes into the second half.
However, his opposite number Gray, who was starting his first league match for Bristol since 2004, was celebrating his return to form in fashion and on 34 minutes stretched the lead to 13-5 with a second penalty .
Even David Lemi wanted to get in on the kicking action and after an attempted Gray drop goal went wildly wide the winger showed his fly-half how to do it, neatly chipping his first drop goal for the club on the stroke of half time.
The second half began with Northampton looking much more positive and some great work by the three-quarters saw them attacking inside the Bristol 22.
Saints' pressure was rewarded early on when, in the 43rd minute, Lamont burst through the middle to score beneath the posts and put them back into the game with Myler adding the two points to take the score to 16-12.
Almost immediately Bristol countered and just five minutes later, in almost identical fashion, Andrew Blowers found his way through the middle with Hilton alongside to pick up the pass to claim the try, duly converted by Gray.
A superb kicking display by the Bristol fly-half together with a desperately disappointing one by their own goal kicker saw Northampton slide further into trouble when Gray stretched the lead to 26-12 halfway thought the half.
The Saints fought on and when captain Bruce Reihana was held up on the line with 15 minutes to go, replacement hooker Cortese thundered through to touch down.
Carlos Spencer, having assumed the kicking role, hit the target to take the Saints within seven points of the hosts.
But there was heartbreak ahead for the visitors when a lucky kick deep into their own half saw Bristol retake the advantage.
The Saints withstood a huge combined effort from the Bristol pack a metre from their line for a full two minutes before the hosts, inching their way forward, drove over for Winters to touch down.
With 10 minutes to go and the score at 31-19 Northampton were out of the game and, still rooted to the bottom, in a desperate state going into their last three games.