Tommo sets up Saints win
By Mark Townsend
Last Updated: 01/01/70 1:00am
Hooker Steve Thompson scored two second-half tries as Northampton won 37-13.
Northampton Saints 37-13 Borders, Heineken Cup Pool 6, Saturday October 28
Hooker Steve Thompson scored two second-half tries as Northampton got their Heineken Cup challenge back on track with a totally dominant 37-13 victory over Border Reivers.
The Saints - who lost their opener to tournament favourites Biarritz in France last week - were on the front foot throughout and would have put a half century of points on the Scots had they avoided a string of handling errors.
Countless times the backs were guilty of over-elaboration - their dominance in territory and possession tempting them into trying too much when the simple stuff would surely have yielded up more.
But in the closing quarter it was the forwards who scored the tries which claimed the bonus point. It was not the handling spectacle which the backs had endeavoured to produce, but it delighted the Franklins Gardens crowd nevertheless.
Fly-half Carlos Spencer put Saints ahead with a sixth minute penalty and three minutes later they grabbed their first try as scrum-half Mark Robinson scooted round the blindside of a line-out - the Reivers' Achilles heel all afternoon - to score unopposed.
Calum MacRae knocked over a penalty for the visitors' first points but that was quickly cancelled out by Spencer's chip-shot for an offside in front of the sticks.
On 33 minutes Ben MacDougall was sin-binned for a high shot, but after Northampton opted to put the ball in the corner, the ball was immediately knocked-on from the line-out.
And worse was to follow for the Saints when they were penalised for playing the ball on the ground and MacRae scored a simple three points from in front. Heading for the sheds with just a 13-6 lead, Northampton and their fans must have been shocked the contest was still very much alive.
Five minutes into the second half Northampton persevered with their tactic of putting penalties in the corner and this time they were rewarded when the drive went down close to the line and Paul Tupai reached out to plonk the ball on the try-line.
The Reivers had barely tasted possession never mind pressure in nearly an hour of rugby, but they produced the try of the match when Simon Danielli took second row Craig Hamilton's pass on his own 10 metre line and beat four men on a mazy 50-metre run to the posts.
That was the signal for Northampton's forwards to take control.
Their scrum forced two penalties and a sin-binning for Gavin Kerr, before the referee finally lost patience and awarded the penalty try.
Their next penalty was also put in the corner and Thompson was driven over for the bonus-point try.
And the crowd's day was complete when the local favourite powered through a Reivers' line-out 10 metres out and seized on Hamilton's tap-back, sprinting 10 metres to score his second try in 10 minutes.
