Saints leave Leeds lurching
Leeds Carnegie's bid for Aviva Premiership survival took a blow as Northampton Saints secured victory to go fourth at Headingley.
By Elliot Ball
Last Updated: 12/03/11 5:27pm
Leeds Carnegie's bid for Aviva Premiership survival took a blow as Northampton Saints secured victory to go fourth at Headingley.
The hosts were looking to close the gap on Newcastle Falcons after ending their winless run against London Irish last time out, but Neil Back's men came unstuck on Saturday as Stephen Myler stole the show with an 18-point haul.
Leeds responded with a try by back-row Danny Paul and eight points from the boot of stand-off Adrian Jarvis, but it now leaves the Yorkshire outfit rooted to the foot of the table having played a game more than nearest rivals Newcastle.
The result sees Jim Mallinder's Northampton move back into the play-off places and reaffirms their title ambitions after a recent wobble.
Buoyed by last week's stunning victory over London Irish, Leeds came out with intent and their early pressure was rewarded with a Jarvis penalty.
Haunted
Carnegie's lineout struggled without England's Steve Thompson and after Scott Freer's throw was stolen, full-back Michael Stephenson dropped a Myler kick to allow the stand-off to follow up for his own converted try.
But the hosts reduced the gap when Jarvis booted over his second three-pointer, before fly-half Myler responded with one of his own when Leeds were adjudged to be offside.
Straight from the kick-off in the second half, Courtney Lawes showed no ill-effects from his recent injury lay-off by crushing scrum-half Scott Mathie but it failed to spark an error-ridden encounter.
Leeds then had the perfect opportunity to get their first try of the match but their set-piece problems came back to haunt them once again as Northampton pilfered the ball from a five-metre scrum and Myler scored a penalty from 40 metres.
The away side's stand-off extended their advantage with another three points before they scored the game-defining try as Myler played in winger Paul Diggin to touch down under the posts, allowing Myler to add the extras.
With seven minutes left, the hosts gave themselves hope when Paul powered through some weak tackling, but missed the chance to grab a losing bonus point when Jarvis' conversion hit the post.
