Northampton recovered from their derby disappointment in style to beat Sale 47-17 in the Gallagher Premiership.
While Northampton were wasteful in their defeat to Leicester last Saturday, they were lethal against the Sharks at Franklin’s Gardens with Ollie Slateholm scoring two of his seven attempts.
It also means their winning record at home will now extend to more than a year, with Saints having won 18 successive wins on their own patch on a night when Sale will be keen to quickly fall behind.
Rob du Preez’s second-minute penalty opened the scoring for the Sharks, but Northampton soon got on the board when Sale full-back Joe Carpenter missed Fin Smith’s grubber kick, allowing Tommy Freeman to get the ball down to score.
Northampton were over again after eight minutes when Freeman rushed a ball inside from Rory Hutchinson before timing a pass outside to put captain George Furbank clear.
The Sharks briefly got back into the game when a driving maul led to Luke Cowan-Dickie scoring to cut the gap to 12-10.
However, the visitors’ night fell apart when Wills was sent to the sin bin for taking George Hendy in the air and Northampton scored three tries in six minutes.
James Ramm, Furbank’s blood substitute, set up the first two. His long pass gave Sleightholme a walk-in before the winger’s kick advance was deflected kindly by the Australian to put Tom James clear.
It was a bonus point in the bag for Saints after 24 minutes and a fifth try followed when Tom Roebuck missed Smith’s kick to the left to gift Sleightholme their second of the match.
There was still time for the hosts to score one more point before half-time as Hendy intercepted Waisea Nayacalevu’s pass and ran unopposed to take the score to 40-10 at the break.
Sale had their first try of the second half as the forward moved the visitors under the Northampton post before Du Preez’s pass provided Carpenter with an easy finish.
Excellent defending from Henry Pollock to hold off Gus Warr prevented the Sharks scrum-half from bringing in another score before Roebuck denied him a hat-trick with a touch tackle on Sleightholme at the other end.
Any questions about a Sale comeback were put to rest in the 61st minute, when looser play from the visitors led to Ramm now permanently breaking the gap and clearing for Northampton’s seventh successful try of the night.
Big win for the Falcons
Newcastle won their first Gallagher Premiership title in over a year with a 24-18 win over fellow side Exeter at Kingston Park.
The Falcons went into Friday’s clash without a win since March 2023, but ended their 25-game losing streak with a hard-fought win.
Despite falling behind to an early Chiefs try, Newcastle responded with two tries either side of the break from Philip van der Walt and Jamie Blamire.
Ethan Grayson’s second-half drop goal gave the Falcons some breathing room before Josh Hodge scored a late try for Exeter, but the Falcons secured a long-awaited win.
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