A Tommy Freeman double and a class in kicking from Fin Smith, gave Northampton Saints a vital win at Franklins Gardens against a depleted Exeter Chiefs.
A game that didn’t see the tries that we perhaps expected, was eventually won in the 70th minute when Alex Mitchell darted to the blind side and fed Tommy Freeman to go into the corner.
Chiefs started the brighter of the two teams and after winning a scrum penalty, Joe Simmonds opted to go for the corner. Phase after phase ensued, before eventually Ruben Van Heerden scored the first try of the game. Simmonds slotted the conversion with ease to put his side 7-0 up.
As the first half continued, both teams were clearly looking for territory with them both putting boot to ball, time and time again.
But on the half hour mark, Saints found their groove, after a break from Fraser Dingwall, he put a grubber through, Dan John scampered back and gathered the ball but was pinged for holding on. Freeman took the penalty quickly and darted over the line, putting the home side 10-7 up going into half time.
Northampton continued from where they left off and Smith added two early penalties to keep up his 100% conversion rate for his new side.
The game then took a sharp turn with Aaron Hinkley’s high hit on Jack Maunder deemed a yellow card by referee Craig Maxwell-Keys, seemingly only the force of the tackle stopping it from being a red.
Chiefs all of a sudden began playing with a lot more fluidity and got back in the game when Simmonds went over in the corner after Van Heerden stole the initial line-out.
It was then to be two tries in two minutes for the fly half, when he charged down Dingwall’s kick before escaping Mitchell and touching down to give Chiefs a 19-16 lead with 15 minutes to go.
The lead lasted a matter of seconds though as Saints charged down Dan John’s poor clearance, before Josh Hodge was pinged for holding on. Smith once again stepped up and nailed his fourth penalty of the game.
The final minutes of the game approached and Northampton turned down a simple three points and opted for the corner instead. This time the line-out was successful, and after the maul appeared to be stopped, Mitchell on his 100th appearance for the home side fed the ball to Freeman who had the simple task of going into the corner.
Smith popped over the conversion like it was nothing and gave his side a 7 point lead with just 8 minutes left on the clock.
Saints closed out the game with relative ease as the away side couldn’t sustain any attacks as they looked desperately for a fourth try.
In truth the penalty count cost Exeter, they gave way too many away in kickable positions which young fly half Smith was never going to miss.
The win moves them up to 4th, with Chiefs now sat down in 6th after three defeats on the spin.
In response to some of the errors on the pitch, Exeter head coach Ali Hepher stated: “These are mistakes we’ve got to learn from, they’re young player mistakes”.
Hepher also added: “It was better than last week, we didn’t give away as much opportunities”
Next up for Chiefs is a home game against London Irish, whilst Saints travel to a strong Saracens outfit.
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