Gloucester 40-22 Northampton

Simpson-Daniel starred for Gloucester More Powergen cup final pictures

Tries from rising stars Marcel Garvey, James Forrester and James Simpson-Daniel twice gave Gloucester victory over Northampton in a breathless Powergen Cup final at Twickenham on Saturday.

The lead changed hands seven times and three players were sent to the sin-bin in a helter-skelter contest before the Cherry and Whites eventually pulled clear in the second half.

Paul Grayson kept Northampton in the hunt for long periods but when he was yellow carded late on, the Saints' hopes of erasing the memory of last year's final defeat by London Irish departed with him.

Northampton opened the scoring with a fourth-minute Grayson penalty but fell behind almost straight from the restart as they gifted Simpson-Daniel the softest of tries.

Steve Thompson watched Dawson's wayward pass float past him inside the Saints 22 and Simpson-Daniel pounced on the loose ball to skate over from five yards out.

MATCH FACTS Gloucester (20) 33 Tries: Simpson-Daniel 2, Garvey, Forrester Cons: Mercier 2 3 Pens: Mercier 3 Drop goal: Mercier Sin bin: Fidler (22 mins), Delport (80 mins) Northampton (22) 22 Tries: Beal Con: Grayson Pens: Grayson 5 Sin-binned: Grayson (65 mins)

Mercier's conversion and drop goal then put Gloucester further in front before Northampton hit back with a burst of 13 points in just four minutes.

First, Grayson landed two quick penalties, the second following the sin-binning of Gloucester's Rob Fidler for killing the ball.

And the Saints stand-off then confirmed the form that has returned him to the England fold by dummying Mercier and breaking downfield to send in Nick Beal for a try he converted to leave Northampton 16-10 in front.

Despite the loss of both Fidler and those 13 points, Gloucester remained a force up front and regained the lead before their long-serving lock was back on the field.

Forrester, finding himself faced with Robbie Morris and Thompson as he loitered among the three-quarters, dummied his way past the Saints front rowers and served up the pass Garvey needed to blast his way clear to the line.

Gloucester's Terry Fanolua is halted by Peter Jorgensen

Mercier's conversion put Gloucester back on top, but two more Grayson three-pointers, sandwiching another from the Frenchman, left Northampton 22-20 up at the break.

However, Gloucester had offered the greater threat whenever the ball was moved wide and pressed home this advantage to regain the lead through a scoring overlap within three minutes of the restart.

Garvey fingertipped Henry Paul's long pass on towards the touchline, where Forrester found ample space to cross at the right flag.

That gave Gloucester the early impetus, but the balance tipped their way decisively in the 65th minute.

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With the Cherry and Whites dominating territorially thanks to Mercier's accurate boot, Grayson tackled Paul ahead of the ball, earning himself a yellow card and handing his opposite number another three points.

And despite the sin-binning of Thinus Delport for obstruction, Gloucester sealed their victory in style as Mercier's interception set up Simpson-Daniel for his second try.

Northampton: N Beal; B Reihana, P Jorgensen, J Leslie (co-capt), B Cohen; P Grayson, M Dawson; T Smith, S Thompson, R Morris, M Lord, S Williams, M Connors, B Pountney (co-capt), A Blowers. Replacements: D Richmond, M Stewart, G Seely, D Fox, J Howard, J Brooks, C Hyndman.