Gloucester (20) 33
Tries: Balshaw, Narraway, Barkley, Vainikolo Cons: Lamb 2 Pens: Lamb 3

Northampton (3) 10
Try: Gray Con: Myler Pen: Myler

Barkley was at the heart of Gloucester's attacking play

Gloucester moved two points clear of rivals Bath at the top of the table with victory over Northampton.

The home side's England internationals flourished with Iain Balshaw, Luke Narraway, Olly Barkley and Lesley Vainikolo all contributing tries.

The Saints worked hard but squandered their best chances until Scott Gray went over in the second half.

But Gloucester, with three penalties from Ryan Lamb, had the victory and the bonus point in the bag.

Gloucester lost centre Anthony Allen after just three minutes, but Barkley came on as his replacement and soon got in the thick of the action.

He engineered the opening try when he passed to fellow centre Mike Tindall, who dashed through the Northampton defence, gave it to Vainikolo on the wing and then inside to Balshaw, who touched down.

Barkley then sent Alasdair Strokosch to the line before the Scot fed Narraway for Gloucester's second.

The Saints got their first score when full-back Stephen Myler booted a penalty but they did not make the most of their possession.

Gloucester, on the other hand, streamed forward and Saints captain Bruce Reihana was unable to stop Barkley from getting over.

Gray crept in at the corner to give Northampton hope in the second half but Vainikolo effectively ended their chances, picking up Barkley's kick to add a fourth try for the Cherry and Whites.

A pair of late Lamb penalties late on sealed the decisive victory.

Gloucester head coach Dean Ryan:
"We will make changes next week (against Calvisano in the Heineken Cup) because you cannot afford to have the same 15 players to get you through matches.

"We cannot afford to lose momentum and I would like to keep us on a roll through Christmas.

"For Olly Barkley to enter the fray today was ideal. He is still with England every Monday and Tuesday and then with us which is why he was on the bench.

"He is going to start next week and this would have been another week to look and watch us but it didn't work that way.

"We still had six players out on international duty and we have benefited from some of the performances made by the youngsters today."

Northampton boss Jim Mallinder:
"They were ruthless in the first half and scored some good tries.

"We created a few, but made a lot of mistakes. It didn't help when they scored just before half-time but even then we knew that if we kept the ball we would have a chance.

"But we were inaccurate. You've got to be accurate and take all the chances you can here. We didn't get the rub of the green and there were some harsh decisions against us, when they didn't stay on their feet, but you've got to cope with that and we were well beaten.

"We are desperately disappointed, but it's not the end of the world losing here."

Gloucester: Balshaw; Watkins, Tindall, Allen, Vainikolo; Lamb, Lewis; Wood, Azam, Nieto, James, Bortolami, Buxton, Strokosch,Narraway.
Replacements: Walker for Watkins (52), Satala for Tindall (64), Barkley for Allen (2), R Lawson for Lewis (54), Dickinson for Wood (64), S. Lawson for Azam (52). Not Used: Eustace.

Northampton: Myler; Ashton, Reihana, Downey, Diggin; Spencer, Foden; Smith, J Gray, Murray, Fernandez Lobbe, Day, Easter, S Gray, Wilson.
Replacements: Dickson for Spencer (60), Mordt for Foden (71), Tonga'uiha for Smith (55), Shields for J Gray (47), Stewart for Murray (71), Rae for Fernandez Lobbe (64), Hopley for Easter (71).

Att: 13,495

Ref: R Debney (RFU).

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