Northampton (21) 21
Tries: Kruger, Dickson Con: Myler Pens: Myler 3
London Irish (8) 17
Try: Tagicakibau Pens: D Armitage 4

Saints scrum-half Lee Dickson celebrates his first-half try

Northampton held off a late London Irish fightback to deny the Exiles the chance of returning to the top of the Premiership table.

Sailosi Tagicakibau gave Irish the perfect start with a 80m breakaway try on two minutes.

The home side responded with tries from Juandre Kruger and Lee Dickson, while Stephen Myler kicked 11 points.

Irish dug in after the break, Delon Armitage kicking three penalties, but could not claim the winning score.

The result was a deserved one for Northampton, who produced an impressive attacking display after recovering from an early try.

Tagicakibau ran in after Saints skipper Bruce Reihana tried an over-ambitious high one-handed pass which failed to find a team-mate.

Myler reduced the deficit before Kruger finished off a fine move involving Dylan Hartley, Scott Gray and Paul Diggin for his first try at Franklin's Gardens.

Myler added the conversion and kicked two more penalties to make the score 16-8 before lock Courtney Lawes played in Dickson for a try Northampton's pressure merited.

Armitage pulled back three points with his second penalty in the 57th minute but hit the post with another attempt while replacement flanker Declan Danahar was sent to the sin bin in the 67th minute after appearing to throw a punch.

And Armitage's final two penalties, which came in the 71st and 75th minutes, secured a losing bonus point for his side, who still need to win their final match away to Worcester to make sure of a place in the top-four play-offs.

Northampton rugby director Jim Mallinder:
"We've got a really good record at home. We've beaten all the top six here.

"We're delighted. It was a terrific game of rugby for us, first half everything went well, set piece was good, the scrum was awesome and our general play was very good.

"The second half, London Irish came back at us, we probably didn't play quite as much as we should have done, a couple of bad decisions and the tide turned a little bit.

"But at the end of it we managed to hold on and I was pleased we showed discipline and patience in those last few minutes to win the game."

London Irish head coach Toby Booth:
"We were a little bit misguided in the first 30 minutes and gave them too much too easily.

"Northampton were very, very good for half an hour and we gave ourselves too much to do.

"It's something we are going to have to look at next season because it's been a familiar story for us on occasions and once again we've given ourselves a mountain to climb.

"The sign of the evolution of this side is sometimes learning to win a little bit uglier.

"We're in the losing bonus point tally again which shows that we're competitive but we've just got to be a bit smarter."

Northampton: Foden; Diggin, Ansbro, Downey, Reihana; Myler, Dickson; Tonga'uiha, Hartley, Murray, Lawes, Kruger, Best, S Gray, Wilson.
Replacements: Mayor for Downey (53), Smith for Tonga'uiha (66), Sharman for Hartley (42), Fernandez Lobbe for Kruger (62), Easter for Wilson (55).
Not Used: Dickens, Everitt.

London Irish: Ojo; Thompstone, D Armitage, Mapusua, Tagicakibau; Hewat, Hodgson; Dermody, Paice, Skuse, Kennedy, Hudson, Thorpe, S Armitage, Hala'ufia.
Replacements: Murphy for Dermody (62), Coetzee for Paice (71), Corbisiero for Skuse (53), Johnson for Kennedy (62), Danaher for Thorpe (41).
Not Used: Richards, Hickey.

Sin Bin: Danaher (67).

Att: 13,405

Ref: David Pearson (RFU).

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