WHEN Leeds Tykes drew level at 18-18 with a sniping try from Danny Care, their substitute scrum half, in injury time at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday, it looked as if all of Northampton’s hard work and second-half dominance was about to come to naught. But Gordon Ross hooked his conversion attempt wide and the home side struck back from the kick-off when Care was caught in front of the posts and conceded a penalty.
In the space of a minute, delight had turned to despair for the young Tykes player as he watched Bruce Reihana land the kick at goal that secured victory for the home side and helped to move Northampton farther away from the bottom of the Guinness Premiership.
For Paul Grayson, the Northampton head coach, there was nothing but relief. This win kept his team — until recently, ravaged with injuries — unbeaten throughout January and moving in the right direction. “Some of it has been ugly, some has been all right,” he said. “Today was a combination of things. When we kept it simple, we were good, but we overcomplicated things at times.”
While it is true that Northampton have learnt to “win ugly”, it is anathema to Carlos Spencer, the New Zealand fly half. He has so many tricks in his bag and entertains from start to finish. At times a coach’s nightmare, he is, quite simply, wonderful to watch.
In the seventh minute, Spencer struck a banana-kick into the path of Sean Lamont, on the right wing, who gathered the ball and sprinted through for Northampton’s opening try.
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Leeds led 13-12 at half-time, thanks to two tries from Tom Biggs, their left wing, but would have been disappointed to have conceded a try by Jon Clarke close to the interval. Northampton failed to cross the line again and had only three penalties — two for Reihana, one for Spencer — to show for all their efforts as injury time approached. In the end, they nearly threw it all away.
SCORERS: Northampton: Tries: Lamont (7min), Clarke (39). Conversion: Reihana. Penalty goals: Reihana 2 (45, 79), Spencer (63). Leeds Tykes: Tries: Biggs 2 (11, 29), Care (78). Penalty goal: Ross (26).
SCORING SEQUENCE (Northampton first): 5-0, 5-5, 5-8, 5-13, 10-13, 12-13 (half-time), 15-13, 18-13, 18-18, 21-18.
NORTHAMPTON: B Reihana; S Lamont, J Clarke, D Quinlan (rep: R Kydd, 59), B Cohen (rep: J Rudd, 45-50); C Spencer, M Robinson (rep: J Howard, 78); T Smith, S Thompson, C Budgen (rep: S Emms, 78), Damien Browne, M Lord (rep: D Gerard, 78), P Tupai (rep: S Harding, 68), B Lewitt, Daniel Browne.
LEEDS TYKES: R de Marigny; A Snyman, R Vickerman (rep: D Doherty, 49), C Bell, T Biggs; G Ross, J Marshall (sin-bin, 45-55; rep: D Care, 65); M Shelley (rep: K Lensing, 58), R Rawlinson (rep: G Bulloch, 46), R Gerber, S Hooper, T Palmer, S Morgan (rep: J Dunbar, 46), R Parks (rep: D Hyde, 65), N Thomas (rep: J Crane, 46).
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Referee: A Spreadbury.
Attendance: 13,488.