Spirited Welsh can't hold off Saints

Northampton Saints took their first steps towards a swift return to the Guinness Premiership at Franklins Gardens on Saturday, but they were made to work hard for the points by a dogged and spirited London Welsh side, writes Damian Dolan.

In front of a crowd in excess of 11,000, London Welsh tackled themselves to a standstill and showed enough ambition to fully warrant taking their illustrious hosts into the break trailing by just four points.

It wasn't until the 59th minute that the decisive score came, to settle the nerves and calm the patience of the increasing restless home support, as Damien Browne barged his way over for Saints' third try, and open up a twelve-point gap.

But even so, the Exiles refused to buckle and the National League One favourites had to wait until the 72nd minute to secure the bonus point, when a neatly worked catch and drive saw Paul Tupai rumble over.

Earlier, the Exiles had weathered a possession starved opening period and only the vigilant work of James Strong prevented Bruce Reihana latching onto Carlos Spencer's chip through. Sam Ulph saw his penalty from half-way narrowly drift wide, but when the red line was breached it was Reihana who did the damage, as he weaved his way through the tackles to touch down under the posts. Barry Everitt converting.

The Exiles continued to defend doggedly but when James Downey and Spencer combined to send Reihana over in the right hand corner for his second try, the Exiles were facing a 12-point deficit. But Welsh responded and Ulph's chip ahead found no-one at home for Saints and although the danger was initially cleared, from the resulting lineout, Robert Jewell's break led to a simple penalty chance for Ulph to get Welsh on the board, as Saints were caught offside.

And better was to follow for the Exiles just two minute later, as from a Welsh scrum Gareth Morgan's kick bounced wickedly on Saints wing Will Harries, and Paul Sampson was on hand to collect and scurry down the right hand touch line to score in the corner, much to the delight of the travelling Welsh support.

Everitt replied with a penalty but the Exiles were visibly growing in confidence and immediately from the restart, Strong latched onto Morgan's kick-off to take play to within just metres of the Saints line. Scrum-half Greg Nicholls dug the ball out and fed Morgan who slotted over a neat drop-goal, to see the Exiles trail by just four at the interval.

For the opening 10 minutes of the second period it seemed the Exiles might just push Saints all the way, as the game opened up and the visitors stood toe to toe with Northampton's star-studded line-up. The Exiles needed to score first but instead had to watch as another strike from the boot of former London Irish fly-half Everitt nudged the home side further ahead, before Browne crossed for the crucial try.

With Welsh's Ben Thomas in the sin-bin Tupai added the bonus point score, and as Welsh tired, after giving everything to the cause, Simon Emms and Chris Ashton, who just outpaced the outstanding Mark Lee in a race for the line, chalked up a try a piece to add some gloss to the scoreline.

London Welsh now turn their attention to the visit of Newbury to Old Deer Park on September 9, as they kick-off their home campaign.