Wilko miss hands Saints victory

Northampton won an entertaining contest after Jonny Wilkinson missed a late penalty.

Guinness Premiership, Franklin's Gardens, Sunday September 3, 13.45

Northampton Saints edged a see-saw battle against Newcastle Falcons, triumphing 25-23 thanks to a late Ben Cohen try.

The Falcons fought back to lead for a long period in the second half after a desperate opening forty minutes, but Cohen crucially squeezed in at the corner with seven minutes remaining to claim the points for Saints.

A packed Franklin's Gardens crowd greeted the sides as they emerged from the changing rooms, for a match that featured two of the most iconic fly-halves in world rugby: Carlos Spencer and Jonny Wilkinson.

Two players markedly contrasting in style, the match was billed as a battle of Spencer's vision and intelligence against Wilkinson's metronomic accuracy and courage.

In the end it was a missed Wilkinson penalty that handed Saints victory, although the Falcons' main cause for concern will be their work at the breakdown and line-out.

Newcastle, under the guidance of new boss John Fletcher, went into the match missing several key names including Mathew Tait and influential lock Geoff Parling.

The latter proved to be a big loss as Saints controlled the ball, allowing Spencer to conduct the Northampton backline.

Bruce Reihana troubled the scorers first with a comfortable penalty, before the hosts turned the screw on the 15-minute mark.

Refusing another three points in favour of a five-yard scrum, Saints applied the squeeze on the Newcastle pack before releasing David Quinlan to coast over underneath the posts.

Moments later the visitors showed their better side, Toby Flood skating past a flat Northampton rearguard, only to then rush his pass to the unsuspecting Jamie Noon.

Flood was enduring a testing opening half, and the talented England youngster forced another ambitious pass on 25 minutes, leaving Wilkinson to retreat 40 yards to mop up on his own line with Sean Lamont in hasty pursuit.

Newcastle's number 10 then demonstrated his importance at the other end of the pitch, reducing the deficit to 13-6 before the break.

Saints lost Jon Clarke to a suspected ankle injury in the closing moments of the half, Robbie Kydd slotting in at outside centre.

Most of Newcastle's half-time discussion would have surrounded the need to secure more ball from the set-piece, yet their ability to gain turnover possession was never in question and they scored a breathtaking try seven minutes after the restart.

Jamie Noon led the charge inside the Saints half, before back-row pair Brent Wilson and Ben Woods showed some subtle hands to feed Anthony Elliott in at the corner.

Wilkinson missed the conversion to level, but within two minutes he converted an even sweeter move to nudge Newcastle ahead.

Matt Burke, relatively quiet in the first 40 minutes, shimmied inside to release Flood who meandered up to the cusp of the whitewash, before popping the ball up for Wilkinson to score.

Suddenly the contest had moved up two gears and the hosts came roaring back, attacking Newcastle's Achilles heel once again as the forwards surged towards the line.

Paul Tupai was briefly frustrated as he was held up in the in-goal area, but from the re-set Mark Robinson was forced over for the 7th Premiership try of his career.

More than an hour gone and with the scores level at 18 apiece it was time for Wilkinson and Woods to come to the fore once again, the latter in the perfect position out wide after the former had made a telling burst through the three-quarters.

Coach Fletcher punched the air in delight, but his joy lasted five minutes as Saints struck back again, Darren Fox emulating Woods' efforts at loose forward to help Ben Cohen in at the corner.

Reihana's conversion made it 25-23 to Northampton, and Wilkinson's wayward late penalty ensured things stayed that way as the hosts triumphed.