Northampton will qualify for the Premiership semi-finals if London Irish fail to pick up at least three points against Saracens this weekend after the Saints thrashed Newcastle Falcons 66-5 at Kingston Park.
The Exiles are now the only team that can usurp Phil Dowson’s men in the race for the top-four, but they will have to claim eight points from their final two matches against Sarries and Exeter Chiefs.
A draw with a try bonus-point on Sunday would just about keep Irish in contention, but the Saints have made life very difficult for Declan Kidney’s side.
After an early shock, where Adam Radwan’s superb finish took Newcastle 5-0 ahead, the away side were simply outstanding and cut their opponents apart.
Alex Mitchell’s effort took Northampton ahead before a Tom Collins brace and Juarno Augustus’ try moved the Midlands outfit into a 28-5 lead at the break.
The Falcons simply had no answer, and the visitors continued to dominate in this Premiership clash, with Paul Hill, Fin Smith, Mitchell, Sam Graham, Tommy Freeman and Dave Ribbans completing the rout.
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The visitors made two changes from their victory over league leaders Saracens, with Collins and Hill coming into a side hoping to give themselves the best chance of finishing in the top four.
Their semi-final hopes were dented after just four minutes when a neat passage of play released Radwan for the hosts, who darted past his man and dived over the corner flag.
But the Saints responded in kind in the eighth minute as Mitchell sidestepped an attempted tackle to breeze through and leave Smith the simplest of conversions.
Collins produced a moment of quality in the 16th minute, intercepting a pass before hacking the ball forward and outpacing two Falcons players to score in the corner.
And he went over again on the half-hour mark for his 50th try in 145 appearances for the club following a TMO review.
Radwan was unfortunate soon after when a storming run down the right-hand side almost ended with a magnificent score, but a heroic challenge from Mitchell forced him into touch before going over.
Augustus breached the hosts’ defence on the stroke of half-time to earn a priceless bonus point for the away side, with Smith kicking his fourth conversion of the opening 40.
It was more of the same after the break as Hill powered over for the Saints’ fifth try of the night before Newcastle’s Mateo Carreras was sent to the sin bin for a no-arm tackle three minutes later.
He was duly punished as the visitors scored four tries in 11 minutes, with Smith, Mitchell, Graham and Freeman the beneficiaries.
And there was still time for Ribbans to bulldoze his way through to add an exclamation point to an emphatic Saints win, their third of the season over the Falcons.
READ MORE: WATCH: Rapid wings Mateo Carreras and Adam Radwan combine for STUNNING Newcastle try
The article Premiership: Northampton Saints rout Newcastle Falcons to boost play-off hopes appeared first on Planetrugby.com.
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