Gloucester 20-28 Northampton: George North's brace sees Saints come from behind to beat Gloucester - Ruck

Gloucester 20-28 Northampton: George North’s brace sees Saints come from behind to beat Gloucester

  • Northampton came from behind to secure Champions Cup rugby next season with a 28-20 win at Kingsholm
  • George Pisi’s early try put Saints ahead but Lloyd Evans and Ross Moriarty crossed to give Gloucester the lead.
  • George North went over just before half-time to reduce the deficit and his second try, plus second-half penalties from Stephen Myler clinched the win
Northampton secured a Champions Cup place and fifth spot in the Premiership as they came from behind to beat Gloucester at Kingsholm

Tries from Lloyd Evans and Ross Moriarty had given Gloucester a half-time lead, but George North’s tries either side of the break were added to by the boot of Stephen Myler to seal the victory.



And there was good news for England head coach Eddie Jones as his national captain Dylan Hartley returned to action for the first time since being knocked out in the Six Nations Grand Slam decider over France last March.

Hartley came on for hooker Mikey Haywood with 17 minutes left and made his presence felt as Northampton desperately defended on their line in the last 10 minutes but they saw it out to finish fifth in the table to take their European place.


MAN OF THE MATCH
Northampton: George North

Gloucester: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Ollie Thorley, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Elliott Creed, 10 Greig Laidlaw (c), 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Ross Moriarty, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 4 Tom Savage, 3 John Afoa, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Yann Thomas
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Nick Wood, 18 Paul Doran-Jones, 19 Gareth Evans, 20 Lewis Ludlow, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Lloyd Evans, 23 Jacob Rowan

Northampton: 15 Harry Mallinder, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson (c), 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Tom Wood, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Christian Day, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Campese Ma’afu, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Victor Matfield, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Kahn Fotuali’i, 22 Sam Olver, 23 James Wilson


Date: Saturday, May 7
Venue: Kingsholm
Kick-off: 15:30 BST (14:30 GMT)
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant Referees: Andrew Small, Andrew Pearce
TMO: Geoffrey Warren