Northampton and Gloucester clashed in the penultimate round of the 2023/24 Gallagher Premiership regular season, with the league leading Saints marching ever onwards in hopes of a home semi-final. An unrelenting onslaught of attack, Northampton were merciless in their 14-try demolition of the Cherry and Whites, with the unforgiving score-board reading 90-0 at full-time.
Northampton wing Ollie Sleightholme’s hat-trick confirming try brought up a point-per-minute total of 80 after just 66 minutes, ahead of the final total of 90 unanswered points. This match was a record setting win for the Saints, as Sleightholme’s third try confirmed a never before seen margin of victory for the hosts, or any other side at home for that matter. The only Premiership match with a greater margin of victory came in 1999, as Richmond defeated Bedford Blues 106-12 away from home.
Northampton began the match at a blistering rate and exploded out of the gate through a mist of green, black and gold. A routine line-out was picked out of the air from the farewell bidding Courtney Lawes, before the ball was shipped through the backs at a thunderous pace.
Wasting no time in opening the floodgates, George Hendy straightened up and found a gap in the Gloucester line, before the supporting line of George Furbank capped off a two-on-one for the try. No mistake from the tee for birthday boy Fin Smith, who sent the opening conversion sailing through the cinch Stadium sunlight.
The conditions were perfect for these two sides, as they used the fall width of the pitch to utilise the ball. Waters were tested from the boot in the early goings, as Alex Mitchell, Furbank and Smith shook the defensive acumen of Gloucester’s back-three foundations. Ollie Sleightholme contributed an edge of seat moment, as the wing darted down the left touchline, yet sent his in-goal bound grubber bouncing into touch. The sold-out stadium was in full voice as Northampton took the match’s scruff in the opening 10 minutes.
After another inch-perfect line-out, the ball went cascading into the Saints back-line, with Alex Mitchell in pursuit. Mitchell re-set his men, and fired a missile into the bread-basket of Fraser Dingwall to dot down over the line after eleven minutes.
Gloucester were then penalised for not rolling away at the breakdown, to which Fin Smith immediately obligated for the corner after quarter of an hour’s play. However, an uncharacteristic throw from Curtis Langdon failed to go straight, in what was a rare let off for the visitors from Gloucestershire.
The aggressive attack continued, with Gloucester then penalised close to their try-line at the scrum. A quick tap from Mitchell took Gloucester by surprise, and the scrum half then shipped the ball to his halfback partner Fin Smith. The talisman then sent a beautiful miss-pass out to the left wing, to which an unmarked Sleightholme awaited with baited breath, in what was amongst the wing’s easiest finishes of the Premiership campaign.
The bonus point was then wrapped up after just 27 minutes, as the one-way demolition job continued in favour of the Saints. After Alex Waller’s quick tap was halted from the Gloucester wall, Mitchell shipped the ball to a charging Curtis Langdon, with the hooker able to cross over from close range. In a rare blemish on his metronomic kicking, Smith struck the upright from his following effort off the tee.
The first half festivities continued for Saints, with front-rower Langdon over for his second try before the break. in similar circumstances to his earlier score, the Saints were handed a penalty, and opted for the tried and tested tap and go. Once Waller’s initial drive was halted, Langdon awaited the pass from Mitchell and crossed over for a mirror image of his first try. Smith regained his composure off the tee, and sent the following effort through the uprights.
Wrapping up an unprecedented point per minute for the first half, Northampton continued their destruction of the Cherry and Whites with a seventh first half try. George Furbank once again carved through the Gloucester defence, and handed a simple run in to his supporting scrum half Mitchell, who dotted down under the posts. Smith’s conversions rounded up a neat 40-0 score-line, with a minute to spare before the half time break.
There was a slight delay in the second half scoring, but Saints found their groove and were back over the Gloucester try-line after eight minutes. A very popular try-scorer came up with the plaudits, as one-club man Alex Waller powered over for the try. Calling out for the ball in support of Alex Mitchell’s searching run, Waller received the pass and took a detour through Gloucester wing Jake Morris, and battered him back over the try-line. Waller was then withdrawn upon what could be his final home appearence, and received an immense ovation from the Saints faithful.
Less than a minute after coming off the bench for Langdon, replacement hooker Sam Matavesi was on-hand to score Northampton’s eighth try and cross the 50-point mark. At the back of a rolling maul, Matavesi dotted the ball down for the score, as the Saints cruised to the half century. Courtney Lawes then received a monstrous applause upon his departure, with the Brive-bound back-row possibly exiting Franklin’s Gardens for the last time, should the Saints not secure a home semi-final next weekend in Bath.
Despite the departing stars the tries kept on coming, as Gloucester barely got their hands on the ball for the next 10 minutes. Once more, Saints had Gloucester on the back-foot and pinned down on their try line. Marking his 50th appearence in black, gold and green replacement prop Immanuel Iyogun took up from where Waller left off, and crashed over to score from close range. A final conversion from Smith added the extras, bringing his personal birthday contributions to 16 points.
Ollie Sleightholme was over to pick up his brace just two minutes later, as the fiery wing showcased his break-neck speeds along the touch-line. After doing well to juggle the ball, Sleightholme kicked into his revered top gear to ignite the afterburners, and scorched the sun-dried turf of the Gardens for Saints’ 10th try. George Furbank took up the tee duties, and sent his opening effort calmly through the posts.
Keeping up the merciless points tally, the eleventh try arrived little after the hour mark. Once again, the Saints had the might of their rolling maul on full display, with lock Alex Moon coming up with the plaudits as the pack powered over. Sleightholme was then on-hand to score his hat-trick, as his score coupled with Furbank’s conversion, rounded the score-line to 80-0 after just 66 minutes.
Gloucester finally had a chance to get some points on the board, as a penalty at the breakdown handed Charlie Atkinson a shot at goal. However, despite lining up the shot from right in front of the posts, Atkinson skewed the effort wide of the mark, much to the delight of the Northampton crowd. The Saints would extend their lead to 85-0, as with 10 minutes remaining the free-flowing, off-load carnage tore holes through the Gloucester defence.
In a running style akin to the Flying Fijian Sevens team, Northampton utilised a series of over-the-head offloads, with replacement scrum half Tom James adding the finishing touches in the breakaway move. Franklin’s Garden’s remained in full voice for the remainder of the match, and erupted upon the announcement of Ollie Sleightholme’s Player of the Match Award. “Ollie, Ollie, Ollie, Oi, Oi, Oi” was the chant for the man of the hour, as a party atmosphere consumed Franklin’s Gardens in the closing moments.
With salt firmly in the wounds, Northampton added their 14th and final try of the afternoon, as Sam Matavesi rounded up the scoring to an unfathomable 90 point lead. Another dominant rolling maul, the Fijian front-rower orchestrated the attack, from throw to grounding to grab his second try with two minutes remaining.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS: 90
TRIES: 14 (Furbank 1′, Dingwall 11′, Sleightholme 20′, 55′, 65′, Langdon 27′, 34′, Mitchell 37′, Waller 48′, Matavesi 49′, 78′, Iyogun 53′, Moon 61′, James 70′)
CONVERSIONS: 9 (Smith 1′, 11′, 20′, 34′, 37′, 48′, 49′, 53′, Furbank 55′,)
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 0
RED CARDS: 0
15 George Furbank, 14 George Hendy, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Alex Waller, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Alex Moon, 5 Alex Coles, 6 Courtney Lawes (c), 7 Angus Scott-Young, 8 Juarno Augustus
Replacements: 16 Sam Matavesi, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Temo Mayanavanua, 20 Sam Graham, 21 Tom James, 22 Burger Odendaal, 23 Tom Seabrook
GLOUCESTER RUGBY:
TRIES: 0
CONVERSIONS: 0
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 0
RED CARDS: 0
15. Josh Hathaway, 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Louis Hillman-Cooper, 12 Jack Reeves, 11 Jake Morris, 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Stephen Varney; 1 Harry Elrington, 2 Santi Socino, 3 Ciaran Knight, 4 Arthur Clark, 5 Freddie Thomas, 6 Albert Tuisue, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 8 Jack Clement
Replacements: 16 Sam Scarfe, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Danny Eite, 20 Rob Nixon, 21 Charlie Chapman, 22 Morgan Adderly-Jones, 23 Ioan Jones.
TALKING POINTS: NORTHAMPTON SAINTS 90-0 GLOUCESTER RUGBY
1. NEW DAD OLLIE SLEIGHTHOLME SHINES WITH HAT-TRICK PERFORMANCE AND IS BACKED BY GEORGE SKIVINGTON FOR ENGLAND’S SUMMER TOUR TO NEW ZEALAND
PHIL DOWSON: “He’s been there there are abouts (England contention) since the six nations, he was who in that England A squad. Unfortunately, didn’t get to play against Portugal, but he’s definitely in the reckoning there.
“I think based on his absolute out and out speed and his aggression as well, you know, they have to be his forte’s. He had a child, his first child with his partner on Thursday, I think, so he came in yesterday and he was pretty fired up. So it’s nice today to see him get some tries and celebrate that momentous occasion as well.”
GEORGE SKIVINGTON: “I think this season he has been outstanding. I think he’s obviously going to be right on the cusp of the Summer Tour. I’d imagine. He’s obviously, he’s a great lad who works very hard.
“He seems to have got better season on season and I imagine I don’t know if they doing player the year out there (awards ceremony – George Skivington is then informed that Ollie Sleightholme won Northampton Saints’ Spectators’ Player). Okay, there you go. Yeah, speaks for itself, fair play to him. He seems like a great lad.
“He’s obviously one of those guys who’s worked here year on year, and managed to get himself in this position. So yeah, I hope he does really well. And I wouldn’t imagine if you’re too far away from that Summer Tour.”
2. THE MESSAGES TO THE YOUNG GLOUCESTER PLAYERS AT HALF-TIME AS NORTHAMPTON LED 40-0
GEORGE SKIVINGTON: “I mean, we just said ‘control what you can control’, and that is your setups, your physicality in the tackle, you know, we read some great plays in defense in the first half got ahold of people and then let them go. So it was more about you know, there’s things we can control in this game. We can’t stop saints having their really good moments, but we did in the first half just allow too much.”
“So it was pretty clear what the messaging was. But again, there was a lot of young lads, I’d say maybe maybe too many young lads in the end to actually get hold of it. But yeah, I certainly need to watch that thoroughly to, we will certainly know what we’ve got for next year.”
3. ONLY 3 GLOUCESTER PLAYERS (JOSH HATHAWAY, FREDDIE THOMAS & LEWIS LUDLOW) RETAINED FROM CHALLENGE CUP SEMI FINAL WIN AS CHERRY AND WHITES FOCUS ON THE CUP OVER THE LEAGUE
GEORGE SKIVINGTON: “Just like every time we’ve got banged up players, we don’t have as big a squad as some teams to just rotate people through. I’ve got to manage to make sure we’ve got the best team at the end of the season. So that’s it. I’ve got a pretty rigid plan, even down with Lewis Ludlow coming off at halftime. That’s what I had written in my book, and I stuck to it.
“Obviously, it was probably a game you’d like to leave Lewis on and have to have some seniority leadership out there. But, you know, I’ve got a rigid plan, I’m going to stick to that plan no matter what. This is probably a day that challenges you on that plan when you’re living and breathing it. But no, I don’t regret what we’ve done. I think if we if we change the plan, we’re not preparing ourselves best for where we can actually compete.”