Ashton hat-trick as rampant Saints crush sorry Bristol
FT: Northampton Saints 66 Bristol 3
Chris Aston scored a hat-trick as Saints ran riot against a hapless Bristol second XV.
The game was over as a contest at half-time as Saints ran in four tries in the first half, but it was plain embarrassing for the west country side after the break as Saints made it 10 tries and passed the 50-point for the third match out of three in the European Challenge Cup.
It was a slow start from Saints but they burst into life with a smart lineout move from Bristol's 22 line, which saw Diggin fly over in the corner. Stephen Myler landed the touchline conversion to make it 7-0 after 10 minutes.
Six minutes later Bristol skipper Matt Salter was sin-binned for blocking Diggin as he chased his own kick and with a forward in the bin Saints went for the scrum and a pushover from 5m. Wilson broke off the back to pile over for his second try of the season. Myler's conversion made it 14-0.
On 21 minutes Adrian Jarvis got Bristol in the game with a penalty.
But just before Salter returned, Myler popped a lovely inside ball for Bruce Reihana to skip through a gap in midfield and he sent Easter over from 15m. Myler converted to make it 21-3 after 26 minutes.
And on half-time Saints wrapped up the bonus point with Reihana starting a superb move from his own 22 by dumping two Bristol defenders on their backsides with a sidestep. And the skipper was on the end to send Diggin charging towards the line, He was stopped a metre short, but Ashton picked up to dot down. Myler converted to make it 28-3 at half-time.
Saints kept up their try-scoring ratio going in the second half as Reihana powered over after a 5m scrum after 52 minutes. Myler made it five conversions out of five to put Saints 35-3 in front and immediately went off.
With Carlos Spencer now on at fly-half Saints had a five metre scrum that saw Soane Tonga'uiha almost smash his way over, before Spencer floated the ball over the Bristol defence to Ashton on the wing to dive over. Spencer then landed the touchline conversion to make it 42-3 after 60 minutes.
Five minutes later Reihana jinked through a now ragged and demoralised Bristol to send Alex Rae clear, but he was dragged down short only to offload to Diggin to dot down his second. Spencer converted to make it 49-3.
It was officially a riot as quick ball and even quicker hands sent Jon Clarke over in the left corner for a try on his comeback after six weeks out injured. It brought the 50 points up, but Spencer missed the conversion to end the perfect kicking display.
Saints were now on fire and lovely flat passing saw Ashton zip over from 22m to get his hat-trick. Spencer got the kicking back on track with the conversion to make it 61-3 with seven minutes to go.
It was definitely embarrassing for Bristol now as Spencer kicked to Ashton on the wing and he passed inside for Easter to go over for his second from 15m. Spencer missed the easy conversion so it was just 66-3 for Saints biggest win of the season.
Att: 12,607
Teams: Northampton Saints – Reihana (capt); Ashton, Mayor, Downey, Diggin; Myler, Dickson; Tonga'uiha, Hartley, Murray, Fernandez Lobbe, Day, Easter, Gray, Wilson.
Replacements – Shields, Stewart, Rae, Hopley, Foden, Spencer, Clarke.
Bristol – Lilo; Arscott, Eves, Maggs, Elliott; Jarvis, Beveridge; Irish, Linklater, Bracken, Sambucetti, Attwood, Salter (capt), Pennycook, Phillips.
Replacements - Blaney, Hogan, Budgett, To'oala, Thomas, Ashwin, Robinson.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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