Northampton 90-0 Gloucester: Rampant Saints thrash hapless Cherry and Whites… as Phil Dowson’s side secure a record-breaking win at Franklin’s Gardens
- Northampton achieved a record victory against a hapless Gloucester team
- Visitors have made several changes with their focus on the upcoming European final
Northampton rugby director Phil Dowson admitted he has some sympathy for Gloucester after the league leaders’ record-breaking 90-0 win secured a home semi-final in the Gallagher Premiership.
Ninth-placed Gloucester showed where their priorities lie by making 12 changes to the team that defeated Italy’s Benetton in the European Challenge Cup semi-finals last week, leaving their makeshift line-up torn to shreds.
Ruthless Saints ran in 14 tries at sunny Franklin’s Gardens to record their biggest Premiership victory, the highest points total by a home side in the history of the competition and the second-largest margin of victory.
Dowson said: “I know George Skivington (Gloucester head coach) quite well and there are obviously other priorities going on.
‘We had to do something to guarantee a home seminar, George is building towards a European final and next season, so there were several motivating factors.
Northampton were ruthless as they scored fourteen tries against Gloucester at Franklin’s Gardens
Ollie Sleightholme scored a hat-trick for the home side in the 90-0 win on Saturday
“It’s never fun to be on the end of a 90-0 situation, but at the same time we had work to do.”
Ollie Sleightholme scored a hat-trick for Northampton, whose other tries came from George Furbank, Fraser Dingwall, Curtis Langdon (2), Alex Mitchell, Alex Waller, Sam Matavesi (2), Emmanuel Iyogun, Alex Moon and Tom James. Skivington said: “I knew the momentum would go against us at some point and it would be difficult to recover, but that was extremely painful.”