Northampton Saints saw off Newcastle Red Bulls 59-26 in Premiership Rugby on Thursday evening. The hosts dominated from the opening whistle, laying down a marker that would keep them top of the table. To be fair, the result wasn't entirely unexpected given the gulf between the two sides.
And here's the thing — we'd actually called this one beforehand. Our prediction tipped the home side with 73 per cent confidence, and that proved spot on. Saints had been building toward this kind of performance, even if their recent results looked patchy.
The visitors never really got going against a side that held their nerve throughout. By then, Newcastle were already three tries down and had no answers to the pressure Saints applied. The scoreline tells you everything about how one-sided this affair became.
What you notice watching this team is the improvement. They'd lost to Harlequins and been blown away by Saracens, but there was a clarity here that hadn't been present before. Three-try margins in the second half closed the game out completely.
Looking at the table now, Northampton extend their unbeaten run with this victory. Eighteen games played, seventy-two points, and still leading the competition. Newcastle, meanwhile, remain rooted to tenth place with just two wins all season.
The hosts' recent form had been inconsistent — losses to Harlequins on both ends of the summer fixture list — but this performance suggested they'd found their rhythm. By the time the final whistle blew, nobody was questioning who deserved to sit at the top of Premiership Rugby.
