Christmas comes early for Boyd
Kiwi coach Chris Boyd got the festive gift he sought in England after the Northampton Saints thumped the Worcester Warriors in the English Premiership.
‘‘It’s a nice Christmas present for us. All the points are crucial and we are happy to get a comfortable win in the end,’’ Boyd told BBC Sport after the 32-6 win at Worcester yesterday.
Six penalties from Dan Biggar helped Northampton’s cause.
‘‘I thought Dan was good and we put a lot of pressure on our senior players for this game. They stepped up and it was good to see Dylan Hartley get a good blowout too,’’ former Hurricanes coach Boyd said.
‘‘In previous games we have been guilty of trying to build the scoreboard in fives and sevens, but tonight we did it in threes.’’
Northampton are seventh on 21 points – 24 behind leaders Exeter, who inflicted champions Saracens’ first defeat of the season.
A try by former All Black Steven Luatua could not prevent Bristol from crashing to a 27-10 defeat to the Sale Sharks.
Auckland-born England wing Denny Solomona scored for Sale.
Exeter scored four tries, including a penalty try, in a 31-13 win against Saracens on their home ground at Sandy Park. That win ended a 22-match unbeaten run for Saracens, who beat Exeter in last season’s premiership grand final.
The Leicester Tigers – depleted by illness and injuries – broke their eight-game drought with a 35-24 win over Harlequins.
Leicester head coach Geordan Murphy – appointed to the role fulltime last week after an interim period – was proud of his side’s character.
‘‘We shut up shop on Wednesday afternoon [after illness swept through the camp] and our forwards did some light lineouts yesterday and that was it for the week,’’ Murphy told the BBC.
‘‘They had all sorts – tonsillitis, flu, colds – it was horrific.
‘‘We knew we had to push our engines out today and it was going to be a good physical game. I thought some of those guys did brilliantly. Everyone showed up and everyone wanted to play.’’