Piers pulls the plug on Irish as North gives Wales boost
PIERS Francis laid on his best display of the season as Northampton staged a second-half recovery to boost their top six chances and bury London Irish.
Irish backed up some staunch first-half defence with two excellently taken tries by Saracens-bound wing Alex Lewington to reach the interval 14-3 ahead.
However, with Francis showing glimpses of the form that earned him three England caps last year, a trio of tries in nine devastating minutes after the restart proved too much for the relegation-haunted Exiles, who now trail Worcester by 16 points.
Francis said: “We were pretty calm at half-time and tried to up the tempo, so to score straight from the kickoff was a bit of a settler for us. You get one score and the crowd goes into full voice.”
A bright start from Irish was rewarded on six minutes when Lewington seized on Teimana Harrison’s loose pass to grubber through and score.
Northampton responded with heavy pressure, Francis and man mountain Api Ratuniyarawa leading the charge. However, Ofisa Treviranus’ turnover highlighted Irish resolve and their luck held as a Francis penalty from in front struck a post.
Joe Cokanasiga threatened for Irish and Saints were stunned again when Lewington picked the pocket of George North to dot down a Greig Tonks grubber.
Francis atoned for his early error from 40 metres but Irish again dug in, forcing error upon error from Saints, who resorted to kicking the ball away.
Lewington almost capitalised, twice pirouetting through heavy traffic down the left as Irish sought a third try. A five-metre lineout presented a golden chance but Northampton disrupted the throw to restrict Irish’s lead to 11 points at the break.
North’s thrilling run lifted the home faithful from the restart. Luther Burrell flattened Luke McLean before offloading to the Welshman, who rounded Piet van Zyl to score, with Francis converting from the touchline.
Duly re-energised, Saints hit the front four minutes later when Ratuniyarawa’s offload found North. He fed Francis whose charge for the line was halted, but Saints recycled for Burrell to provide another scoring pass for Rob Horne.
Northampton’s pack then went to work, mauling deep into Irish’s 22. Irish conceded a penalty from which Francis found the corner and Mikey Haywood finished the lineout drive, Francis again adding the extras for a quick-fire 22-14 lead.
Burrell did well to disrupt McLean’s pass to Cokanasiga as the wing looked set to reply, before a Tonks penalty reduced the arrears.
Irish upped the ante, pinning Saints back, only for a butchered close-range lineout routine to kill their momentum. Northampton made them pay when Francis dropped a superb goal after good work from Ratuniyarawa and Tom Wood.
Irish fought back in the knowledge they needed a win, but another lineout chance went begging and, after attacking with intent, their plight was summed up when Tonks fluffed a penalty that would have salvaged a losing bonus point.