Biggar injury fears allayed as Saints put Sale to sword

Wales fly-half Dan Biggar is expected to be available for the Six Nations match against England, despite coming off 20 minutes into Northampton’s nine-try demolition of Sale.

Biggar had suffered a low-grade tear of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee during Wales’ 26-15 victory over Italy last week. He tweaked the same knee early on and was withdrawn as a precautionary measure by Chris Boyd, Northampton director of rugby.

“He could have stayed on, but at that stage we thought we’d bring him off,” Boyd said. “I’m not a medical man, but I can’t see any reason why he can’t be [selected to face England].”

By that stage, scrum-half Cobus Reinach had scored two tries for Saints, profiting from strong work by flanker Lewis Ludlam and centre Piers Francis.

Sale, coming off the back of a fivegame unbeaten run in the Premiership, melted away in the face of Northampton’s ferocious pressure at the breakdown, with No8 Tom Wood to the fore.

They ran riot in attack. Wood crossed on the half-hour, and although a penalty try gave Sale a small measure of respite, wing Tom Collins brought up the bonus point after Ahsee Tuala had gained the restart, which was a recurring theme of Sale’s failings.

There was no half-time bounce for the visitors as Rory Hutchinson set up Tuala for Saints’ fifth, although Denny Solomona did pull off an acrobatic diving finish.

Northampton racked up a further four tries in the final quarter. The hulking Taqele Naiyaravoro somehow ran straight through the middle of a ruck and then George Furbank took advantage of a bouncing ball that seemed to freeze the Sale defence. The final Saints tries came from turnovers inside their own 22 as Hutchinson went coast to coast and then Collins exchanged passes with Furbank.

This was the most points Sale have conceded in the Premiership and director of rugby Steve Diamond was shocked. “That’s probably one of the worst days at the office,” he said. “I really did not see that coming.

“We got beat in every area. Very disappointed, embarrassed actually. A bit like the opposite of King Midas, everything we touched turned to s---.”

Scores 3-0 Biggar pen; 8-0 Reinach try; 10-0 Biggar con; 10-3 MacGinty pen; 13-3 Biggar pen; 18-3 Reinach try; 20-3 Biggar con; 25-3 Wood try; 27-3 Francis con; 27-10 pen try; 32-10 Collins try; 37-10 Tuala try; 39-10 Francis con; 39-15 Solomona try; 39-17 MacGinty con; 44-17 Naiyaravoro try; 46-17 Francis con; 51-17 Furbank try; 53-17 Francis con; 58-17 Hutchinson try; 60-17 Francis con; 65-17 Collins try; 67-17 Francis con. Northampton G Furbank; A Tuala (L Burrell, 64), R Hutchinson, P Francis, T Naiyaravoro; D Biggar (T Collins, 20), C Reinach (A Mitchell 55); F Van Wyk (A Waller, 55), J Fish (R Marshall, 55), E Painter (P Hill, 50), A Ratuniyarawa (A Coles, 65), A Moon, J Gibson, L Ludlam (H Brussow, 64), T Wood. Sale S James; D Solomona, J O’Connor (L James, 63), R Janse van Rensburg, B McGuigan (A Reed, 67); AJ MacGinty, F de Klerk (W Cliff 64); R Harrison (T Bristow 25), R Webber (C Neild 63), WG John (J Jones 63), B Evans (J Stauss, 55), J Phillips (A Ostrikov, 55), J Ross, B Curry, J Beaumont. Referee K Dickson.