Following a 47-21 triumph for Northampton over Sale in the Gallagher Premiership, here\u2019s our five takeaways from Saturday\u2019s game at cinch Stadium at Franklin\u2019s Gardens.<\/p>\n
The top line<\/p>\n
Phil Dowson\u2019s seven-try Saints inflicted a huge win over Alex Sanderson\u2019s out-of-sorts Sale to put their recent heavy league loss at Bristol behind them.<\/p>\n
Santa Claus delivered the match ball to the cacophony of fireworks and Northampton quickly exploded out of the traps, coming within a Henry Pollock<\/a> knock-on of having the four-try bonus point secured as early as the 19th minute.<\/p>\n The toothless, George Ford-less Sharks, who lost head coach Marco Bortolami in midweek after just six months at the Manchester club<\/a>, had no answer to the early 19-point Saints onslaught which featured tries from Pollock on five minutes, George Hendy on 12 and Toby Thame on 16.<\/p>\n A fourth would have followed but for a TMO review to scrub out the score finished by Alex Coles, and Sale latched on to this lifeline to cut the margin to 12 points through a converted 24th-minute Tom O\u2019Flaherty try.<\/p>\n An ongoing issue for Sale was the lack of quality in Raffi Quirke\u2019s box-kicking and this again proved costly on 33 minutes when trying to clear their lines.<\/p>\n This latest error ended with Josh Kemeny producing some fantastic side-stepping to leave multiple visiting defenders grasping air on his way to the line to secure the bonus point with the converted that left Saints 26-78 clear at the break.<\/p>\n Sale\u2019s half-time tactical tweak was the introduction of sub prop James Harper, but it didn\u2019t matter as the ground they had to make up widened seven minutes after the restart with Hendy\u2019s lovely second score.<\/p>\n O\u2019Flaherty bit back for Sharks, intercepting a Hendy pass for a 54th-minute converted try, and another converted try followed for Aaron Reed just four minutes later after Saints copped a yellow card for a Thame high tackle.<\/p>\n Suddenly, it looked game on with the gap shaved to 33-21, but the Saints came sweeping back down the pitch for George Furbank to touch down on 61 minutes for the converted try that took it to 40-21.<\/p>\n Tom Pearson then burst in from the 22 to wrap up the try-scoring three minutes from the finish, rubber-stamping his team\u2019s fifth win in seven league games, a record that starkly compares to Sale\u2019s fifth loss in seven.<\/p>\n England: Six players who could make their Test debuts in 2026 including \u2018inevitable\u2019 call-up and \u2018all-round package\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Hendy for England?<\/p>\n Is it time for Steve Borthwick\u2019s England to take a genuine look at versatile Saints\u2019 flyer Hendy? Fresh from four tries on two Investec Champions Cup<\/a> outings, including a hat-trick versus the Bulls, he continued to be full of running here. His burst was integral to the Saints\u2019 opener, and he then audaciously ran in their second when skittling the defence.<\/p>\n The 23-year-old<\/a> was involved with England A in their February win over Ireland A. But even though he is battling for international recognition at a time of immense riches for Borthwick, the consistency of his hip-shaking performances \u2013 regardless of whether it is the number 15, 14 or 11 on his back \u2013 is undeniable.<\/p>\n Just ask the wounded Sale, who copped two of his tries here, especially the delicious second where he left O\u2019Flaherty for dead with his step.<\/p>\n Yes, Hendy isn\u2019t the complete article in defence \u2013 look at his rash pass to Furbank that was intercepted at the cost of a try when he should have been kicking clear from his 22. However, the positives of 56-minute display far outweighed that negative.<\/p>\n England snub\u2019s honest \u2018don\u2019t know exactly where I sit\u2019 admission as Test recall hopes aired<\/a><\/p>\n Mr Extravagant<\/p>\n We came looking to savour the direct head-to-head that was Pollock selected as No.8 up against his England teammate Tom Curry, but it was a non-event.<\/p>\n Mr Extravagant needed only a couple of minutes to first play to his adoring gallery, running in the game\u2019s opening try and gleefully saluting the sold-out Franklin\u2019s Gardens crowd.<\/p>\n From there, there were a couple of lung-bursting chases, a super tip-on pass in the move for the Saints\u2019 third try, and then a subtle knock-on that he very nearly got away before TMO intervened to rule out the Coles score.<\/p>\n When it came to the carry, Pollock was in a different league compared to the less involved Curry. Pollock exited 16 minutes into the second half to cheers, with Curry battling on for scraps for just a few minutes more before he too was called ashore.<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n Under-pressure Quirke<\/p>\n Another match-up that jumped off the pre-match page was the scrum-half battle between Saints\u2019 Alex Mitchell and Sale\u2019s Quirke. It\u2019s incredible to think it is now four years since Quirke delivered that stunning try for England against the Springboks at Twickenham.<\/p>\n The 24-year-old\u2019s career has been terrorised by injury, and his battle for selection at his club \u2013 never mind Test level \u2013 was evident in how this was just his second Premiership start this term, as he has been behind Gus Warr in the selection.<\/p>\n An impressive contribution as a starter in last weekend\u2019s Champions Cup win at Clermont meant he retained the No.9 jersey here, but there was a chasm in the quality of what he delivered here compared to Mitchell, who is living his best life as Borthwick\u2019s England No.9.<\/p>\n Quirke repeatedly got his under-pressure team in trouble with his inadequate first-half box kicking, a weakness that contrasted with how the more composed Mitchell, whose calmness in tricky situations shone true.<\/p>\n Look at how he improvised when tidying up a filthy ball to change angles and provide a canny assist for the supporting Hendy to score in the first half. Less than six minutes were remaining when he was called ashore with his team 40-21 up and in control.<\/p>\n By then, Quirke has long departed. He did show a glimpse of his footwork, someone eluding a pile of players in the middle of the pitch to race to the 22 early in the second half, but nothing came of that break and it summed up his afternoon compared to the impactful Mitchell.<\/p>\n Leicester Tigers v Gloucester: Five takeaways as \u2018irresistible\u2019 trio shine while returning Lion \u2018warms cockles\u2019 of Steve Borthwick\u2019s heart<\/a><\/p>\n Back from the ban<\/p>\n Rookie Italian winger Edoardo Todaro must have been nervous coming back into the Northampton side, having been red-carded in his last appearance and banned for two matches.<\/p>\n Before that sending off at Bristol, the 19-year-old had been making waves at Saints, scoring four tries in six appearances and going on to make a Test debut for Italy in November.<\/p>\n It was an aerial tackle against Sam Worsley that was his undoing at Ashton Gate, but there was no repeat of that miscalculation here. When it came for him to make a defensive impression against Sale, he didn\u2019t shirk making a good tackle down his wing.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t put a stop to the Sharks, who ended up scoring in the other corner when the 23rd-minute move carried on, but his intervention showed that the youngster\u2019s confidence hadn\u2019t been dented by what happened a few weeks ago. This response was good to see.<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n
Player of the match off the bench when catapulting his club to Premiership final glory<\/a> in 2024, his box of tricks repertoire has since greatly expanded, and he was poison to the Sharks in Saturday\u2019s first half.<\/p>\n
Carrying, of course, has rarely been Curry\u2019s thing but unless you double-checked his CV, you\u2019d never have known he was the long-serving England back-rower who has been earning his stripes for quite some time up against a Test-level rookie.<\/p>\n