The try of the season contender everyone missed
While Ireland and Italy were battling it out in Rome in round three of the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday afternoon, followed by Wales and England in Cardiff, Northampton Saints’ clash with Gloucester at Franklin’s Gardens might have been missed by plenty of fans.
As a result, the Saints’ final try is not getting the respect it deserves this week in their 41-24 victory. The try was scored by centre Fraser Dingwall (who also scored the winner against Sale Sharks the week before), but he has plenty of his teammates to thank as he was just on the end of some exceptional handling.
It all came about from a charged down kick by Gloucester, which actually caused the ball to fall into the hands of Saints lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto. From there the hosts entered Harlem Globetrotters mode, with one handed offloads, switches and changes in the direction of play to produce one of the silkiest tries of the season.
Take a look:
Dingwall looked to have given his side an unassailable 41-15 lead, but three late tries from the Cherry and Whites meant they came away with two bonus points. Northampton stay in third place in the Gallagher Premiership with Gloucester in fourth, but the two bonus points mean Gloucester are one win away from leapfrogging the Saints.
Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson said after the match: “I’m more than grinding my teeth today, it’s some way to make a win feel like a loss.
“We were so poor, and it’s not the first time it’s happened. I’m glad the game wasn’t five minutes longer.
“You have to celebrate the things that were good in the game, but so much of that is avoidable if we continued to do what we were doing prior to that.
“There’s lots for us to work on, because fundamentally that’s the issue with our game at the moment.
“We’re in third and they’re in fourth and instead of it being a five-point gap, it’s a three-point gap.
“The table is so tight that when you add those points up at the end of the year, it will make a difference.”
