Northampton thrash Gloucester in opener as George North runs riot

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/sep/05/gloucester-northampton-premiership-rugby

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The new Premiership season is meant to be too close to call but Northampton already have other ideas. The defending league champions kicked off the campaign with a genuine swagger, a hat-trick of tries from George North contributing to a resounding eight-try victory over a Gloucester side whose expensive new signings endured a chastening welcome to English domestic rugby.

There is a long way to go until next May, of course, but the physicality, tempo and purpose shown by Saints was far too much for the visitors. There was still half an hour to play when North cruised over for his third try of the evening and Northampton could afford the luxury of hauling off Alex Corbisiero and Samu Manoa early with the demolition job already complete.

North, such a potent threat on the left wing when given the opportunity to play on the front foot, was not the only Saint to catch the eye. Manoa, Tom Wood, the Pisi brothers, Stephen Myler and Luther Burrell were also conspicuous on a night when it was infinitely preferable to be wearing green. Gloucester’s own brace of Welshmen, James Hook and Richard Hibbard, had nothing like the same impact as their new side slipped to their worst-ever Premiership defeat. “We’ve set our stall out pretty early,” confirmed North, making it clear that Saints are already hell-bent on defending their title. “We don’t want to be one-hit wonders and we want to back it up.”

It is the safest of bets that North will score plenty more tries this season and he had his first of the campaign safely tucked away inside 22 minutes. Gloucester were slightly unlucky to be penalised for offside after a clearance kick from Hook and, from the ensuing lineout 70 metres back downfield, a short-side attack worked the lurking North over on the left.

Myler’s conversion made the score 10-3, he and Hook having swapped earlier penalties as the two front rows battled it out for scrummaging supremacy. John Afoa and Corbisiero were both penalised early on by the referee, Wayne Barnes, but the most resounding crunch of the evening was a monumental hit by Manoa on the Gloucester skipper Billy Twelvetrees that would have felled the stoutest of English oaks.

There was further pain in store for Gloucester when Northampton, with their tails now right up, pressed forward again and Myler’s deft chip was caught on the full by a sprinting George Pisi who scored by the posts. With the half-time whistle looming, Saints then launched another compelling surge through James Wilson and George Pisi who found North steaming up in support. The Welshman looked to offload but ended up twisting away from the cover tacklers and diving over for his second try. The resultant interval scoreline of 24-6 represented the healthiest of cushions for the home team.

From Gloucester’s perspective, alarm bells were ringing even before their centre Henry Trinder was sin-binned. Burrell earned the first affirmative try decision of the season from the television match official and another well-judged contribution from Myler, this time a lobbed pass which left the cherry and white midfield flat-footed, gave North a clear run to the line. The 22-year-old will have better games and not cross the whitewash once but, confidence-wise, this was the most pluperfect of starts.

It was absolutely no surprise when Northampton added further tries through their replacements Kahn Fotuali’i and Jon Fisher and an eighth materialised with five minutes left when Burrell intercepted a loose ball from Ross Moriarty. The England centre was a comfortable winner in his personal duel with Twelvetrees, summing up his side’s potent combination of strength and skill.

Quite what this does to morale at Kingsholm is another matter. Even allowing for the magnetic impact of North the two sides were poles apart, giving their new director of rugby, David Humphreys, plenty to think about. “It’s the first game of the season...there was always the potential for that to happen,” he suggested. “We’ve got a lot of quality players and we know we’re better than the scoreline suggests. It’s absolutely not a case of panic. We’ve got a huge amount of work to do but Northampton were outstanding.”

True enough. On the touchline stood James Simpson-Daniel, still coming to terms with his injury-enforced retirement; by the final whistle he will not have missed playing half as much as he might have anticipated. Saints march on to Wasps next weekend. On this evidence they will not relinquish their hard-earned title easily.

Northampton J Wilson; K Pisi, G Pisi, Burrell, North; Myler (Hooley, 65), Dickson (Fotuali’i, 55); Corbisiero (A Waller, 50), Hartley, Ma’afu (Denman, 50), Lawes (Craig, 58), Day, Clark, Wood, Manoa (Fisher, 50).

Tries North 3, G Pisi, Burrell 2, Fotuali’i, Fisher.

Cons Myler 4, Hooley. Pens Myler.

Gloucester: Cook (McColl, 62); Sharples, Trinder, Twelvetrees (Atkinson, 67), May; Hook, Laidlaw (Robson, 52); Murphy (Thomas, 67), Hibbard (Dawidiuk, 52), Afoa (Puafisi, 64), Savage, Hudson (Palmer, 52), Kalamafoni, Rowan (Moriarty, 59), Morgan.

Pens Hook, Laidlaw. Sin-bin Trinder 48.

Referee W Barnes