On the face of it, not a lot to see here.The league leaders return to the top of the table with a bonus-point win against the team placed bottom.But don’t you believe it.Newcastle may have shipped 60 the last time they played a Prem game here, but they pushed the Saints all the way.Northampton, it must be said, were about as far from full strength as can be.

George Furbank was given his latest run-out at full-back, but otherwise none of their myriad England internationals were present.They will consider this a smart collection of the full five points without them.And they may have to get used to some of the absences, Alex Coles and Alex Mitchell both rated by Phil Dowson as likely to be out for “a decent amount of time”, which he clarified meant more than a month.Meanwhile, the feeling that Newcastle might be starting to build something (or rebuild, given they have a title and a few cups to their history) continues to grow.Now that relegation has been officially scrapped, the sort of investment that Red Bull have brought becomes a vaguely sensible decision for a prospector in sport.

This week, Stephen Jones, the great Wales fly-half, stepped up from attack coach to head coach,The round before last, the Red Bulls (as we must get used to calling them) collected their first win of the season,That said, the missing Saints stars and any stirring in the north-east seemed of no consequence at the start,The Saints had their first try after a mere 90 seconds – and it looked very easy indeed,Tom Litchfield beat Oli Spencer with some ease on the outside, and he found Furbank inside him, who shipped it on to Archie McParland for a try as easy on the eye as it looked to score.

But Newcastle were quick to dispel any thoughts of a stroll.Ollie Leatherbarrow, one of a few up-and-coming talents harnessed by Newcastle, is now playing alongside a campaigner as hard and decorated as Tom Christie, the former Crusader.The two seemed to urge each other on in their very different ways.Leatherbarrow was a handful throughout the first half, never more so than when he picked a decisive line off a lineout a few minutes later to canter to the posts.Northampton Furbank (Sleightholme 21-31); Pater (Sleightholme 61), Litchfield (Thame 78), Hutchinson, Ramm; Belleau, McParland (James 78); Iyogun (West 56), Smith (Langdon 21), Green (Kundiona 56), Prowse (Ainsworth-Cave 12), Munga, Lockett, Pearson (Ulcoq 78), Chick (capt).

Yellow card Ramm 34.Tries McParland, Sleightholme, Langdon, Litchfield.Cons Belleau 4.Newcastle E Obatoyinbo; Spencer (Elliot 69), Hearle, Arnold (Beeckman 31), H Obatoyinbo; Connon, Benitez Cruz; Brocklebank (Little 69), McGuigan (capt; Fletcher 56), Palframan (McCallum ht), Clarke (Hawkins 46), Scott, Parsons (McCallum 28-34), Christie, Leatherbarrow (Gordon 56).Yellow card Arnold 20, Brocklebank 24.

Tries Leatherbarrow, H Obatoyinbo, Benitez Cruz, Christie.Cons Connon 2.Pen Connon.Referee Ian Tempest.Attendance 13,762.

Eight minutes later, Harrison Obatoyinbo, who created havoc out wide with his elder brother Elliott, finished smartly after Spencer had looped round from his wing.Newcastle in the lead against the leaders.Newcastle’s next test was to follow.Sammy Arnold was shown a yellow card with one of those obviously accidental head clashes, as Furbank came at him headlong in the shadow of the posts.Both men had blood pouring from their faces.

Arnold was off for good (yellow plus concussion), and while Furbank was off to have his wound tended to, his replacement Ollie Sleightholme had a stroll-in off McParland’s long ball.Newcastle were further reduced next, this time with no argument.Adam Brocklebank’s stamp on Curtis Langdon’s leg was the kind to infuriate a coach.But the Red Bulls held out down to 13.Indeed, that was it for points-scoring for a good half-hour of rugby.

A yellow card for James Ramm in the buildup to a near-try by Simón Benítez Cruz might have come with further punishment, but the Saints survived unscathed as well.The denouement, when it came, was almost dramatic, if only the tries had come in a slightly different order.Langdon finished a driven lineout just shy of the hour to give Northampton some breathing space, but Newcastle would not go away.A spill on the halfway line was pounced on by Benítez Cruz, the Argentina scrum-half now playing on the wing, and he was away to pull the visitors back to within a point, a minute after Brett Connon’s penalty had drawn them three points closer.Exeter maintained their chase for a Prem playoff place with a hard-fought 26-14 victory over Sale.

The Chiefs leapt up into third, ahead of Leicester and Bristol, who play each other on Sunday.Sale put up a great fight but their day was marred when their replacement prop WillGriff John was carried off on a stretcher six minutes from time.Chiefs took a 19-7 lead into the break, after tries from Stephen Varney, Campbell Ridl and Olly Woodburn, with two Henry Slade conversions, Sale responding through a Ernst van Rhyn score converted by Rob du Preez.Exeter had a lucky escape early in the second half when the Sale tighthead prop James Harper spilt the ball as he crossed the try line after a period of intense Sharks’ pressure.However, from the subsequent scrum, Chiefs were shoved off the ball by the impressive Sale eight and Dan du Preez easily dotted down, with his brother, Rob, converting to reduce the deficit to five points.

Paul Brown-Bampoe (pictured celebrating) then raced over under the posts after a wonderful exchange of passes with the scrum-half Varney, with Slade’s boot putting Chiefs 12 points up with 15 minutes remaining.There was a lengthy delay after 74 minutes when the front-row John suffered what appeared to be a bad injury and was carried off the pitch to warm applause from the crowd.With Sale’s two starting props off injured, the game went to uncontested scrums.Chiefs had another try-scoring chance late on when Harvey Skinner intercepted an Owen Davies pass and ran 40 metres, but he was brilliantly tackled just short of the line.Gloucester landed a potentially crucial blow in their duel with Harlequins for Champions Cup qualification next season by triumphing 26-19 at the Stoop.

Arthur Clark returned from England squad duties during the Six Nation to barge over for the decisive try seven minutes from time, rewarding a strong finish from George Skivington’s team.Gloucester twice battled back from falling seven points behind to register their second win of the Prem season – both of them coming against Quins, who remain in ninth place and are now six points adrift of their rivals.Harlequins were overrun at the set-piece and paid the price for not capitalising on their red zone visits in the second half, with even the return of England playmaker Marcus Smith failing to inspire them.PA MediaLitchfield’s try for the bonus point with a couple of minutes to go seemed to have settled it, the centre streaking clear down the left after cute interplay between a host of Saints, but Newcastle had other ideas.They claimed both bonus points themselves when Christie drove over after an attacking lineout.

There was time for one last tilt at the win but one step at a time.An away win was too much to ask for but Newcastle might be serving notice of a new intent.“I’m wonderfully proud of the boys,” said Jones.“We want to improve our game and we’re going to work incredibly hard to do that.If we keep on upping our standards and habits daily, we’ll get what we want.

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