Nottingham came away from Northampton with a creditable two points but it could have been so much more after Craig Hammond’s men had dominated for long periods, particularly in the first half, against the Premiership Champions.

In front of a big crowd of at the cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens Nottingham weren’t at all overawed as they made all the running in the first five minutes and, on his 50th appearance for the club, Jack Dickinson piled over after a series of pick and goes following an Archers penalty kicked to the corner.

It was then Northampton’s turn to apply the pressure. After their captain Angus Scott-Young had levelled the score, going over in the right hand corner following  momentum being built from a driving maul, Nottingham’s supporter’s hearts would have been in their mouths as centre Charlie Savala made a couple of line breaks deep in Archers territory but was thwarted by scrambled cover defence from the visitors.

The remainder of the first half belonged to Nottingham. The visitors got back in front as the clock ticked over to 20 minutes. Play was set up by David Williams scragging the opposition full back as he advanced over halfway, then he got to his feet quickest to win the jackal penalty. The ball was worked inside from the following lineout with Javiah Pohe making metres after contact inside the Saints 22 to set it up for Jay Ecclesfield to drive over by the left hand upright.

Moments later Harry Graham broke free wide left to give The Archers great field position, made even better when Northampton infringed and Matthew Arden kicked to the corner. Nottingham once again dominated up front near the opposing try line and it was Sebastian Ferreira who went over this time to extend Nottingham’s lead.

With five minutes remaining in the first period it was a case of rinse and repeat for the away side as a penalty was once again kicked to the corner, a few pick and goes later and Dickinson added the bonus point try to give Nottingham a 26-5 half time lead.

Saints poor discipline at the start of the second period allowed Nottingham to gain great field position but ultimately they spilled the ball as they attempted to cross the try line in a moment that would ultimately cost them dearly.

It took until the 50th minute before the home crowd found their voice, as Northampton managed to get their running game going with Savala once again making inroads. From a scrum on the Nottingham five metre line, Northampton moved the ball to the right and Toby Cousins, on the field for less than a minute on his Saints debut, was the ultimate beneficiary. George Makepiece-Cubitt’s conversion struck the post on its way over to reduce the arrears to 14.

All the momentum was then with the Saints and they scored another two tries in quick succession.

First, Nottingham’s Sam Green was exposed in the tackle and turned over the ball to Archie McParland who raced into Archers’ territory, ultimately receiving it back from an offload and crossing under the posts.

Then Cousins wriggled free wide right and did well to feed the ball inside when it looked like he would be pushed into touch. Makepiece-Cubitt’s crossfield kick pass found Fyn Brown in space on the left wing to dot down. The fly half once again converted from wide to level the scores.

Arden dampened the now buoyant crowd’s enthusiasm by putting Nottingham back into the lead with his boot on 65 minutes, after Northampton were penalised for not releasing 10 metres out in a central position. The respite was short-lived, however, as two minutes later Craig Wright, the England under 20 hooker, broke free on the right to score for Northampton and give them a 31-29 lead that they were able to see out for the final quarter of an hour.