Northampton Saints 21

Sale Sharks 16

STATITICIANS have revealed that rugby teams can expect their opponents to score ten points against them whilst one of their side is in the sin bin.

Saints actually went two better, running in twelve points whilst Sharks’ centre Andy Tuilagi was ruing the consequences of his 31st minute yellow card.

With 38 minutes gone, the score was three-all - a penalty apiece for Geraghty and Hodgson - before the home side scored their dozen points within a two-minute spell thanks to tries from Foden and Reihana. Geraghty converted the first, then added a penalty soon after half time.

The never-say-die Sharks quickly responded by disrupting a Saints scrum on their own five metre line, allowing dynamic youngster, James Gaskell, to break free from the flank to score his second try in successive weeks. Hodgson’s conversion reduced the arrears to 18-10.

The second half drifted into midfield mediocrity. Myler and Hodgson missed penalties, before Irish referee Peter Fitzgibbon showed another yellow card to Northampton’s Mark Easter. Hodgson punished the infringement with his second penalty, to narrow the points gap to five.

More indiscipline, this time by Sharks’ replacement Brent Cockbain, led to card number three and was swiftly followed by a Myler penalty.

In the final minute, Saints were caught offside in front of their own posts, allowing Hodgson to slot a last gasp penalty over for a precious ‘losing bonus’ point.

But despite sterling performances by many of the visiting pack, the major talking point after the game was the dramatic effect of the game’s first yellow card before half time.

For the second successive home game, the Sharks find themselves in a ‘must win’ situation as crisis club Gloucester visit Edgeley Park this Friday. Former Sharks skipper Bryan Redpath brings his side to Stockport on the back of a devastating 6-35 defeat at home to Wasps last Saturday.

Kingsley Jones’s men will be looking to register their third victory on home soil against the falling Cherries.