Travis Perkins and Northampton Saints - the foundation of a great Rugby Union

Northampton Rugby Football Club began life in 1880 and is now one of the giants of English Rugby Union.

Many Home Nation Internationals have donned the green, black and gold shirt of the 'Saints', including Jeff Butterfield and Dickie Jeeps who both captained England in the 40's and 50's, and modern day greats including Tim Rodber, Nick Beal, Matt Dawson and Scotsmen Budge Poutney and Gregor Townsend. The current squad boasts England Internationals Ben Foden and Dylan Hartley, and Scotland Internationals Scott Gray and Euan Murray.
Saints was also home to England's 2003 World Cup heroes Paul Grayson, Matt Dawson, Steve Thompson and Ben Cohen.
Northampton Saints are the current holders of the European Challenge Cup.
Travis Perkins has been supportive of Northampton Saints for many years. In addition to being the club's main sponsor since the 2000/01 season, the Travis family have been life-long supporters and were instrumental in the stadium redevelopment.

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Northampton Saints 23
Leicester Tigers 11

LV= Cup

Saturday 6 February, 2010 - Franklins Gardens

Clinical Saints tame Tigers for Bruce's 200

The Saints secured an LV= Cup semi final at Franklin's Gardens with a comfortable victory in the round 4 East Midlands derby, thanks to a quick fire start, stout defence and the boot of Stephen Myler.

Franklin's Gardens was feeling the chill again, but things soon heated up as the action picked up on-field, Leicester Tigers the challengers to the Saints impressive home run.

The Saints were lead out by Bruce Reihana, making his 200th appearance and after a roaring reception for the Kiwi, the home side were all over Tigers.

Right from the moment Paul Diggin charged down an attempted clearance from Sam Vesty, the Tigers looked uncomfortable and just seconds later Myler reversed an inside pass to Diggin, who weaved his way through the Tigers defence for his second try in two games. Myler converted and gave the vociferous crowd just the start they wanted.

Ben Kay was ever-present for Tigers at the lineout but after the visitors made some midfield inroads Saints were happy for the ball to come back out on their side and cleared with a penalty.

Leicester were looking to keep the ball in hand - at least until a loose pass from Billy Twelvetrees - but decent kicks from first Lucas Amorosino and then Vesty gave the Tigers good territory. Although they continued to threaten around the Saints 22, Aaron Mauger was never likely to win a footrace against Chris Ashton when chasing his own chip, and the pressure amounted to nothing.

Nevertheless, when the pressure was put on once more, Saints defence strayed offside and Twelvetrees accepted the kicking responsibilities for his sides' first shot at goal. Despite some uncharacteristic yelling from the crowd, the centre thumped over the effort confidently and the Tigers were on the board.

Myler was orchestrating well for the Saints, though when his slid kick found Amorosino, the Argentine somehow danced between the chasing Saints. It was only a momentary respite however, another slicing midfield break had them retreating, this time Chris Mayor hit the gap.

Although the centre missed a great opportunity to slide in the flying Reihana outside him, Roger Wilson was superb in support and his offload found Alan Dickens, who shook off an indifferent start to the match to scamper home down the right touchline. Myler again converted well and with two attacks, the Saints had touched down twice.

The Premiership champions would hit back in style though. Myler's high kick floated just too far, and Amorosino again dazzled with his fancy footwork , racing from his own 22 to that of the Saints. Twelvetrees supported well, running in the score strongly and although Vesty was unable to convert from wide, the free flowing rugby and scoring continued from both teams.

Vesty was more accurate with his next kick, pinning the Saints into the corner, and an attempted quick lineout between Diggin and Reihana almost backfired when the latter's clearance was charged down. Dickens did well to dive on and secure the loose ball, taking a nasty looking blow for his troubles but shook it off and continued after Myler had cleared.

On halfway, Tigers were punished for not releasing in the tackle and Myler opted to kick the penalty to touch, though it was the away team who would soon be attacking again when the ball fell loose. Fortunately for the Saints, Joe Ansbro was quick enough to see off the chase of Matt Smith as momentum continued to sway between the teams.

Another spilled ball ended in another wasted opportunity for Leicester, Soane Tonga'uiha and Mark Easter were on different wavelengths and despite the ball bouncing in Alesana Tuilagi's favour, the big Samoan knocked on with the line at his mercy.

With Dickens presumably still feeling the effects of his earlier knock, Lee Dickson was on at the start of the second half - which began with a bit of aerial tennis.

Saints charged at the Tigers line just as they had done in the first half and when the ball was killed by the away defence, Myler maintained his 100% record for the day. A Saints scrum ended in a reversed penalty to the Tigers, but Twelvetrees' strike wasn't as pure as his first of the day and it fell into the arms of Reihana under the crossbar.

A further Saints penalty was kicked to touch and after moving through the phases, Ansbro at pace was somehow reeled in just shy of the line and three plays later the Saints were pinned for holding on.

Another attack provided another penalty for Myler, as the Saints stretched their lead out to 12 points.

A scrappy few minutes followed, though without points for either side as the Saints looked to consolidate their advantage.

However, Tigers pushed forward looking for a way back into the game and when Saints failed to release, Twelvetrees clipped over a simple penalty shot to bring it back to 9 points.

With a string of changes on both sides, the game lost some of its momentum, and the Saints continued to keep the Tigers at bay with more solid defence. It was left to replacement Barry Everitt to round off the game with a simple penalty in front of the posts, a comfortable Saints win.

Teams:
Northampton Saints - Reihana; Ashton, Ansbro, Mayor (Downey 53mins), Diggin; Myler (Everitt 73mins), Dickens (Dickson 40mins); Tonga'uiha, Sharman (Long 73mins), Mujati; F Lobbe (capt)(Cannon 59mins), Kruger; Easter, Best, Wilson

Scorers - Tries: Diggin, Dickens; Cons: Myler (2); Pens: Myler (2), Everitt

Leicester Tigers - Amorosino (Murphy 59mins); Tuilagi, Twelvetrees, Mauger (capt)(Staunton 68mins), Smith; Vesty, Ellis (Grindall 59mins); Stankovich(Harris 68mins), Youngs (Duffey 50mins), White; Hemingway, Kay; Pienaar, Woods, Deacon

Scorers - Try: Twelvetrees; Pens: Twelvetrees (2)

Travis Perkins man of the match:
Stephen Myler

Attendance:
13,092

Referee:
Dave Pearson