Grayson makes most of a grey day

Northampton 31 Newcastle 13

Anointing their new £6 million Church's stand, the Northampton Saints drew a large congregation and rewarded the faithful with a display of fire and brimstone. The reception was certainly too hot for Newcastle, who were well beaten by two goals, a try and four penalties to a goal and two penalties.

It was clear from the first scrum that Northampton held the aces in the pack. Forward power is synonymous with Franklin's Gardens and the Saints will relish taking on anybody here. But, with the exception of one or two individuals, the threequarter line is unimpressive. Given a superb service, they scored only three tries and missed out on a bonus point.

Northampton had returned from their Premiership opener at Sale, smarting from a narrow defeat in a match they felt they should have comfortably won. "We have a saying that defence sets our attitude," Wayne Smith, the coach, said. In a stadium like this, the supporters will expect more in attack. In the first half, one of the most eye-catching runs was delivered by the hooker Steve Thompson.

Paul Grayson, the former England stand-off who scored 21 points, was named man of the match. His opposite number, the Newcastle captain Johnny Wilkinson, under twice as much pressure, would have been a more worthy recipient. Or perhaps Northampton's left-wing Oriol Ripol. He is from Barcelona.

Making his home debut, Ripol looked fast, elusive and skilful. However, a measure of the incompetence twixt the ball winners and the ball users was such that the Spaniard received only a handful of passes. He made the most of them. In the first half, he rounded his counterpart, Joe Shaw, before cutting inside, where he was stopped a couple of yards short. In the second, he again did Shaw with a piece of work so deceptive it warranted a place in the magic circle.

From that sleight of foot to Northampton's other wing, Jon Sleightholme. The one-time England flyer, making his first Premiership appearance for two years after dislocating a shoulder, celebrated his return with the first try of the match. Grayson had already kicked three penalties when he broke towards the Newcastle posts only to be stopped just short of the line by Liam Botham.

For once the move did not die, but only because Wilkinson, totally out of character, failed to find a touch. Finally Matt Dawson gave a well-timed pass to Nick Beal who fed Sleightholme to go over in the corner from 15 yards. Sadly, Sleightholme barely saw the ball again.

What Wilkinson and his young backs need are Northampton's forwards. As it is, all Newcastle had to show in the first half were two penalties from Wilkinson, the second thumped from inside his own half, which made it 14-6 at the interval.

The referee, Steve Lander, roundly booed before the start, was, of course, warmly applauded when he awarded Northampton a penalty in the second minute after Stuart Grimes was caught on the wrong side of a ruck. The fact that Grimes was violently stamped upon seemed to escape Lander's attention. The suspicion that the atmosphere here could influence a referee was dispelled when Lander penalised the Saints when in a try-scoring position, thus earning a prolonged diatribe from Dawson. Brave indeed.

Wilkinson and Botham gave it everything and when the son of Beefy ran into Mark Connors, the Wallaby had to be helped from the field. Grayson increased Northampton's lead early in the second half with a penalty and had a hand, albeit an unconvincing one, in their second try. Despite an awful pass from the stand-off, Ben Cohen and his co-centre, John Leslie, managed to pick up and were driven over by half a dozen team-mates. The try was accredited to Leslie, the Northampton captain. Cohen, the England wing, is a strong, powerful runner, particularly on the flanks, but whether his rightful position is at centre remains to be seen. On this evidence, he is not a wing's greatest servant.

A powerful run by Grant Seely then ended with Ian Vass sending Grayson over unopposed. The unfortunate Grimes was in the process of scoring under the posts when he was recalled, only to discover that Lander had awarded Newcastle a penalty. In the dying stages, Grimes got his reward with his side's only try, but the word consolation is not appropriate.

Keith Barwell, the Northampton chairman, chose the red-letter day to attack the Rugby Football Union and the England manager, Clive Woodward, in the club-country dispute. England will have greater access to Premiership players in the build-up to the World Cup next year, but in the match programme Barwell wrote: "Clive says he wants more time with the players to enhance their skills.

"What has also filled me with dismay is the new tactic developed by the RFU. Simply, this is withholding money until they get their way. This time it worked for them because many of the smaller Premiership clubs needed the cash after the summer break. What worries me most about Clive having the players more and more is that clubs will not employ current internationals. We are playing Leicester on 9 November when England are playing New Zealand at Twickenham. At least 12 internationals will be unavailable for the League game, once again giving a massive two fingers to the loyal club supporters." Yesterday, a crowd of 10,213 was at Franklin's Gardens, a venue that should prove as inhospitable for visitors as it is comfortable for Northampton.

Northampton 31
Tries: Sleightholme, Cohen, Grayson
Cons: Grayson 2
Pens: Grayson 4

Newcastle 13
Try: Grimes
Con: Wilkinson
Pen: Wilkinson 2

Half-time: 14-6 Attendance: 10,213

Northampton: N Beal; J Sleightholme, B Cohen, J Leslie (capt, P Jorgensen, 55), O Ripol; P Grayson (J Brooks, 73), M Dawson (I Vass, 58); T Smith, S Thompson (D Richmond, 59), M Stewart (R Morris, 54), S Williams, M Connors (R Hunter, 45), A Blowers (M Soden, 70), G Seely, B Pountney.

Newcastle: L Bolton; J Shaw, J Noon, T May (P Godman, 73), M Stephenson; J Wilkinson (capt), J Grindal (H Charlton, 55); I Peel, S Brotherton (M Thompson, 73), M Hurter (M Ward, 40), H Vyvyan (C Hamilton, 76), S Grimes, E Taione (S Otuvaka, 73), J Dunbar (R Devonshire, 58), P Dowson.

Referee: S Lander (Liverpool).