Saints rally to beat Gloucester but Mitchell hobbles off injured

The Prem

Northampton (14) 28

Tries: Pearson, Langdon, Hendy, Hutchinson Cons: Belleau 4

Gloucester (14) 14

Tries: Llewellyn, Joseph Cons: Barton 2

Northampton Saints scored 28 unanswered points to come from behind and overcome a stubborn Gloucester 28-14 at DPD Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

But England boss Steve Borthwick will be concerned after scrum-half Alex Mitchell was forced off with a hamstring injury during the first half.

Gloucester had the better of the opening exchanges with tries from Max Llewellyn and Will Joseph opening up a 14 point lead, before Tom Pearson responded for Saints.

Curtis Langdon's effort on the verge of half-time brought the scores level, but it took until the final quarter for Saints to really seize control of the game.

George Hendy added a third try after a pinpoint pass from Anthony Belleau before Rory Hutchinson's late score put the game beyond the visitors.

Victory moves Northampton up to third in the table, level on points with Gloucester in second as the Prem takes a four-week break.

In the misty conditions, it was the visitors who struck first.

Attacking in the Saints' 22, the returning Seb Atkinson released George Barton who offloaded to Llewellyn to dot down over the whitewash.

Saints then suffered another blow as Mitchell left the field eight days before England face Australia in the Nations Championship.

After being repeatedly repelled by Northampton's defence, Gloucester then scored again. Following a well executed set-piece move, Hendy was unable to contain Joseph, who stumbled over the line to add the Cherry and Whites' second.

Northampton desperately needed some attacking emphasis and finally found it through Pearson.

With Gloucester penalised in their own half, Saints kicked for the corner. The resulting rolling maul had seemingly come to a halt, but Langdon managed to pop the ball up to the flanker who crashed over at short range.

Saints then claimed a second in similar circumstances right before half-time. Another driving line-out was initially kept out by Gloucester before it splintered, allowing Langdon to dive over.

Missing the impetus of injured fly-half Fin Smith, Saints continued to struggle in attack after the restart with another promising opportunity snuffed out by a Joseph interception.

With both defences on top, the game needed a moment of real quality and eventually received it from Belleau.

With the Gloucester defence narrow, the fly-half played a perfect looped pass to Hendy who dived over in the corner to give Saints the lead.

Hutchinson then added a bonus point fourth, the replacement centre exploiting Gloucester's press defence with a quick step to force his way over the line.

Gloucester continued pressing until the end but were unable to breach the Saints defence, recording only their second loss of the season.

Northampton Saints head coach Sam Vesty told BBC Radio Northampton:

"[It was] a really satisfying win, a real contest of attack and defence, where both defences were tested but stood up.

"We started doing a lot of things better with 10 minutes to go in the first half. We moved off the ball better, created opportunities and we got that try just before half-time which is always a good time to score.

"In a game where defences are strong, you have to be pretty ruthless and we were alive to the opportunities, which was good to see."

On Alex Mitchell's injury:

"He felt something in his hamstring, we can't know more than that. It may not be too bad but then nobody who pulls their hamstring thinks it's bad."

Gloucester head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"We came out of the blocks well, attacked the game, but we just weren't accurate enough especially at the back-end of the first-half.

"We had some real opportunities and could've come in 14 or even 21 nil up, but we gave away a couple of penalties, they scored too easily and suddenly it was 14 all.

"We didn't get the launches and the ball through the hands the way we wanted to. The boys stayed in the fight, kept trying, but a lot of our play was scrappy balls, picking balls off the floor and Saints took their opportunities really well.

"There will be some good learnings here."

Northampton: Pater; Sleightholme, Freeman, Dingwall (c), Hendy; Belleau, Mitchell; Iyogun, Langdon, Kundiona; Coles, Prowse, Kemeny, Pearson, Chick.

Replacements: Smith, Fischetti, Neculai, Van Der Mescht, Lockett, Pollock, Weimann, Hutchinson.

Gloucester: Barton; Joseph, Llewellyn, S Atkinson (c), W Knight; C Atkinson, Englefield; Rapava Ruskin, Blake, Fasogbon; Kleyn, Clark, Thomas, Gwynne, Clement.

Replacements: Lake, Bleuler, C Knight, Trenholm, Morgan, Ludlow, Robson, Redshaw.

Referee: Sara Cox.