Saints Edge Bath 71-48 in Second-Highest Scoring Game in Premiership History

Northampton Saints and Bath produced an all-time Gallagher Premiership epic on Saturday, the Saints running out 71-48 winners at Franklin's Gardens in a 119-point shootout — the second-highest aggregate ever in English top-flight rugby.

Bath led a breathless first half 29-26, both sides already securing bonus points before the break, with Finn Russell pulling the strings for the visitors. But Northampton's late try spree proved decisive: Fin Smith opened the scoring after seven minutes, and tries from Ollie Sleightholme, Tommy Freeman, captain Fraser Dingwall and others, with Sam Prendergast converting, finally broke Bath's resistance.

The records tumbled regardless. The 119-point total trails only Saints' own 94-33 win over Bristol in May, while Bath's 48 is the most points ever scored by a losing team in the competition. Bath contributed plenty of their own highlights — Tom Carr-Smith and Charlie Griffin among the scorers — but Josh Bayliss's sin-binning for killing the ball proved the turning point as Saints struck while he was off. Five of the ten 100-point Premiership games in history have now come since the start of the 2023-24 season, and the league's reigning champions look in ominous attacking form.