Northampton beat Leicester 39-19 at Franklin's Gardens in Prem Rugby Cup on 6 November 2026

Northampton Saints defeated Prem Rugby Cup holders Leicester 39-19 at Franklin's Gardens on 6 November 2026, keeping their hopes of reaching the competition's semi-finals alive. The victory extended Northampton's sequence of home wins to 16 in all competitions.

Tom Rowe, who joined Northampton last season after scoring 23 tries for Loughborough Students in 2024-25, started in a youthful Saints side that outplayed the holders. Wings Tom Rowe and Amena Caqusau and full-back James Martin each scored twice as Northampton ran in seven tries, with centre Toby Thame also crossing. Leicester, the reigning winners, have now lost three successive Prem Rugby Cup matches and sit bottom of Pool B.

The Saints opened the scoring through moves created by stand-in captain Jonny Weimann before his injury exit; he set up the first try in the 11th minute with a long pass to Martin and five minutes later sent a cross-kick to Rowe for Northampton's second. Rowe, Caqusau and Thame had all crossed by half-time as Saints built a 27-7 lead. Caqusau finished in the 36th minute to secure a bonus point, and Rowe scored his second on the stroke of half-time to make it a 20-point interval advantage.

Northampton began the afternoon without two injured scrum-halves, England international Alex Mitchell and Archie McParland, and suffered another blow when 20-year-old Weimann limped off in the 29th minute. England Under-18s scrum-half Sonny Goode replaced him from the bench and produced a notable performance in the position.

After the restart Martin scored his second from a cross-kick in the 46th minute, and Caqusau added his second following approach play by Goode while Leicester wing Adam Radwan was in the sin-bin. Leicester replied with three tries: two from hooker Sam Moli and one from back row Osian Thomas, but were well beaten at Franklin's Gardens.

The result provided Northampton with a response to their earlier reverse against Leicester, after they were heavily defeated in a feisty Prem meeting at Mattioli Woods Welford Road a fortnight earlier. The win kept Northampton firmly in contention in Pool B while compounding Leicester's slide to the bottom of that pool.

Elsewhere in the competition, Sale Sharks moved to the top of Pool A with a 21-19 victory over Bristol Bears at the CorpAcq Stadium; Arron Reed scored two tries playing at full-back and Alex Wills added one. Bristol replied with two tries from Max Pepper after Totoa Auvaa, the Samoan hooker given a second chance by director of rugby Pat Lam following his sacking by Saracens for his off-field conduct, had opened their account, and Sam Worsley failed with a long-range penalty attempt four minutes from time.

Northampton's win keeps their Prem Rugby Cup semi-final aspirations alive, Leicester remain bottom of Pool B after three successive defeats, and Sale sit top of Pool A following their narrow victory over Bristol.