Saints rally to beat Gloucester 28-14 at Franklin's Gardens on 31 October 2026
Northampton Saints recovered from a 14-0 deficit to beat Gloucester 28-14 at DPD Stadium at Franklin's Gardens in a Premiership match on 31 October 2026, scoring 28 unanswered points in the second half. The victory came despite Saints losing scrum-half Alex Mitchell to a first-half hamstring injury.
Played in misty conditions, Gloucester struck first after returning Seb Atkinson set up George Barton, who released Max Llewellyn to score in the Saints' 22; Will Joseph then added a second try from a set-piece move to open a 14-point lead. Northampton's comeback began before half-time, and Saints were further affected when Mitchell was forced off injured on the eve of England's Nations Championship campaign. The match featured four tries for Northampton and two for Gloucester, with conversions emphasising the scoring swing.
Tom Pearson initiated Northampton's resurgence following a Gloucester penalty that led to a lineout drive; Curtis Langdon managed to lift and pop the ball for Pearson to crash over at short range. Langdon then finished a second driving line-out just before half-time after the Gloucester defence initially repelled the move, bringing the scores level going into the interval.
Saints struggled to find fluency after the restart, missing the impetus of injured fly-half Fin Smith and having a promising attack halted by a Joseph interception. The breakthrough came when Anthony Belleau produced a looped pass to George Hendy, who dived over in the corner to put Northampton ahead with precise support play.
Rory Hutchinson sealed a bonus-point fourth try late in the game, exploiting Gloucester's press defence with a quick step to reach the line and ensure the visitors could not recover. Gloucester continued to press but failed to score in the second half, suffering only their second loss of the season as Northampton completed a 28-point unanswered run.
Saints' tries were scored by Pearson, Langdon, Hendy and Hutchinson, with Anthony Belleau converting four; Gloucester's tries came from Max Llewellyn and Will Joseph, with George Barton kicking two conversions.
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.
The win moves Northampton up to third in the table, level on points with Gloucester in second, with the Premiership set to take a four-week break following this round of fixtures.