Josh Kemeny, Fraser Dingwall, James Rahm and George Hendy scored tries for Northampton Saints before Finn Smith scored the winning penalty with the final kick of the game against Bath at Franklin Gardens in Sunday's Gallagher Premiership clash. Bath rallied from 19 down to take a late lead
Last updated: 01/05/25 at 5:59 pm
Finn Smith won the match for Northampton at the death
Finn Smith converted a last-minute penalty as Northampton beat league leaders Bath 35-34 in a nine-try thriller.
It was Bath's fifth successive loss at Franklin Gardens, but they showed remarkable resilience to recover from a 19-point deficit to take the lead three minutes from time and outscoring their opponents five tries to four.
Joe Kokanasija scored two tries with Orlando Bailey, Will Stewart and Max Ojomoh also on the scoresheet as Finn Russell converted three times and added a penalty.
George Hendy, Fraser Dingwall, James Rahm and Josh Kemeny scored tries for Saints, with Smith scoring three conversions and three penalties.
England winger Ollie Slitholme was withdrawn from the bench due to a hamstring injury, but his side quickly overcame that setback to take the lead after just 80 seconds.
Hendy secured the kick-off to secure an attacking platform before he and Rory Hutchinson combined neatly down the right flank to set up Kemeny an effort.
Bath were soon hit by two more blows in quick succession. Flanker Guy Pepper was forced off the field with a leg injury before creative play from half-backs Smith and Alex Mitchell set up an entry for Dingwall.
Saints' explosive start continued with a third try with 13 minutes to go as Ram managed to break through the visitors' defense 50 meters to the goal line.
Bath needed a quick response and they got one when a deft pass from their backs allowed Kokanasija to get past Hinde and score.
Helped by a number of penalty kicks going their way, Bath built their first sustained period of pressure and were rewarded when Bailey shrugged off some poor defending to score his side's second score.
The sixth try of the match came on the half-hour mark as Hendy collected Smith's chip forward for a Saints bonus point before Will Muir departed with a leg injury forcing winger Josh Bayliss to play on the wing as Bath selected only one full-back on the bench.
Before half-time, the hosts lost their great player Hendi to a shoulder injury, but they still led 26-12 at half-time.
Six minutes into the second half, Bath were back in the contest when Stewart collided from close range, but Smith scored from the penalty spot to temporarily keep the visitors at arm's length.
However, Ojomoh scored Bath's extra try to reward a powerful rush from Ollie Lawrence to close the visitors within three points heading into the final quarter.
Bath then lost a much-maligned Jaco Coetzee, but they still took the lead for the first time when Miles Reid headed home a kick from Hutchinson for Kokanasija to rally and outpace the defence.
Russell missed the conversion as did Smith from the penalty spot, but the young fly-half put Saints back in front with 10 minutes to go with a 40-metre kick.
Smith then missed a penalty from inside his own half before Alex Mitchell was shown the wrong foot for a high challenge on Lawrence with Russell taking the spot-kick, but Smith had the final say when Sam Underhill fouled.
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