Northampton clinch final playoff spot with 10-try romp over Newcastle

Tommy Freeman enhanced his burgeoning reputation with a stunning hat-trick as Northampton romped to the victory they required against Newcastle to book their place in the playoffs for the first time in three years.

Northampton racked up 10 tries against a largely dismal Falcons side who, but for a brief rally early in the second half, failed to give Dean Richards an appropriate send-off in his last match as director of rugby. For Chris Boyd, however, the show goes on and while he will also leave at the end of the campaign, Northampton’s season is far from over.

Northampton will face a sterner test when they make the short journey to face Leicester at Welford Road next week but they can do so with optimism, having chalked up a sixth bonus-point win in their last seven league matches. They have a try-scorer in considerable form in Freeman to boot – the 21-year-old now has seven in his last five Premiership matches – and an attacking approach that is evidently reaping its rewards,

They came into the match knowing victory would be enough to seal fourth place, regardless of Gloucester’s result against Saracens, and though they have been in impressive form of late, they were given a considerable helping hand by a Falcons side with just one league win since November.

Dan Biggar was given the freedom of Franklin’s Gardens while Rory Hutchinson scythed through the Newcastle defence with an ease that does not bode well for next season, when Dave Walder will oversee a significantly weakened squad on a far smaller budget. Pennies have to be understandably pinched in the post-pandemic climate but it must be said the absence of relegation allows for clubs to curtail their ambitions next term.

Newcastle were not helped by a second-half