{"id":297407,"date":"2023-11-12T23:26:04","date_gmt":"2023-11-12T23:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=297407"},"modified":"2023-11-12T23:26:04","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T23:26:04","slug":"northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to move into Premiership top four"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Tommy Freeman and Fin Smith prove their England credentials in front of Steve Borthwick as Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to move into Premiership top four\u00a0<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Northampton&#8217;s Fin Smith\u00a0was named player of the match on Sunday<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The fly-half impressed despite taking a nasty high boot to the face<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Tommy Freeman was lively on the wing and scored the opening try\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>English youngsters Fin Smith and Tommy Freeman stood out in front of national head coach Steve Borthwick as Exeter\u2019s impressive start to the season was stopped in its tracks.<\/p>\n<p>Rob Baxter\u2019s Chiefs have been the campaign\u2019s surprise package but this was their second away defeat. They have not won on the road in the Premiership since October 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Northampton were comfortable winners with Smith showing impressive control from No 10. Freeman, who claimed the opening try, was lively on the wing in a bonus-point win.<\/p>\n<p>Fly-half Smith was named player of the match and even carried on after taking a nasty high boot to the face from Niall Armstrong for which the replacement Exeter scrum-half was justly sent off. As Borthwick looks to rebuild his England side for the next four-year cycle, Smith and Freeman will undoubtedly be under consideration.<\/p>\n<p>Smith is yet to win a Test cap and neither he nor close friend Freeman were part of Borthwick\u2019s team which finished third at the World Cup against the odds.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/12\/21\/77715613-0-image-a-45_1699824946475.jpg\" height=\"441\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Fly-half Fin Smith impressed despite taking a nasty high boot to the face from Niall Armstrong<\/p>\n<p>\u2018He was very good,\u2019 Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson said of Smith (right).<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Sometimes I forget he\u2019s 21. He\u2019s maturing and the more he plays, the better he gets. He\u2019s been outstanding and he\u2019s a tough competitor. (The performance) wasn\u2019t perfect but we did lots of good things both sides of the ball.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Northampton\u2019s Courtney Lawes, now retired from England duty, added: \u2018We can be very happy with that. We played a good tactical game and scored some good tries.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019ve shown we can mix it with the big boys.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Freeman, capped by Eddie Jones but unpopular with Borthwick so far, opened the scoring with Northampton dominant in the first half. Exeter just didn\u2019t get out of the blocks.<\/p>\n<p>And their coaches shouting at referee Craig Maxwell-Keys over their disagreements with his decision-making was also disappointing in a period in which officials are taking too much unnecessary criticism.<\/p>\n<p>Saints led 17-5 at the break with Curtis Langdon also scoring and Smith kicking expertly \u2013 save for one long-range penalty which came off a post.<\/p>\n<p>Jacques Vermeulen got a try back for the Chiefs.<\/p>\n<p>Tommy Wyatt made two mistakes at the start of the second half to sum up Exeter\u2019s misery. It left their director of rugby Baxter looking miserable.<\/p>\n<p>Smith kicked another penalty before England scrum-half Alex Mitchell scored the decisive try. Saints countered impressively, with Freeman heavily involved, and Mitchell finished things off in trademark fashion. Freeman had a try ruled out and Scott Sio crossed for Exeter before Armstrong was dismissed for endangering Smith\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s game management, kicking and physicality in defence were outstanding.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Those sorts of red cards are always tough,\u2019 said Baxter. \u2018They feel odd to me. It\u2019s not a deliberate act of foul play.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/12\/21\/77715677-0-image-a-46_1699825010267.jpg\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Tommy Freeman, who claimed the opening try, was lively on the wing in a bonus-point win<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/12\/21\/77715859-0-image-a-56_1699825638068.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England head coach Steve Borthwick is looking to rebuild his side for the next four-year cycle<\/p>\n<p>Dowson added: \u2018Fin has got a few scratches but he\u2019s having a beer. He\u2019s OK.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Northampton captain Fraser Dingwall grabbed his team\u2019s crucial bonus-point fourth score. Ethan Roots\u2019s try was only an Exeter consolation as they went home with nothing.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Northampton made fewer mistakes than us in difficult conditions,\u2019 said Baxter.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Our young players will learn from this.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12740969\/Tommy-Freeman-Fin-Smith-prove-England-credentials-Steve-Borthwick-Northampton-beat-Exeter-34-19-Premiership-four.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tommy Freeman and Fin Smith prove their England credentials in front of Steve Borthwick as Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to move into Premiership top four - All My Sports News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to move into Premiership top four - All My Sports News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tommy Freeman and Fin Smith prove their England credentials in front of Steve Borthwick as Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"All My Sports News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-12T23:26:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Northampton-beat-Exeter-34-19-to-move-into-Premiership-top-four.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/\",\"name\":\"Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to move into Premiership top four - All My Sports News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-12T23:26:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-12T23:26:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rugby Union\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/category\/rugby-union\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to move into Premiership top four\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/\",\"name\":\"All My Sports News\",\"description\":\"allmysportsnews.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to move into Premiership top four - All My Sports News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to move into Premiership top four - All My Sports News","og_description":"Tommy Freeman and Fin Smith prove their England credentials in front of Steve Borthwick as Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/","og_site_name":"All My Sports News","article_published_time":"2023-11-12T23:26:04+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Northampton-beat-Exeter-34-19-to-move-into-Premiership-top-four.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/","url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/","name":"Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to move into Premiership top four - All My Sports News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-12T23:26:04+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-12T23:26:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/northampton-beat-exeter-34-19-to-move-into-premiership-top-four\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rugby Union","item":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/category\/rugby-union\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Northampton beat Exeter 34-19 to move into Premiership top four"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/","name":"All My Sports News","description":"allmysportsnews.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}