Chris Ashton scored twice on Saturday to help Northampton into the semi-finals of the EDF Energy Cup.Â
The match started in a flurry of tries, with three coming in the first 11 minutes at Franklin’s Gardens.
Ceiron Thomas missed an early penalty but made amends when he sliced through the Northampton defence to set up the first try from Regan King.
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Morgan Stoddart extended the lead a fine try in the corner before Ashton grabbed his first.
Ashton’s second try and a penalty apiece from Ceiron Thomas and Stephen Myler made it 13-13 at half-time.
But Northampton stretched clear with tries from Bruce Reihana and Sean Lamont, with Jonathan Davies claiming a late consolation for the Scarlets.Â
Scarlets boss Nigel Davies said: We’re certainly not getting the bounce of the ball at the moment but I was proud of the way the boys played today.
“They gave everything they had but we let ourselves down on a couple of occasions.
“There’s a couple of factors which affect our game. Discipline is a big problem for us and on occasions we leak some soft tries as well.”
Northampton went in front five minutes after the restart as Reihana went over for a converted try.
Myler then missed the chance to extend Northampton’s lead as he failed with a penalty.
But the Scarlets twice failed to add to their score as first David Lyons lost the ball just short of the line in a double tackle and then Stephen Jones – on as a replacement – hooked a penalty wide.
Myler finally succeeded with a penalty with 20 minutes to go to put Saints 10 points clear and Lamont’s converted try put further daylight between the sides.
Davies crossed out wide to give the Scarlets a glimmer of hope but Myler’s late penalty squashed any thoughts of a Welsh fightback.
