After an encouraging first half ended 8-8, the away pack took apart our eight in the second 40 to set the foundation for a further two tries that left us contemplating a 20-point defeat and whether, just maybe, talk of fourth place in the Premiership may have been slightly premature.

Steve Bates made only one change to the team that won in Reading, with Alex Tait being the one replaced by Tom Biggs and Charlie Amesbury moving to full-back, although Matt Thompson made a return to the bench for the first time in a while. Bruce Reihana was a late withdrawal for the Saints, captained by England's Dylan Hartley.

Northampton got the scoreboard ticking early on when Dowson went for the line but the game was brought back inside for a penalty under the posts, and Shane Geraghty, who had a great game I thought, tapping to help set up Chris Ashton all alone on the right. The conversion went wide, and Jimmy Gopperth and Geraghty exchanged penalties to keep the deficit at five points.

Coming towards the half hour, Northampton conceded three quick penalties in their 22 but controversial referee Greg Garner refused to give either a penalty try or a yellow card, I can only imagine because perhaps they were for different offences, and each time Gopperth kicked for the corner and we drove from the lineout.

The decision to play was proven correct when James Hudson and Tane Tu'ipulotu stretched the Saints defence on the left and allowed Biggs to easily score his first league try for the Falcons in the corner to level the scores, as the conversion did not go over.

Going into half-time 8-8 we had to be encouraged as Amesbury had almost scored on the right too, and we were coping well with something we had not seen too many times this season – an opposition genuinely looking to play rugby and also being good at it.

As with our two home draws this season though, something happened or didn't happen at half-time and Newcastle came out of the dressing room a different team, one that was almost completely dominated for the first half an hour of the second period. I think the only time we got into the away 22 in that time was a run on the left by Amesbury, who tried to chip over the defence but succeeded only in finding Ben Foden who inevitably claimed a mark.

Ashton scored an excellent second try from the 22, steaming across the defence towards the right, and Geraghty converted to take his team seven points ahead. Our cause wasn't helped by Micky Young being sin-binned for an innocuous offence on the 22, but the penalty was successfully kicked over, as was another soon after to probably take Saints out of reach.

Finally starting to play when Young returned to the pitch with ten minutes left, the Falcons made it towards the 22 but replacement Gcobani Bobo dropped the ball under pressure from a tackler with his first touch. Nothing came of our short spell of pressure, and Northampton cleared from a ruck under which Young was injured, and eventually taken off on a stretcher. I presume that was him in the ambulance that went past us after the game with the lights flashing, get well Micky!

After a long stoppage with just 37 seconds on the clock, Geraghty sent a booming kick over to Ashton on the right who completed his hat-trick, and the conversion secured Saints' 8-28 victory.

Strangely I'm not as depressed as I was after the last two home games (yes, less than after the Worcester win). The referee's use and non-use of his cards and his decisions at the breakdown, particularly in the second half, were a little weird but the fact is that our forwards were poor in the second half and did not play the referee properly, while the backs looked completely lacking in ideas when they did get the ball, often just playing a predictable and flat passing line or, less often than before to be fair, kicking and ambling.

Northampton's first and third tries showed up the problem with how narrow we tend to play in attack, as it seems to have led to something similar in defence and so the last man is on his own and scores unchallenged. Lee Dickson may still like his box kicks a bit too much, but his service was for the most part quicker than Young's and to be honest he was a lot more streetwise than our future England 9.

That's always helped by a dominant front row and quick back row though.

Anyway, at least we are reminded now that this team is still a work in progress and that sixth place in the Premiership would still be a good achievement. Not the end in itself of course, but at least a sign that the end is in sight and a possibility.

Until then, we just need to find out how to play for 80 minutes like at Bath more regularly, or at least compete better for the whole game, as at Irish. With Gloucester's form, there is still hope for next week.

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