Anthony Belleau turns the screw as Northampton see off rivals Leicester

Northampton have gone all Euro and on Saturday the dividends rolled in. Not for the first time this season Anthony Belleau and Edoardo Todaro, French and Italian, had the run of the place, scoring two and one tries respectively, as Northampton went to the top of the table, albeit temporarily, dispatching their nearest and dearest. Theirs has been a bitter-sweet opening to the season, squandering huge leads in games one and two, but here they timed their surges to perfection to come away with the win and their third bonus point out of three. Leicester held the lead for large stretches of a match that only really hit its straps in the second half, but by then we had not only tries in a seesawing contest, but the customary argy-bargy. Belleau’s second try, on the hour, clinched it. Related: Roebuck hat-trick sets up nine-try rout as Sale pile more misery on Newcastle “It’s not often French internationals become available, who are willing to leave France, for financial reasons,” said the Northampton director of rugby, Phil Dowson. “The market’s slightly different over there. For somebody who wanted to push his boundaries, not from a financial point of view, but from a rugby-development one, is very refreshing.” Belleau, a fly-half, came on early in the second half at full-back, replacing Tommy Freeman, who was playing his first match of the season, his 100th for Northampton. Freeman, in turn, had moved across to cover full-back when George Hendy limped off. Lower-leg injuries were the order of the first half. Luke Pearce, the referee, was off within 10 minutes with a calf problem. Hendy followed 15 minutes later, having landed awkwardly under a high ball, which stretched Northampton’s resources out wide, already missing at least three potential starters. A few minutes before the break, Freeman seemed to break down under a high ball, as if shot. He limped on until half-time, witnessing Northampton’s third try, scored down the other wing. Finn Russell led Bath to a bonus-point 38-17 victory over Gloucester on his return to the team despite picking up a yellow card that caused a brief second-half wobble. After his watching brief in the coaches' box last weekend, the British and Irish Lions fly-half (pictured meeting fans) returned as captain and displayed his full range of skills in his team's third successive Prem victory to top the table overnight, at least.Russell's faultless kicking supplied 13 points for Bath, who scored first-half tries through Tom de Glanville, Tom Dunn, Ollie Lawrence and Ewan Richards. Gloucester, who have now lost seven matches on the bounce in all competitions against their West Country rivals, crossed three times through Will Joseph, Ollie Thorley and Ben Loader – the last two coming early in the second half when Russell was off the field to close to 28-17. But Russell returned to kick his sole penalty of the contest before converting Richards' second try of the contest. Bristol overcame a 20-minute red card for Scotland international Tom Jordan to record a hard-fought 18-14 victory over Exeter at Ashton Gate. Jordan was dismissed for a high challenge and their already depleted side were further hit by failed head injury assessments for Josh Carrington and Jack Bates. However, they still triumphed with tries from Bill Mata and Gabriel Oghre, while Sam Worsley kicked a penalty and a conversion, with Jordan adding a penalty. Ben Hammersley and Henry Slade scored Exeter's tries, with Slade adding the extras. Rob Baxter, Exeter's director or rugby, was frustrated after seeing his side fail to take advantage of Bristol's tribulations: "Going out in the second half, we needed to take the game by the scruff of the neck and take charge. However we were zombie-like, walking in to going behind as we gave them penalty after penalty to allow them to piggy-back up the field." "That effort was almost the highlight of my time here," said Pat Lam, Bristol's director of rugby, on his team's fighting spirit after going a player down. "We had to improvise throughout and there was some real steel and guts out there as we had to play 30 minutes of that game with 14." PA Media Saints have absolutely blitzed opponents in the first half of their opening two matches, only to be hauled in by dramatic comebacks in the second. This time they were more circumspect in the opening exchanges. Theirs was the first try, two more returning Lions, Alex Mitchell and Fin Smith, combining, the former’s chip ahead bouncing wickedly into his hands to set up the latter for a run to the posts. But Leicester were if anything more direct. Billy Searle had opened the scoring with a penalty in the second minute, before Freddie Steward started and finished a fine score at the end of the first quarter. Northampton upped the pace in the 10 minutes to half-time. Todaro, the teenage Italian winger, finished on the right after Tom Litchfield and Freeman had combined down the left to put Saints back in front. When Searle retook the lead for the visitors with a penalty two minutes before the break, Todaro broke down the left and sent Tom Pearson into the corner for Saints’ third and a 17-13 lead. Freeman returned for the start of the second half, but it took one missed tackle to convince him he could not carry on. On came Belleau, and the complexion of the game changed again. First, though, Leicester retook the lead when Harry Wells was driven over after a series of penalties to the corner. Five minutes later, Belleau struck with his first. He may have been playing in an unfamiliar position, but class is class. Northampton Hendy (Litchfield 22); Freeman (Belleau 44), Hutchinson, Dingwall, Todaro; F Smith, Mitchell (McParland 72); Iyogun (Fischetti 50), R Smith (Wright 50), Davison (Green 57), Lockett, Van der Mescht (Kemeny 51), Coles, Pearson (Pollock 60), Chick. Tries F Smith, Todaro, Pearson, Belleau 2. Cons F Smith 2. Pen F Smith. Leicester Steward; Radwan, Wand, Kata (O’Connor 60), Hassell-Collins; Searle (Bailey 60), Van Poortvliet (Whiteley 54); Smith (Haffar 51), Blamire (Clare 54), Hurd (Loman 72), Wells (Moro 68), Chessum, Liebenberg, Reffell, Ilione (Cracknell 48). Tries Steward, Wells Cons Searle 2 Pens Searle 3. Referee Luke Pearce (Alex Thomas 9). He finished in the corner after a sweeping counterattack, Northampton stealing a Leicester throw deep in their 22. Fraser Dingwall and Rory Hutchinson combined to slice open the Tigers’ midfield. Belleau was in support, but Leicester scrambled to stop him that time. No matter, he was on hand again to take Mitchell’s pass and score in the corner. Searle kicked another penalty to earn Leicester the lead once more, so the Saints came again. Dingwall thought he had scored just before the hour, but a knock-on in the buildup denied him. When Leicester cleared, Belleau took the kick with aplomb on the touchline, chipped over the advancing defenders and collected another wicked bounce to stroll clear to the posts. Smith’s penalty with 10 minutes remaining took Northampton beyond a score for the first time, but James O’Connor, the Wallaby veteran making his Tigers debut, secured Leicester a bonus point with one of his own three minutes later. That was it for the scoring, but Franklin’s Gardens was by then rocking to a new rhythm. The day belonged to their new friends from the continent.