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Northampton continued their impressive streak of form in the Zurich Premiership with a 31-15 win over Leeds.

It took them 28 minutes to cross Leeds' line through Darren Fox but after the interval they made their superiority pay and tries from Nick Beal and Ben Cohen (two) put them out of sight.

The opening score went to Leeds, Alan Dickens intercepting an inside pass and sprinting 65 metres to touch down.

But Paul Grayson put Saints on the board with a 13th-minute penalty and for the next 25 minutes they battled to find a way through a stubborn Tykes defence.

They dominated the line-outs with Matt Lord towering above everyone, and were far more powerful at the set scrums where they were constantly able to disrupt Leeds' ball.

Saints thought they had broken through when John Clarke touched down after gathering Grayson's chip ahead but the referee had spotted Tristan Davies take out the kicker and controversially called the game back for the penalty.

Davies was sin-binned and from the resulting pressure the Northampton pack forced a series of penalties and line-outs and finally Fox burrowed over from close range.

Grayson missed the conversion and Leeds took full advantage when Gordon Ross, who minutes earlier saw a penalty come back off the bar, landed a good kick to give the Tykes a 10-8 advantage.

Northampton continued to dominate and it took a crunching tackle by Tom Palmer under his own posts to deny them a score before the break.

But it was only delaying the inevitable and good handling early in the second saw the Saints switch play twice before Beal dashed through a gap to score under the posts.

Grayson's deputy, Shane Drahm, slotted home the conversion and a pair of penalties shortly afterwards, the second from half way, put Northampton 11 points clear.

They extended that lead 15 minutes from time when Cohen palmed down a chip ahead, Andy Vilk caught it and fed the England centre for a stroll in score.

Leeds were by now well beaten but they did put down a marker for the future when 17-year-old David Doherty came off the bench to become their youngest Zurich Premiership player.

Ross almost grabbed a consolation for Leeds but was unable to ground the ball but a spell of sustained pressure was finally rewarded when David Rees touched down.

But the Saints had the last word, Drahm's pinpoint kick gathered comfortably by Cohen to round of a satisfying afternoon for the midlanders.

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