Hendy's back with a bang, but Saints are beaten at Glasgow

Hendy came off the bench during the first half of the pre-season encounter, making his first appearance since suffering a shoulder injury in April.

And the talented back wasted little time in announcing his comeback, scoring twice in the space of 12 minutes either side of half-time.

Tom Pearson notched two tries of his own, while summer signing Callum Chick started the scoring early on as he made his bow in Northampton colours.

But after Luke Green was sin-binned during the second half, Glasgow grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, battling back from 31-26 down to win it.

Saints will now turn their attentions to competitive action as they start their season with a PREM Rugby Cup trip to Saracens next Friday.

The black, green and gold had travelled to Glasgow on the back of a 40-28 Mobbs Memorial Match win at Bedford Blues seven days earlier.

They opted to add some fresh faces to their squad, with three debuts in prospect as Cleopas Kundiona, Chick and Danilo Fischetti were named in the 31-man group.

Kundiona and Chick both started, and the latter made an almost immediate impact on his Saints bow, powering over after a couple of strong early scrums from the away side.

Anthony Belleau added the extras to make it 7-0 after just seven minutes, with Saints taking control of the game.

Ollie Smith threatened to get the Glasgow fans on their feet with the prospect of a break, but a loose pass gave Saints possession in a dangerous area of the field.

The away side used their territory well, with flanker Pearson dotting down when Saints moved the ball wide after tapping a scrum penalty close to the line.

Belleau again converted, but Glasgow managed to respond soon after thanks to fly-half Dan Lancaster, who sailed over after a fine break from Fergus Watson.

But Lancaster couldn't add the extras, hitting the post to leave the gap at nine points with 16 minutes gone.

Saints were finding it easy to cut through Glasgow though, and after Archie McParland made a break, Pearson went over in the corner for his second score of the night.

Belleau's conversion attempt went well wide of the posts, and Glasgow soon responded with another try of their own.

Watson was again the architect, setting up a try for Jack Oliver, who had come on as an early replacement for scrum-half Ben Afshar.

Lancaster made no mistake with the conversion on this occasion, and Saints' lead was reduced to seven points.

The teams continued to trade tries as Hendy marked his return with a try out wide.

Belleau missed the conversion and Glasgow hit back quickly again, sending Gregor Hiddleston over from an unstoppable rolling maul.

Lancaster converted and the Warriors were now hot on the heels of Saints, threatening again when Watson just failed to gather a Lancaster crossfield kick.

Glasgow were to go ahead before the break as Hiddleston added his second try of the night, this time going over following good work from Macenzzie Duncan.

Lancaster's conversion made it 26-24 at the end of a breathless first half, but Saints wasted little time in taking their lead back after the break.

Hendy powered over in the corner for his second try of the night, finishing off some fine work from Edoardo Todaro, who had flown away from the Warriors defence.

Belleau converted and Glasgow sought to issue a rapid riposte yet again, really testing the Saints rearguard, but a spill from Watson let the away side off the hook.

The hosts turned to their bench in an attempt to keep the pressure on - and they did just that, forcing Saints to concede a string of penalties.

A Green yellow card reduced Saints to 14 men before Johnny Matthews peeled away from a maul to score, rewarding Glasgow for their second-half dominance.

Lancaster's successful conversion put the hosts two points up with 15 minutes to play

And Glasgow had some breathing space seven minutes later as a brilliant break and inside pass from Matthew Urwin set up full-back Josh McKay for a key try.

Urwin added the extras to make it 40-31 and though Saints tried to summon a late response, Glasgow eventually booted the ball out to confirm their win.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay; 14 Fergus Watson, 13 Kerr Johnston, 12 Kerr Yule, 11 Ollie Smith; 10 Dan Lancaster, 9 Ben Afshar; 1 Nathan McBeth, 2 Gregor Hiddleston, 3 Fin Richardson; 4 Max Williamson, 5 Alex Samuel; 6 Euan Ferrie (c), 7 Macenzzie Duncan, 8 Jack Dempsey.

Replacements: Johnny Matthews, Jake Shearer, Sam Talakai, Jare Oguntibeju, Gregor Brown, Angus Fraser, Jack Oliver, Matthew Urwin, Ben Salmon, Johnny Ventisei, Jamie Bhatti, Seb Stephen, Dylan Cockburn, Brent Jackson, Alex Bryden.

Saints: 15 James Ramm (c); 14 Edoardo Todaro, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Toby Thame, 11 Amena Caqusau; 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Archie McParland; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Craig Wright, 3 Cleopas Kundiona; 4 Ed Prowse, 5 Tom Lockett; 6 Tom Pearson, 7 Sam Graham, 8 Callum Chick.

Replacements: Henry Walker, Danilo Fischetti, Elliott Millar Mills, Oliver Scola, Luke Green, Chunya Munga, Angus Scott-Young, Archie Benson, Fyn Brown, Jonny Weimann, Tom James, James Pater, James Martin, Tom Litchfield, Tom Rowe, George Hendy.