Red Bulls take the win

As much as I'm not a massive fan of the Prem Rugby Cup in its current format, there can be no doubt as to how much of a crucial win this was for Newcastle Red Bulls at Northampton yesterday evening.

Moore debuts in style

Newly arrived from Ulster and on debut, Stewart Moore debuted with a hat trick which will no doubt give him confidence and I'm sure the Kingston Park faithful will be eager to see him in action. I did say in my preview that Ulster fans were disappointed to lose him and so this shows.

First half deficit

Red Bulls did trail at the break 14-5 thanks to Ollie Sleightholme and Amena Caqusau with Anthony Belleau converting them both. Red Bulls scored through Stewart Moore but would've been confident given the strength on the bench.

Second half shut out

Maybe one of the more pleasing aspects of the afternoon was that the Red Bulls defence stood firm in the second half and didn't concede any points. Northampton do like to attack and this has shown already this season, they're one of the best attacking teams in the league so regardless of who they had on the pitch that will be a real boost for Red Bulls.

Five tries, this isn't a drill!

That's right, Red Bulls helped themselves to five tries yesterday evening. We all saw how clunky the attack has looked at times this season so that gives hope for what can be done in the coming weeks as they build towards a Prem clash at home against Leicester later this month.

Along with a Stewart Moore hat trick, there were tries for Harrison Obatoyinbo and Freddie Lockwood.

Confidence boost for Red Bulls

An away win is a rare thing for Red Bulls, so they will take a lot of confidence from this and look to build as they travel to Saracens next Saturday after in the Prem Cup. This might be a game where they look to go strong again to build more cohesion as they build to Leicester Tigers heading north at the end of the month. It looks as though a bit of time away from the club and the churn of game week after game week has refreshed the group a bit.

Next up

A trip to Saracens awaits, they'll be missing internationals but may look to give some game time to some players so they're not going in cold when the Prem returns but it is difficult to predict who gets picked and not in this competition.

Red Bulls will be building towards an important home game against Leicester in the Prem where they will be looking to get something from that game. It's always tricky to pick or not pick players as you tread the injury tightrope.