Northampton's Ryan Lamb sank his former club Gloucester with a 77th-minute penalty to decide a thrilling Aviva Premiership contest 26-24.

Lamb thought he had cost his side victory when he missed an earlier kick and Freddie Burns landed a drop-goal for the visitors. But Lamb kept his nerve on his debut off the bench after Will James threw a punch to give away the penalty as the Saints edged home.

With six players on World Cup duty, Northampton gave debuts to Paul Doran-Jones, Samu Manoa, Martin Roberts, Noah Cato and Tom May in a side captained by Phil Dowson.

Gloucester have not made major signings to replace the likes of Dave Attwood, Nick Robinson and England prop Doran-Jones, who was facing his former team-mates today. They have instead shown faith in the likes of Jonny May, Freddie Burns and Charlie Sharples, who made his England debut against Wales last month.

The scorers:

For Northampton:
Tries: Roberts, Dowson
Cons: Myler 2
Pens: Myler 3, Lamb

For Gloucester:
Tries: Sharples, May
Con: Taylor
Pens: Taylor 2, Burns
DG: Burns

Teams:

Northampton Saints: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Paul Diggin,13 Tom May, 12 James Downey, 11 Noah Cato, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 Phil Dowson (captain), 7 Ben Nutley, 6 Calum Clark, 5 Mark Sorenson, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Brett Sharman, 1 Paul Doran Jones.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waler, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Christian Day, 20 James Craig, 21 Stuart Commins, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Scott Armstrong.

Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Jonny May, 12 Lesley Vainikolo, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Tim Taylor, 9 Dave Lewis, 8 Brett Deacon, 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Peter Buxton (captain), 5 Alex Brown, 4 Will James, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Rupert Harden, 19 Tom Savage, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Nick Runciman, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Tom Voyce.