George North runs riot for Leicester Tigers against Ospreys

Wales international North, formerly of Ospreys' great rivals Scarlets, went over twice in each half as Northampton bounced back from a tournament-opening defeat at Racing Metro.

Following an early exchange of penalties, North, who played some of the match at centre, collected a looping pass from Stephen Myler to open his account, and doubled his tally on the half-hour mark after Northampton had seen two tries disallowed.

The home side went in at the interval with a 20-3 lead at Franklin's Gardens, but Dan Biggar momentarily reduced the deficit in the early stages of the second half with three points from the tee.

However, North was soon running riot again as he powered through the Ospreys defence for a third, and single-handedly made sure of the bonus point when he stole possession on the halfway line before superbly chasing down his own punt to cross the whitewash.

Northampton coach Jim Mallinder mused: "George is a good player, isn't he? He's good on the wing but he's just shown what a talented all-round player he is to come into the centre.

"Wing is his preferred position, but he's played in the centre at Leinster away when we won out there and was tremendous.

"That was a great performance today."
The result sees Northampton pull level on points with Ospreys in Pool Five, with Racing Metro set to visit Benetton Treviso on Sunday.

There was one negative to be taken from the match for both Northampton and England, as centre Luther Burrell was sent for an X-ray after being forced off with a hand injury.

Heineken Cup champions Toulon maintained their winning start with a 23-13 triumph at Ulster in Pool Three.

Bryan Habana touched down on the stroke of half-time to send the Top 14 club in with a 16-3 advantage at the break, before Delon Armitage extended that lead in the 58th minute, with Leigh Halfpenny contributing 13 points from the tee.

Craig Gilroy scored a consolation try for Ulster in the closing stages, but the Irish province now sit bottom of the pool.

The group's other fixture saw Scarlets get off the mark with a 15-3 home victory over Leicester Tigers.

Owen Williams opened the scoring with a penalty against his former club, but it would prove to be Leicester's only points of the match as Harry Robinson and Aled Davies touched down in an important victory for the hosts, which sees them climb to second.

Glasgow Warriors remain top of Pool Four after edging to a 15-13 victory in Montpellier, while Toulouse are a point further back in second thanks to a hard-fought 21-19 win in Bath.