Fin Smith has received a ringing endorsement of his England credentials for the Six Nations Championship as Northampton Saints finished the year in ruthless fashion.

Phil Dowson, Northampton’s director of rugby, conceded there was still much work to be done if his side are to defend their Premiership crown despite running in nine tries against a Newcastle side who were hindered by late cry-offs from a vomiting bug and a nine-hour coach journey.

After Bristol had conceded 38 points at home to Sale Sharks and Saracens humbled by a 58-point defeat at Bath, a third one-sided rout may have sparked concerns about the competitive nature of the league, but the series of results has brought Northampton to within nine points of the top four.

The one constant amid the mad scoring was another sublime performance by Smith, who pulled the strings with ease and in combination with Alex Mitchell, whose return to fitness and form is a timely boost for Steve Borthwick’s preparations for the Six Nations.

With George Furbank likely to miss England’s Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin, Borthwick may look to switch Marcus Smith to full-back and promote Fin Smith to fly-half, the combination that finished the autumn campaign with a flourish in the victory against Japan.

Dowson insisted the 22-year-old Smith was ready to start for England if called to do so, claiming he had broadened his skill set since the Japan game.

“For a guy who didn’t have much of a chance during the autumn, I was impressed by his performance [against Japan], he wasn’t overplaying, and he wasn’t stressed, he looked very composed and confident,” said Dowson. “I have talked in the past about how composed he is for a player of that age.

“One of the things he has been really good at recently is his run option. His kicking has always been very strong and defensively he is always making a ton of tackles and he is willing to put his body in the way of stuff, but I think his ability to run at the line, pick defenders off and make more breaks himself.

“I think he has made more breaks himself since the autumn games so he is constantly adding parts on to his game. That makes him an exciting prospect. To be honest, I haven’t seen a lot of George Ford and Marcus Smith, but I think he is ready. It is whether Steve picks him.”

The game, as a contest, did not last the first quarter. Northampton had wrapped up the four-try bonus as early as the 15th minute, the second fastest in the history of the league, with tries by Alex Coles, Trevor Davison (2) and Mitchell. What impressed was Northampton’s work rate and incision thereafter. Too often such games can become scrappy and lose rhythm and momentum, but Saints pushed on relentlessly, finishing the half with a 40-point lead with further tries by the impressive Josh Kemeny, and Tommy Freeman.

Newcastle had their moments, for example when Connor Doherty could not hold the pass over the line in the corner, but overall they spent the afternoon chasing shadows.

Two tries in the space of three minutes by Tom Pearson allowed Saints to cross the 50-point mark and it was left to Rory Hutchinson to complete the rout, running in a try from 55 metres as the Newcastle defence switched off.

“We were lucky to get nil, weren’t we?” said Steve Diamond, Newcastle’s director of rugby. “Let’s be honest we were beaten in every area. You can forget the long travel. It did take us nine hours to get here, which is ridiculous, and we did have three or four cry-offs, but it just shows the difference of those who have and those who don’t at the minute and our squad is not capable of playing week on week against the sides with big squads.”

One positive for the North-East club is that Diamond suggested that discussions about securing fresh overseas investment in the club were progressing positively.

Match details

Scoring sequence Coles try, 5-0, Smith con, 7-0; 12-0, Davison try, 14-0, Smith con; 19-0 Davison try, 21-0, Smith con; 26-0, Mitchell try, 28-0, Smith con; 33-0, Kemeny try, 35-0 Smith con; 40-0 Freeman try, 45-0, Pearson try, 47-0, Smith con; Pearson try, 52-0, Hutchinson con, 54-0; 59-0 Hutchinson try, 61-0, Hutchinson con 63-0.

Northampton Saints G Hendy; T Freeman, T Litchfield, F Dingwall, O Sleightholme; F Smith, A Mitchell (A McParland 40), T West, H Walker (C Langdon 61), T Davison (L Green 40), C Munga, A Coles, J Kemeny (A Scott Young 57), T Pearson, H Pollock (J Petelo Mapu 40). Sin-bin F Smith.

Newcastle Falcons L Brown; A Radwan (J Metcalf 66), A Hearle (O Spencer 61), C Doherty, B Stevenson; B Connon, S Stuart (H O’Sullivan 51); M McCallum (M Rewcastle 58), O Fletcher (B Byrne 61), R Palframan (C Hancock 61), S de Chaves, K McDonald Seran (Philip van der Walt 52), F Lockwood, T Gordon, C Chick (J Hawkins 52).

Referee: L Pearce (RFU). Attendance: 15,153.