Northampton continued to rebuild their season with an excellent away win at
the Stoop.
The Saints, who have won seven of their last eight games since the appointment
of former All Black coach Wayne Smith, collected four league points to leap-frog
two places up the Premiership ladder to sixth - a considerable turnaround in
form from the start of the season when the Saints slumped as low as 11th.
Quins chief John Kingston should not be too disappointed though.
The South London outfit may have missed out on a bonus point by the narrowest
of margins but considering they were without injured Lions trio Dan Luger, Keith
Wood and Will Greenwood, they put up a solid fight on a rain soaked afternoon.
The battle started early on with fly-half Paul Burke putting Quins into the
lead with two penalties to Northampton's one, but it was the visitors who were
the first to overcome the tricky conditions and score a try.
Scotland prop Tom Smith was on top form as usual and after a clever break by
promising young scrum-half James Brookes, the Saints forwards helped Smith
scramble his way over home line. Fly-half Paul Grayson converted to put
Northampton four point in front.
A much-improved side in recent weeks, Quins kept up the pressure with another
Burke penalty, but again Northampton stretched their lead in the second half
with a Ben Cohen touchdown.
It was however an abysmally soft try which Northampton were gifted. Full-back
Nick Beal fed Cohen, who carved his way unchallenged through the Harlequins
defence.
The home side responded immediately with their only try of the afternoon.
Scrum-half Nick Duncombe had created considerable space up field but was brought
down. The ball was recycled and switched to the left wing for Chris Bell to
break loose and score, Burke adding the conversion.
However two penalties and one drop goal in the last 20 minutes of the match
from the revitalised former England international Grayson brought Quins' charge
to a halt and handed Northampton victory.
Teams:
Harlequins: D. Slemen, Moore,
Greenstock, Bell, Jewell, Burke,
Duncombe, Leonard, Roddam, Olver, Morgan, Davison,
White-Cooper, Tamarua, Diprose.
Replacements: Gollings for Greenstock (64),
Rudzki for Davison (40).
Not Used: Douglas, Starr, Alesbrook, Bemand, Mapletoft.
Tries: Bell.
Cons: Burke.
Pens: Burke 3.
Northampton: Beal, Moir, Jorgensen, Leslie, Cohen, Grayson,
Brooks, Smith, Thompson, Stewart, Ackermann, Brouzet, Hunter,
Pountney, Seely.
Replacements: Webster for Moir (73), Tucker for Leslie (80),
Soden for Seely (69).
Not Used: Richmond, Budgen, Brotherstone, Vass.
Tries: Smith, Cohen.
Cons: Grayson.
Pens: Grayson 3.
Drop Goals: Grayson.
Sin Bin: Grayson (40).
Att: 5,882
Ref: S Leyshon (RFU).
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