Northampton totally dominated Harlequins in a one-sided contest at the Stoop
with the Saints' back-row of new skipper Corn Krige, Andrew Blowers and Grant
Seely rampant.
The Quins had flattered to deceive with a fifth-minute try but Northampton,
who spent big in the summer in a bid to improve on last season's third-place
finish, were obviously the better side.
Fly-half Andy Dunne burst through to send Will Greenwood over despite the
attention of two defenders to give the home side an early lead but Quins never
threatened again.
The Saints hit back with four first-half tries - three converted by Paul
Grayson who had opened their reply with an 11th-minute penalty - to secure their
bonus points before the interval.
Number eight Seely showed the footwork of a half-back to exploit some shoddy
defending and touched down between the posts.
Then Greenwood and Dunne were left standing as centre Marc Stcherbina went
through before off-loading to Blowers, who sent Johnny Howard over.
A superb reverse pass from Howard to Blowers, who despatched England left-wing
Ben Cohen on a straight run for the posts, provided the third before Grayson and
full-back Bruce Reihana combined to send John Rudd over in the right-hand
corner.
It could have been worse for the home side with Northampton having two more
tries disallowed.
A forward pass denied hooker Steve Thompson while Cohen, who had run 70
metres, was just forced into touch before sending Reihana on.
The scoring spree was only interrupted by Dunne's penalty mid-way through the
first-half for Quins but Northampton increased their lead to 34-8 in the 46th
minute when Mark Tucker made the most of a three-man overlap to touch down.
Mass substitutions by both sides interrupted the flow of the game but
Northampton picked up the pace again with their replacements getting in on the
act.
Shane Drahm, on for Grayson, kicked two penalties and Darren Fox, who took
over from Blowers at half-time, forced his way over for a 73rd-minute try.
Rudd was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Ugo Monye, the Harlequins
left wing, who took his revenge with a 79th-minute try but that was little
consolation for the outplayed Quins.
Teams:
Harlequins: Duffy, Monye, Greenwood, Deane, Keogh, Dunne,
So'oialo, Worsley, Hayter, Dawson, Rudzki, Miall, Molitika,
Sheriff, Vos.
Replacements: Staunton for Greenwood (27),
Diprose for Deane (54), Harder for Keogh (40),
Jones for Worsley (40), Tiatia for Hayter (40),
Winters for Miall (58).
Not Used: Horstmann.
Tries: Greenwood, Monye.
Pens: Dunne.
Northampton: Reihana, Rudd, Tucker, Stcherbina, Cohen, Grayson,
Robinson, Smith, Thompson, Kempson, Boome, Browne, Blowers,
Krige, Seely.
Replacements: Human for Tucker (75), Drahm for Grayson (58),
Howard for Robinson (18), Richmond for Thompson (75),
Lord for Boome (75), Fox for Blowers (40).
Not Used: Morris.
Tries: Seely, Thompson, Cohen, Rudd, Tucker, Fox.
Cons: Grayson 3.
Pens: Grayson, Drahm 2.
Sin Bin: Rudd (78).
Att: 7,823
Ref: Tony Spreadbury (Bristol).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook