Premiership: Northampton Saints 25-18 Harlequins
Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
| Gallagher Premiership |
|---|
| Northampton (9) 25 |
| Try: Hartley Con: Biggar Pens: Biggar 5, Mallinder |
| Harlequins (3) 18 |
| Tries: Care, Lang Con: Smith Pens: Smith 2 |
England captain Dylan Hartley continued his comeback from injury with a try to guide Northampton to a Premiership victory against Harlequins.
The hooker was on the end of a Saints rolling maul 10 minutes after coming on as a second-half replacement.
It proved decisive as Quins threatened an away win through tries from England scrum-half Danny Care and James Lang.
Dan Biggar kicked 17 points with a conversion and five penalties, missing just once off the tee for Saints.
The hosts clung on for a first win of the season - and for new director of rugby Chris Boyd - as Harlequins came within inches of snatching a draw before Saints turned the ball over on their own try line.
Hartley, who missed five months with a recurrence of a concussion after the last round of the Six Nations in March, was also ruled out of England's summer Test series in South Africa.
His score was Northampton's only try of the evening, after Biggar and Marcus Smith traded penalties in a first half that saw Saints lead 9-3.
Cobus Reinach had one disallowed by the television match official when Harlequins hooker Elia Elia wedged a hand under the ball with a last-ditch challenge.
Quins made few visits to their opponents' 22. But Care bundled over from five metres with their first before replacement fly-half Lang set up a nervous finish with a burst through Northampton's defence from 40 metres out for his first Premiership try.
Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd told BBC Radio Northampton:
"We're still working out how to play with each other. I think we probably deserved the victory more than they did in the end.
"If they'd have scored and kicked the goal at the end to get the draw, they probably would've taken that and it would've felt a bit hollow for us.
"We've just got to get better at the chances we create. We're not converting them into enough points.
"It's a new game plan, a new emphasis and new people playing it, so we're a long way from complete that's for sure."
Northampton: Tuala; Pisi, Burrell, Francis, Collins; Biggar, Reinach; Waller (capt), Fish, Franks, Ribbans, Lawes, Haskell, Brussow, Harrison.
Replacements: Hartley, van Wyk, Painter, Ratuniyarawa, Gibson, Mitchell, Symons, Mallinder.
Harlequins: Morris; Walker, Marchant, Tapuai, Earle; Smith, Care; Lambert, Elia, Collier, Symons, Glynn, White, Robshaw (capt), Chisholm.
Replacements: Crumpton, Auterac, Swainston, South, Bothma, Mulchrone, Lang, Lasike.
Referee: Tom Foley.
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Refs are now hellbent on ensuring in such endless advantages points are scored regardless. This law needs looking at as it's killing matches.
1. I went to the match
2. The first half wasn't great; a few penalty kicks and one or two exciting pieces of play but (by and large) it seemed neither side was seriously threatened.
3. Even as a Saints fan I have to admit Quins made the final 3 minutes very entertaining and enthralling.
4. Don't like it? Don't watch it. Simple.
You are so insightful.
I bet in your home country they call you the great Oracle.
Or maybe not!
The land of the long white cloud has produced some real gems and now you,
still I suppose the wheels had to come off at some point.
Living in "rural Germany", I would have thought there were so many better things to be doing if you hate watching English Premiership rugby, even if you won't change channels!
According to my clock you must have left that post at 5.30 am on a Saturday morning???
Is you life really going as you'd like it? Your username always makes we wonder if you're not hung like Chinese mouse!
Good win for Northampton and great for Hartley after such a long lay-off. Saints have been off the pace for a couple of seasons now. I hope that they're back in contention!
Quins need to trust Marcus more with decision making, Earle needs to go looking for work.
Overall not the best game, too many handling errors, but right result
I thought Burrell had a reasonable match; he made some good tackles and carried the ball better than most considering the amount of handling errors in the match.
If you're so disappointed in the standard of rugby, why don't you give it a go yourself? Surely the game can't be worse off for having you it in?
Try not awarded due to a defenders hand under the ball.
@50 Cal
You are so insightful.
I bet in your home country they call you the great Oracle.
____
I highly doubt it as he's Australian. I don't believe they could spell it, let alone be sufficiently cultured to have read the Classics.
They probably call him an Almighty XXXX.
His kicking was good, think he did miss one penalty though? His outfield play was solid although his challenge for the 2nd Harlequins try was weak, I heard a few Saints fans say that a player of Biggar's experience should be making that tackle... the only real grumble we can have about him, but we won so it matters little now.
Its a bloody steep learning curve Eng club game....approx 30 game+ season etc.