By Alanquin
December 23 2012

At a wet, rain-swept Franklin’s Gardens, Harlequins ground out a victory over Northampton Saints by 9 – 18 to retain the top spot in the Aviva Premiership table.  They played the difficult conditions better than their opponents with their forwards getting the better of both scrum and lineout.

This was never going to be a day for the Harlequin running, off-loading style of rugby.  Rather it was a day for a good kicking game and to play the game in the opponent’s half of the pitch. That was what Quins largely succeeded in doing.  An early stoppage, after two minutes, for an injury to Joe Gray was restarted with a scrum just outside the Saints’ twenty-two and resulted in the first of a whole rash of free kicks throughout the match for early engagement.  Harlequins opted for another scrum and promptly walked the Northampton pack ten metres towards their own line for the inevitable penalty. Nick Evans successful kick opened the scoring.

Handling of the wet ball was difficult and unforced errors caused turnovers of possession and missed opportunities.  A dangerous thrust initiated by Nick Evans almost put Hopper through, but the centre could not take the pass which was spilled.  Quins tried to mount attacks into Northampton territory and when they succeeded they gained a penalty for offside.  Nick Evans kick failed to add to the score.

Almost immediately after the restart, Mike Brown counter attacking was caught and isolated and the penalty which followed allowed Meyler to level the scores at three points apiece after seventeen minutes. There followed shortly afterwards a potentially crucial decision of the officials. A quick Saints’ attack appeared to result in a try for Foden as he took a slapped pass from Pisi to cross the Quins’ line in the left corner.  But the touch judge had called the pass forward and Wayne Barnes, the referee, had blown the whistle before Foden crossed the line. Replays on the big screen seemed to show the decision was flawed but the try was not allowed.

Another penalty soon after gave Meyler a chance to give Saints the lead but his kick slid wide.  For Quins, however, another successful scrum produced another penalty for Evans and Quins regained the lead.. During the remainder of the half Northampton had two penalty opportunities from long range and opted for attacking lineouts. From the first a knock on ceded possession to Quins and at the second Robson, who was having a fine game, stole the ball and averted the danger.  The interval arrived without further scoring.

After seven minutes, an opportunity for Evans to increase the lead failed to score.  But Quins, for several minutes, were exerting great pressure on the Saints’ line with a series of forward drives that might well have added to the score, but did not.  Instead, as the ball was cleared away, James Johnston was shown a yellow card for not rolling away in a ruck.  Another penalty in the attack that followed allowed Meyler to level the score.

Now the rain was falling again and conditions were less than pleasant. Evans and Care and Mike Brown were kicking well and keeping Northampton well away from the Quins’ line.  Brown, in particular was absolutely commanding under the high ball and ever looking to counter attack. Then two penalties from Evans opened the gap again to 6 – 12 as first Foden was less then accurate in dealing with a high kick from Evans and was caught in possession and held on to the ball and then from another attack a penalty was conceded 0on the twenty-two for an offside.

A fine touch kick from Care took play deep into the Northampton twenty-two and then the home team’s failure to deal with another high ball led to a deliberate offside from Saints’ captain, Dowson.  Nick Evans had no difficulty in extending Quins’ lead to 6 – 15. The Northampton faithful began to stream out of the stadium.

A penalty against Tom Williams, who prevented a quick throw in, allowed replacement Ryan Lamb to put Northmpton into the position with four minutes left on the clock where a converted try could win the game. But Quins gave them no such chance and instead attacked the Saints’ defence with ball in hand and gained a penalty in front of the posts as time ran out. The final kick of the match from Evans deprived the Saints of the losing bonus point and won the game.

 After the match Conor O’Shea emphasised the difficulties of the conditions and praised, in particular, his senior players Easter, Evans, Care and Brown who had controlled the Harlequins effort and ensured the win. 

Northampton Saints B Foden; K Pisi, G Pisi, T May (D Waldouck, 57), J Elliott; S Myler (R Lamb, 72), L Dickson (M Roberts, 72); S Tonga'uiha (A Waller, 63), M Haywood, P Doran Jones (B Mujati, 52), S Manoa, C Lawes (M Sorenson, 69), P Dowson (capt), GJ van Velze, T Wood.

Harlequins M Brown; T Williams, M Hopper, T Casson, U Monye; N Evans, D Care; J Marler (M Lambert, 67), J Gray, J Johnston, O Kohn, G Robson, M Fa'asavalu (W Collier, 60-67; T Guest, 67), N Easter, C Robshaw (capt).

Referee W Barnes (London).             Attendance 13,475