Harlequins……………35
Tries: Musk 4, 49; Anwanyu 7, Northmore 25, Murley 64
Conversions: Smith 5, 8, 26, 50, 65
Northampton……….29
Tries: Ludlam 33, Freeman 56, Furbank 69, James 75
Conversions: Biggar 34, 70, 76
Penalties: Biggar 21
Harlequins held off a late Northampton fightback to earn their first home win of the season and move up to fifth in the Premiership table.
Tries from Jack Musk, Lennox Anwanyu and Luke Northmore saw Quins to a 21-10 half-time lead, with Saints replying through Lewis Ludlam.
Musk’s second extended their lead to 18, and it was much as twenty as Cadan Murley produced a stunning acrobatic finish after Freeman crossed for Northampton.
Quins had a huge amount of defending to do, and it eventually took its toll as Saints ran two more tries through George Furbank and Tom James against an increasingly fatigued Quins defence.
But after 25 Northampton phases, Quins avoided conceding a last minute try as they had last week, as Smith cleared the ball off the field into the stands of an ecstatic and relieved Twickenham Stoop.
Clinical Quins take their chances
Like their Premiership Cup game on Wednesday against Saracens, Harlequins ended the first half with a 21-10 lead despite their opposition arguably having the better of the play.
But when the Londoners had chances, they took them. Firstly through a driving maul that marched forward 15 metres before being finished off by hooker Musk, and then Anwanyu speeding clear after a loose ball in the Saints midfield was seized upon by Joe Marchant, who provided a fine offload to the inside centre to run it in from halfway.
Quins had a lot of defending to do in the rest of the first period, but after forcing Saints to settle for three through Biggar’s boot after a long period in their half, Northmore continued his superb start to the season as he cut through the Saints defence on the right hand side to breeze over from 30 metres out.
After Musk went over at the back of another maul, Murley crossed from a similar distance to Northmore, latching onto a pass from Marchant after Danny Care quick-tapped and brokeaway on halfway, before a spectacular finish in the corner.
Saints left to rue missed opportunities
Northampton were dominant in the first period, and though Quins defended extremely well, targeting the ball to win several turnovers and force handling errors, the visitors will also be wondering how they found themselves 11 points down at the break.
Biggar’s penalty and Ludlam’s try, scored after a series of powerful phases eventually saw the England flanker reach out to dot down under the sticks, were the least they deserved from the period, but nowhere near enough with the tries being scored at the other end.
And after Lukhan Salakai-Loto’s yellow card saw Musk drive over for a second, the trend continued.
Though Freeman crossed in the right-hand corner, Ludlam was penalised for a double movement in the left, either side of a comical attempt at an offload by Alex Coles which hit his own face. Had he held onto it he surely would have had the wingspan to reach out and score as Ludlum had in the first half.
Dirty dozen shows Quins have work to do
The final twelve minutes, starting with a poor decision to make a goal-line drop out contestable, displayed that Quins are still not at their best.
Although it could be argued they were tired, having defended for so much of the contest, their decision making and discipline in that period was not up to the standards of a team looking to improve on third in the table.
Furbank cut a terrific through their defence shortly after the dropout and Saints came straight back on the attack again, with James turning from provider to scorer as he finished another soon after to give Northampton two well-deserved bonus points.
Quins defended resolutely as Saints came on the charge once again, and finally showed some discipline having conceded a string of penalties in the build-up to Northampton’s second try, and ultimately held out for a vital win.
Harlequins: Marler (c), Musk, Louw, Lamb, Herbst, Kenningham, Evans, White, Care, Smith, Murley, Anyanwu, Northmore, Marchant, Green.
Replacements: Riley, Garcia Botta, Kerrod, Hammond, Jurevicius, Gjaltema, Allan, David.
Northampton Saints: Furbank, Freeman, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Collins, Biggar, Mitchell, Iyogun, Matavesi, Petch, Salakaia-Loto, Coles, Scott-Young, Ludlam (c), Augustus.
Replacements: Haywood, Heffernan, Hill, Moon, Graham, James, Proctor, Sleightholme
Star Man: Cadan Murley (Quins)
