Northampton Saints fell to a first defeat in five games as Harlequins strengthened their own playoff hopes with a 41-32 victory at Twickenham Stadium.
Phil Dowson’s side trailed by six points at the break as Ollie Sleightholme’s sixth try in as many games and eight points from the boot of Fin Smith were cancelled out by Luke Northmore’s brace of tries and one from home captain Stephan Lewies.
A rollercoaster second period ensued as the men in Black, Green and Gold stayed in the fight and secured a bonus point through and James Ramm, Tom Litchfield and Courtney Lawes tries, but the hosts were not to be denied as Cadan Murley struck and Will Porter crucially arrived from the bench to bag a brace before Jarrod Evans closed the game out with a late penalty.
FIRST HALF
It was a high-octane start at HQ as Saints enjoyed some early possession in the Quins half, but when a ball came loose out of a ruck, the hosts broke ruthlessly and the move finished with Marcus Smith’s cross-field kick finding Northmore in space to score in the corner.
The fly-half failed to add the extras from out wide, and with six minutes on the clock Danny Care saw yellow for an upright tackle on Lawes, which made contact with the head of the back row.
Saints couldn’t make the extra man count though as handling errors cost them a couple of opportunities inside the Quins half – and when Lewis Ludlam was penalised at a breakdown, Smith pointed to the posts, but again his kick off the tee was wide of the target.
Care returned but Northampton struck back with a scintillating attack; after a chip over the top, the visitors struck quickly from deep, with Litchfield finding space down the left and kicking through into space for Sleightholme to gather and score.
Fin Smith’s conversion took them into the lead for the first time, and moments later he extended the lead from close to halfway when Alex Dombrandt was pinged by referee Karl Dickson.
But after 26 minutes, the lead changed hands again with Northmore ran a hard line from a Quins set-play to go under the posts, leaving Marcus Smith with a routine conversion to make it 12-10.
The hosts’ went back down to 14 men when Louis Lynagh was sin-binned for deliberately knocking-on Fin Smith’s pass just in front of his own try-line, but no penalty try was awarded with Dickson ruling a covering tackle could have been made on intended recipient Tommy Freeman – instead Smith added three more points to his tally from the resulting penalty.
Northampton however were punished again at the breakdown on halfway, and after the hosts kicked to the corner, their skipper Lewies burrowed over from close range to give Quins the lead at half-time.
Sam Graham saw a try late in the half chalked off by the TMO, with Saints scrum-half Alex Mitchell adjudged to have knocked-on at the previous ruck.
SECOND HALF
Harlequins struck quickly again at the start of the second 40 to wrap up a bonus-point, kicking a scrum penalty into the corner before quick ball allowed Marcus Smith to pop the ball to Murley – who had run a smart arcing line.
The helter-skelter contest continued as Sleightholme found space on the left, and Saints stayed on the front foot until Furbank’s pass enabled Ramm to burst clear under the posts for Northampton’s second try.
Another deliberate knock-on with Saints bearing down on the try-line saw Tyrone Green this time yellow-carded, and after a lung-busting carry from replacement Juarno Augustus led to a Northampton penalty, Litchfield found some room and forced his way over the whitewash.
Fin Smith’s conversion sent Saints back into a narrow 27-26 lead, but once again that did not last for long as Quins went through a bucket-load of phases inside the 22, and despite some resolute defence from the men in Black, Green and Gold, eventually they ran out of numbers down the blind side and Porter snuck into the corner.
The result was seemingly put beyond doubt when Porter grabbed his second after a fine break from Evans to move 11 points clear with the successful conversion.
There was late drama as Mitchell burst down the right wing and Litchfield went close before Lawes drove through two tackles for his fifth try this term – which matches his total across 12 previous seasons leading the 23/24 campaign.
With the tryscoring bonus point secured and within losing bonus point territory, Saints had two minutes to try and muster a converted try to win it.
Instead, it was Quins who closed out the game with an Evans penalty that meant Northampton would take only one point from their visit to London.
LINE-UPS
Harlequins: 15 Green, 14 Lynagh, 13 Northmore, 12 Esterhuizen, 11 Murley, 10 Smith, 9 Care; 1 Baxter, 2 Walker, 3 Collier, 4 Herbst, 5 Lewies (c), 6 Cunningham-South, 7 W Evans, 8 Dombrandt.
Replacements: 16 Riley, 17 Marler, 18 Kerrod, 19 Hammond, 20 Trenholm, 21 Porter, 22 J Evans, 23 Beard.
Saints: 15 Furbank, 14 Ramm, 13 Freeman, 12 Litchfield, 11 Sleightholme, 10 F Smith, 9 Mitchell; 1 Iyogun, 2 S Matavesi, 3 Davison, 4 Mayanavanua, 5 Lockett, 6 Lawes, 7 Ludlam (c), 8 Graham.
Replacements: 16 R Smith, 17 Haffar, 18 Millar Mills, 19 Munga, 20 Scott-Young, 21 Augustus, 22 James, 23 Dingwall.
