Northampton Saints 13-16 Harlequins
By AlanQuin
January 2 2011
Harlequins inflicted an impressive and notable shock defeat on the Premiership leaders at Franklin’s Gardens. This was an hugely physical battle in which, for the opening ten minutes of the second half, the visitors were reduced to thirteen men, but ended 13 – 16 in their favour.
In truth this was not a match that exhibited much good rugby, but one that showed in crystal clarity those attributes of courage, physical commitment and unity of purpose that defines a team like these Harlequins. Their opponents on the other hand took the field appearing to believe that they only had to walk out onto the pitch to blow away the opposition. After all, they had not lost at their ground for many months.
The early chances to score fell to Harlequins but Evans missed his first two penalty attempts and the match remained scoreless until Meyler opened the scoring for the Saints after twenty-five minutes. Almost immediately another chance fell to Evans and he levelled the scores.
There had been a glimpse or two of Northanpton’s dangerous running game from Foden and Ashton, but both were tackled well and once the final try-scoring pass was adjudged forward. Was it poor decision making or arrogance which then persuaded Saints to kick potentially simple scoring chances to touch? Relying on the power of their forwards they battered at Harlequins gaining a scrum from a lineout close to the Quins’ line and duly opted for another scrum when they were awarded a penalty.
After the third scrum and third penalty the first yellow card was flourished at John Andress. Mark Lambert came on to fulfil the front row requirement and the scrum was reduced to seven. The very next scrum produced another yellow card, this time for Nick Easter for killing the ball on the line, Reduced to six, the next scrum had no chance. The penalty try inevitably followed and Meyler added the extras with the final kick of the half.
As Conor O’Shea said after the game, "It's as adverse as you can get 10-3 down at Franklin's Gardens with only 13 players.” For the first ten minutes of the second half Quins survived with courage and craft. They kept the ball and resisted the onslaught, With Danny Care orchestrating the series of rucks, they kept the ball and resisted with great determination. Then Northampton were awarded a scrum and seemed about to defeat the effort of their visitors but were penalised for an early engagement and the danger passed with the return of Easter and Andress.
Back to full strength, Quins attacked and took play into their opponents’ half. Then Danny Care charged down Lee Dickson’s kick and followed up to score by the posts. Nick Evans duly levelled the scores. The game turned!
Twenty-five minutes remained in which Quins defended grimly, played for territory and took their chances as Evans landed two penalties to open a six point lead. Geraghty managed to pull three points back with seven minutes remaining, but Quins continued to play keep-ball and frustrate the Saints’ attempts to attack and when they did lose the ball they defended magnificently until the final knock on from Tonga’uiha brought t he final whistle and a deserved victory.
After the match Conor O’Shea was clearly delighted by the result saying "It was a tremendous result in adversity. You can't coach that, it is all down to the hearts of the players and I am so proud of them. Sometimes adversity can be a really good thing and today was adverse as it gets.
“You can’t coach that. That performance was just down to Chris Robshaw and the lads refusing to buckle. We have been saying for a while that we are a better team than our position in the league would indicate. We lead the league in line-breaks, carries, tackles made and all sorts of things. We have been playing well.
"But this win will do us a power of good. Yes, we got a few breaks but you need that if you are going to beat the best team in the country at their ground. This victory gets us right back into the mix. We are in the middle of a massively tight pack now; this is the tightest Premiership ever.”
"For the first 10 minutes of the second half when we were down to 13 men Danny was excellent in marshalling our side as we moved the ball from side to side to waste time."I am really pleased that we have broken our away day hoodoo and this gets us back in the mix in the Premiership. It's the most competitive one that I have known."
Northampton Saints B Foden; C Ashton, J Clarke (J Ansbro, 70), J Downey, P Diggin; S Myler (S Geraghty, 70), L Dickson; S Tonga'uiha, D Hartley (capt), B Mujati, C Lawes, C Day (M Sorenson, 61), P Dowson, R Wilson, T Wood (C Clark, 61).
Harlequins M Brown; T Williams, G Lowe, J Turner-Hall, U Monye; N Evans, D Care; J Marler, M Cairns (C Brooker, 60), J Andress (M Lambert, 63), O Kohn, G Robson (T Vallejos, 51), T Guest (M Lambert, 39-49; W Skinner, 74), N Easter, C Robshaw (capt).
Referee D Richards (Berkshire).
Attendance: 13,459
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Come on you Quinsaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh