SAINTS WIN AGAIN: Northampton 23 - 9 Harlequins

Franklin’s Gardens on a wet night and with a wind that cut like a knife, is an inhospitable place for visiting sides.  It is not all that welcoming to those who ply their trade there.

With the full bench of the England coaching staff watching numerous candidates for the Six Nations squads who were participating, there was little to be learned from this turgid, poor excuse for a premiership rugby match  It had a result, of course, that saw Harlequins defeated by 23 – 9.

If the conditions posed a problem, scrummaging and the refereeing of that activity  with aeons of time used up in resetting, lecturing front rows, finding firm footing.  This all resulted in a half which brought a stalemate at half time with each side only having troubled the scorers with two penalty  kicks apiece. Both sides had chances for tries, but both defences held out.  Saints were achieving some dominance at the scrum and a yellow card for Tom Guest did not help Quins’ cause.

An early try by George North, running back a box kick from Dickson that did not find touch, easily overcoming the poor tackle attempt of Walker, scored in the left corner and a fine touchline conversion by Meyler put Saints on the path to victory.  The scrum, however continued to be a problem and the time, too, spent in television replay reviewing of phases of play, that ought not to have needed the detailed scrutiny, only to lead to obvious decisions did little to improve the spectacle.

Meyler missed and then scored with penalty kicks and Botica, who replaced Evans at half-time, slotted one from half way.  Tempers became a little frayed. The penalty count rose against Quins in a ratio of two to one. Another yellow card reduced Quins numbers for the last ten minutes. In the end it was an error at a lineout when a ball knocked back by Robson bobbled loose and Hartley touched down for a try. Meyler bounced the conversion successfully off the crossbar.

So Northampton did the double over Harlequins, on both occasions in foul weather conditions, but for Quins frustrating and disappointing.  Conor O’Shea expressed his exasperation after the match saying "I'm incredibly frustrated by how long energy is taken out of games by looking at decisions that could be easily made. We'll give feedback through the right channels rather than when I'm emotionally charged and I am, trust me.

"We got on the wrong side of the referee for the whole match and the little things in the game went Northampton's way. I'm frustrated by a lot of what happened out there and I'm sure the crowd are as well. Everything possible that could have gone against us, did."

Northampton: Collins; Elliott, G. Pisi, Burrell, North; Myler, Dickson; Waller, Hartley (capt), Ma'afu; Lawes, Day; Clark, Dowson, Manoa.

Replacements: Autagavaia for Collins (75), G. Dickson for Myler (75), Fotuali'i for L. Dickson (64), E. Waller for A. Waller (68), Haywood for Hartley (74), Mercey for Ma'afu (68), Wood for Dowson (61). Not Used: S. Dickinson.

Sin Bin: G. Pisi (78).

Harlequins: Brown; Walker, Hopper, Molenaar, Smith; Evans, Dickson; Marler, Ward, Collier; Matthews, Robson; Guest, Robshaw (capt), Easter.

Replacements: Lindsay-Hague for Smith (74), Botica for Evans (41), Lambert for Marler (74), Doran-Jones for Collier (68), Kennedy for Matthews (56), Trayfoot for Guest (61). Not Used: Crumpton, Stuart.

Sin Bin: Guest (28), Doran-Jones (72).

Attendance: 13,475

Referee: G. Garner