Guinness Premiership Round 9

Northampton Saints v  Harlequins

Saturday December 2oth - KO 3pm

Franklin's Gardens

Northampton Saints 23 - 13 Harlequins

 Harlequins Tom Guest loses his shorts as he is brought down by Northampton's Christian Day and Euan Murray

Christmas came early at Franklin's Gardens as the Saints overcame Harlequins by 23 points to 13 after - cliché alert - a game of two halves.  Trailing 6-13 at half time, the home side scored seventeen unanswered points in the second half to keep their unbeaten home record intact for another week.

Bruce Reihana returned to his usual place at full back, and in-form Paul Diggin was given the nod over Chris Ashton, with Sean Lamont keeping his place on the other wing.  Clarke and Downey were reunited in the centre, with Myler and Dickson favoured at half-back (though neither will have rested easy knowing that Spencer and Foden were lurking on the bench).  In the forwards, Soane Tonga'uhia's excellent recent performances were rewarded with another start, with Dylan Hartley and Euan Murray joining him in the front row.  Christian Day and Nacho Lobbe continued their partnership in the second row, with the Amazing Wilson, Scott Gray and Mark Easter rounding out the pack.  

The Harlequins side, fresh from victory over Stade Francais, contained a mix of familiar faces (Nick Easter's face being familiar for several reasons) and promising young talent.  Nick Evans has been showing that Dan Carter isn't the only talented Kiwi fly-half around, and we all know what players like Ugo Monye and Andy Gomersall are capable of.

Harlequins got things started, playing towards the South Stand, and the Saints soon had a chance to get points on the board as they were awarded a penalty marginally inside the Harlequins half just a couple of minutes later.  Stephen Myler's kick was on-target, but dropped agonizingly short and rebounded off the crossbar.  He had another chance shortly after as a barrelling run by Dylan Hartley resulted in a penalty just a few yards in front of the previous one.  This time Myler's kick was good, and the Saints took a three point lead.

Almost immediately Quins struck back, as Roger Wilson was penalised after Monye won the re-start and made his way into the Saints' 22.  Evans stepped up and slotted the points, levelling the scores at three all after ten minutes.  The next ten minutes were rather devoid of excitement, though both teams looked lively when in possession.  Myler's long-range kicking was called upon again after the Saints were awarded a penalty following a scrum, and the third kick went the same way as the second - through the posts.  The Saints had a three point lead, but it was not to last for long.

The Saints won the ball at the re-start, but Reihana made an uncharacteristic error and threw the ball to someone in the Gordon terrace instead of Paul Diggin.  There was a knock-on in the ensuing lineout, and Quins were awarded a scrum.  All of a sudden Monye burst through a rather large gap (which may or may not have been created by a forward pass) in the Saints defence and strolled over the line.  Evans added the conversion, putting the visitors ahead 6-10.

What followed was a classic example of ‘aerial ping-pong' - possibly the most boring thing to occur on a rugby pitch.  Eventually the players tired of table tennis and returned to the game in hand, but unfortunately the outcome was a penalty to Harlequins.  Evans once again stepped up and was successful with his kick, stretching their lead to 6-13 after about half an hour.

The final ten minutes of the half saw the Saints on the attack, with Paul Diggin, Jon Clarke and Soane Tonga'uhia making excellent inroads into the Quins half.  The move came to an end, however, as Myler put a grubber kick through to, well, nobody.

With the sun setting behind the lift tower, and a rather lovely red sky developing (good news for shepherds!), the Saints got the second half underway in fine style.  Scott Gray burst through the Harlequins defence, and spotted the hoard of Saints players sprinting down the left wing.  His long pass found Bruce Reihana, who offloaded to Jon Clarke who battled his way over the line.  Myler added the extras, levelling the scores at 13 all.

It took nearly twenty minutes for the next score to happen, but those twenty minutes were not without incident.  Evans missed a penalty for the visitors, who soon after had Andy Gomersall sent to the sin-bin for a late tackle on Bruce Reihana.  Myler missed the penalty, and the Saints couldn't make the extra man count, though they spent much of the ten minutes rooted in the Harlequins 22.  Chris White kept the crowd entertained with a bout of charades (it was either that or he was practicing his breast-stroke), but got cross when no-one could guess what he was doing and decided to send the Harlequins hooker to the sin bin - just as Gomersall returned to the fray.  Myler kicked the penalty, and the Saints took the lead.

This time the Saints made their extra-man advantage pay as James Downey scored a try to make it one each for the centres.  The Saints stole the ball on a Harlequins lineout, and once again Scott Gray found himself in space.  He offloaded to Downey, who passed to Clarke (yes, this one might have been a little bit forward Quins fans), but Clarke was brought down just short of the line.  He managed to get the ball back to Downey, however, and the Irishman scored next to the posts.  Once again Myler added the extras, and the Saints' lead was extended to ten points.

Now, because you know the final score you know that that's how things stayed for the rest of the game.  Both sides, however, did their best to keep the scoreboard ticking over but neither was successful.  Evans missed two more penalties, one of which was awarded after Nacho Lobbe was given a yellow card, and the Saints needed some excellent tackling to keep Quins at bay.

The end of the game was rather comical.  With the clock counting down to zero the Saints were awarded a penalty just inside their own half.  If they'd kicked to touch there would have been time for the lineout, so instead they opted to waste a little time and keep the ball in hand.  Well, that was the plan until Tom Smith took the tap - and promptly dropped the ball.  Mr White decided that there was still time to play on and duly awarded Harlequins a scrum.  They launched a final attack, but the ball went loose and White decided that this time he would call a halt to proceedings - a decision that was met with much rejoicing from the home fans and players.

Euan Murray was awarded the man of the match champagne for his total domination of the scrum, but honourable mention should go to Tiny - and, to be honest, the rest of the forwards.  In the backs, Jon Clarke looked like he'd never been away, and let's hope that he and Downey get to keep the partnership going (until Joe Ansbro's fit at least!).  Paul Diggin was his usual lively self, and Lee Dickson was everywhere.  Reihana and Myler looked a little out of sorts at times, with their kicking from hand not terribly impressive (though this may have been due to the wind, in which case I apologise to them both!), but Bruce made some good runs from deep and Myler controlled things well at fly-half.  

All that remains is for me to wish you all a happy Christmas.  I hope Santa brings you what you want - including a brolly for Bath next weekend!

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