Northampton Saints
News: At Last Saints Halt Harlequins Hoodoo
By Emma
September 12 2010
The Saints finally laid to rest their 'playing Quins at the Stoop' (because we mustn't forget we did win the ECC there) ghost, with an at times all too thrilling victory against the London club. I fear my report will not do justice to the sheer pace with which the game was played and the ferocity of the tackles put in by players from both sides!
Aviva Premiership Round 2
Harlequins v Northampton Saints
Saturday 11th September 2010
The Stoop K.O. 1:30 p.m.
Result Harlequins 16 v Saints 20
The game was watched by 10,823 at the Twickenham Stoop, and I have been advised to point out that this is fewer than the 13,253 or so who were there last Sunday to watch the women's world cup final.
Before the Saints announced their team there had been two main areas of speculation: would Shane Geraghty get to start, and would the availability of Euan Murray mean that Brian Mujati's place was in jeopardy? The answers were, respectively, "yes" and "no", with Geraghty awarded the #10 jersey and Mujati deservedly keeping his place. The Harlequins team saw no changes from the side that drew with Wasps in the London Double Header, with the always impressive Nick Evans playing at fly half, combining with the irrepressible Danny Care at #9, while Chris Ashton's competitor for one of the England wingers' jerseys, Ugo Monye, got his chance to show what he can do.
Harlequins kicked off, and almost immediately broke through after the ball found its way to Tom Williams, who found himself in space but chipped the ball straight into touch, much to the relief of the travelling contingent of Northampton supporters. The subsequent lineout was taken well by Christian Day, and Lee Dickson cleared to halfway. Day won that lineout too, and the Saints attacked through Tiny, Ashton and Geraghty, until eventually the forwards pushed on and were deemed to have been held up. Harlequins cleared from the scrum, but were penalised shortly afterwards giving Geraghty his first chance to kick at goal. He was successful, and the Saints took an early 3-0 lead.
This lead looked to be short lived as the Saints fumbled the restart, and were then thought to have pushed too soon at the scrum. Care took the free kick quickly, but the final pass to Tom Williams was poor, and the Saints survived another scare.
A great tackle by James Downey on Jordan Turner-Hall resulted in a turnover for the Saints, which was ultimately rewarded by another penalty in range. Geraghty missed, with Evans doing likewise for Quins almost immediately after.
The home side did a very good job of retaining possession whenever they had it, and even though the Saints' defence was good, Harlequins slowly advanced forward into the 22. Easter almost drove over, then a rare missed tackle by Tiny almost saw Quins over the line but Mujati stopped the attack. Danny Care eventually wriggled his way over the line, but referee Andrew Small wasn't sure and went to the TMO who judged that the try should not be awarded [note - from behind the line it looked like he hadn't crossed it, but the report on the Offy says the ball was "fumbled"].
The resulting 5m scrum set the tone somewhat for many of the scrums which followed. The Saints pushed Harlequins off the ball and were awarded a penalty which Geraghty kicked to halfway. Quins won the ball back, however, and attacked once more through Evans, but the ball was turned over on the 5m line and the Saints cleared again. The relief was short-lived though as Quins were awarded a free kick from the lineout. They shipped the ball out wide, and Evans was only denied a try by an earlier forward pass.
Eventually the Saints found themselves inside the home side's 22, and when they were awarded a penalty they decided to take the scrum. The first scrum resulted in another penalty for the Saints, but the second ended up with a 22 drop out to Harlequins. Monye took it quickly, but the player who gathered the ball was offside, giving the Saints yet another penalty. This time they decided to get some points on the board, and Geraghty stepped up to take the kick. This attempt was successful, giving the Saints a 6-0 lead after 35 minutes.
The restart was taken well by Monye, making up for his earlier mistake, but the ball
was subsequently lost and booted upfield by James Downey. Ashton chased after it, gave it another kick, and dived on it over the line. Geraghty added the extras, and suddenly the Saints had a more healthy 13-0 le
ad. This was shortly reduced to 13-3 after the
Saints were penalised for collapsing a maul (which didn't actu
ally collapse), with Evans being successful with the kick.
The second half began in exactly the same way as the first had ended. Harlequins attacked, the Saints were penalised and Evans added the three points, taking the score to 13-6. Shortly after this the Saints won yet another penalty at a scrum and Harlequins responded by replacing their entire front row at the same time.
Harlequins were soon awarded another penalty after some backchat from the Saints turned what had been a scrum into another chance for points for the home side. The kick by Evans was good, and the gap closed to just four points after ten minutes of the second half.
Geraghty, Ashton, Clarke and Foden all had chances to run with the ball but could not find a way through. A penalty kick by Geraghty bounced off the upright, and shortly afterwards Harlequins finally breached the Saints' defences with Lowe, the centre, crashing through after good work in midfield by Care. Evans' conversion was successful, leaving the Saints behind 13-16.
The next few minutes were rather frenetic, with a clearance by Mike Brown going straight out, giving the Saints a lineout on the 22. The ball found its way out to Foden, but he was tackled well and his offload to Reihana didn't quite find the winger's hands. Shortly after, Evans had the opportunity to put the home side ahead even further, but his kick at goal drifted just wide, meaning that as the last 10 minutes of the game approached the Saints were still just three points behind.
Euan Murray and Mark Easter came on for Mujati and Dowson, and almost immediately both were called into service for a scrum. The Saints won yet another penalty from the set piece, and began to work their way upfield. An excellent kick by Geraghty gave Quins a lineout on their own 5m line, and though Care cleared the ball he only kicked it as far as the 22, giving the Saints a platform from which to launch another attack. Wilson won the ball at the tail, and the ball found its way to Geraghty and Reihana. The forwards took it on with Tiny almost crossing, then Woods followed suit until a charging Dylan Hartley took the ball at speed and crashed over the line to score. Geraghty slotted the conversion, and with ten minutes to play the Saints were ahead once more, 20-16.
The final ten minutes were, to put it lightly, breathless. Harlequins attacked at pace, with a great tackle by Foden preventing the offload which probably would have seen them score. Another thumping tackle on Turner-Hall soon after slowed another attack, until a wonderful last-ditch tackle by Roger Wilson on Nick Evans saved the Saints' bacon - for the time being, at least, as Quins kept the pressure on until they were eventually awarded a penalty. They kicked for touch, but the resulting lineout was poor and the Saints were able to clear.
It looked as though the Saints might be the architects of their own downfall as poor clearance kicks found only the Harlequins back line. With just over a minute to play Geraghty cleared to the waiting Mike Brown, who passed the ball out to Monye. The Saints were penalised at the breakdown, and then again for not being 10m away. This time Quins opted for the scrum and worked the ball out wide. With just 6 seconds to go they crossed the line, but once again Small called for the TMO. Thankfully, from a Northampton perspective, Ben Foden had managed to get himself under the ball, but the danger was not over as there was still time for the scrum. Care picked the ball up at the back and darted for the line but dropped the ball. The Saints gleefully pounced on it and kicked it out, causing the referee to blow the final whistle with the score still 20-16 to the visiting side.
Photos courtesy Simon Robinson
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