Harlequins 26-13 Northampton Saints
Harlequins made it two wins out of two in the Aviva Premiership with an impressive 26-13 win over Northampton Saints at the Twickenham Stoop on Friday night.
Having recorded an away win at London Irish in their opening fixture, Quins were looking to open their home campaign with a win. They made two changes to their side with Tim Fairbrother and Chris York coming into the side in place of James Johnston and Tom Guest. The visitors made three changes from the side that beat Gloucester in the first game with Alex Waller, Christian Day and Jon Clarke making starts.
The home side had the first points of the evening through a Nick Evans penalty after just four minutes. Luke Wallace came within inches of a try only to be held up but Northampton were found to be offside and Evans struck the ball cleanly through the posts. Harlequins 3-0 Northampton
Harlequins were well on top and Evans was pulling all the strings with the boot, pushing the Saints further and further back. At the midway point of the first half, prop Brian Mujati was deemed to be not rolling away and that left Evans with an easy chance to double his side's tally, which he duly converted. Harlequins 6-0 Northampton
Straight from the restart though and it was Northampton who grabbed the lead from nowhere. Referee JP Doyle awarded the Saints a penalty and from the resulting lineout, Martin Roberts ducked through the Quins defence and set up full-back Greig Tonks to score the opening try of the game. Stephen Myler added the extras with a tough looking kick and suddenly it was the visitors who had the advantage. Harlequins 6-7 Northampton
Despite having gained the lead, Northampton's discipline was still scratchy at best and they soon gave away two needless penalties in quick succession. Firstly, Doyle penalised the Saints for not retreating quickly enough and for being offside and the offense was punished by Evans' trusty boot. Harlequins 9-7 Northampton
Just before the half-time break, the Quins fly-half made it four kicks from four with another penalty. Northampton thought they had escaped after turning the ball over but the referee brought play back following an earlier infringement and Evans was spot-on with his kick once again. Harlequins 12-7 Northampton
The hosts began the second half as brightly as they had finished the first and just five minutes in they scored their first try of the evening. Scrum-half Karl Dickson burst through the Saints line just like his opposite number Roberts had done earlier in the game and he set up hooker Joe Gray who touched down by the posts. Evans reliably added the conversion and Quins were now in total command. Harlequins 19-7 Northampton
Looking not to be cast too far adrift in the game, the visitors fought back immediately and were finally awarded a penalty of their own from Mr Doyle. Centre George Lowe was caught not releasing the ball for the home side and Myler stepped up to convert the penalty and put Northampton into double figures and back into the game. Harlequins 19-10 Northampton
The Stoop outfit were determined to get their result though and put the game to bed on 53 minutes through a well-worked try finished off by Ugo Monye. A sweeping Quins move found Monye, who had put in an impressive performance throughout the match and scored to send the home side almost out of sight. Evans was again there to add the two points and push Harlequins further out in front. Harlequins 26-10 Northampton
Northampton were not going to lie down though and pushed hard in search of a way back into the game. On 63 minutes they were awarded a penalty after the referee spotted an infringement before the Saints had put the ball into a scrum and replacement kicker Ryan Lamb grabbed the three points to put the visitors within bonus point range. Harlequins 26-13 Northampton
Harlequins were now coming under severe pressure from the Saints and were using all sorts of tactics to get themselves out of trouble. With just six minutes to go, replacement James Johnston was sent to the sin-bin for infringing at the breakdown as Northampton pushed hard. However, it was to no avail as they could not find the all-important score that would give them a bonus point and Harlequins secured a second and well-deserved victory to start their Aviva Premiership campaign with a bang.
Aviva Man of the Match “ Ugo Monye
