Match Centre: Gallagher Premiership: Harlequins 41-32 Northampton Saints
Cadan Murley was one of the try scorer of Harlequins
©Steve Haag
Harlequins 41-32 Northampton Saints, Twickenham Stadium
Harlequins ran a six-try riot as they defeated Northampton Saints 41-32 in the latest round of the Gallagher Premiership at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.
The Quins now have moved to the fifth place in the table with 49 points while Northampton continue to remain at the top despite the defeat.
Luke Northmore helped Harlequins off the mark in the first minute as he collected a crossfield kick from Marcus Smith, who had an indifferent start to the encounter having missed a conversion and a penalty goal. The 6th minute saw Harlequins lose Danny Care to sin-bin for a high tackle on Courtney Lawes.
The response from the Saints came in the 19th minute when Ollie Sleightholme collected a kick from Tom Litchfield and fly-half Fin Smith kicked a conversion and a penalty goal to make it 5-10.
The home side seized the lead back in the 26th minute with Northmore scored his second try right behind the posts and Smith improved to make it 12-10 before Louis Lynagh became the second player to be yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on and Fin Smith's penalty made it 12-13.
Harlequins managed to get their third try at the stroke of half time as skipper Stephan Lewies barged his way over and Smith's conversion meant they finished the opening half with a 19-13 lead.
The start of the second half saw Murley and James Ramm traded tries as the gap between the two teams remained at six points before Tyrone Green became the third Harlequins player to be yellow carded for a deliberate knock. Northampton eventually made use of the numerical advantage as Tom Litchfield found the gap in the Quins defence to score from metres out.
The game tilted towards Harlequins favour with Will Porter scoring back to back tries in the 67th and 73rd minutes which proved just enough despite a late consolation try from Lawes as the home side completed a 41-32 victory.
Team line up:
Harlequins: Green; Lynagh, Northmore, Esterhuizen, Murley; Smith, Care; Baxter, Walker, Collier; Herbst, Lewies; Cunningham-South, W Evans, Dombrandt
Reserves: Riley, Marler, Kerrod, Hammond, Trenholm, Porter, J Evans, Beard
Northampton: Furbank; Ramm, Freeman, Litchfield, Sleightholme; F Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Matavesi, Davison; Mayanavanua, Lockett; Lawes, Ludlam, Graham
Reserves: R Smith, Haffar, Millar-Mills, Munga, Scott-Young, Augustus, James, Dingwall
