Premiership Review - Northampton Saints 23 - 9 Harlequins

The anti-climax.  Everyone's least favourite type of climax.  Where the anticipation of an event leaves you reaching giddy highs, but when the moment arrives you're left with nothing but a feeling of numb despondency and, in all likelihood, a lighter wallet.  Prime examples would be attending a barbeque only to discover it was vegetarian rabbit food only, or buying tickets to see the Rolling Stones and then being taken aback as the news broke that not only Mick Jagger had pulled out due to a particularly irritating bout of crabs, but that his place had been filled by Cliff Richard.  Yep, nobody likes an anti-climax and unfortunately, aside from the very odd spark of brilliance, that's pretty much exactly what we got at Franklins Gardens on Friday night.

With the brute force and dominance of the Northampton pack (and backline, to be fair) and the slick, high-tempo offloading game of Harlequins, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this was the perfect storm for a belting game of rugby.  Of course, what we ended up with was very nearly an actual storm, as the wind and rained howled down in the East Midlands.  It was predicted that this weather would play into the hosts' hands, and that proved to be the case – although it took longer than expected to show.

It was Saints who charged out of the blocks with intent though, bulldozing up field with the menacing George North rampaging up the middle off his wing to good effect.  The pressure built and, despite strong defence from Chris Robshaw and good work at the breakdown by the exceptional Dave Ward, Saints earned themselves a penalty, which was knocked over in testing conditions by Stephen Myler.  Nick Evans responded with a well-struck kick of his own, and the score was set evenly at 3-3.  Then followed a glut of continuously set and re-set scrums, draining minutes off the clock and draining life and energy out of the usually vociferous home crowd.  A game that should have been showcasing some of England's best at power-play and offloading rugby was reduced to muddy mess characterised by the grunting of props and the continuous whistle of Greg Gardner.  Of course, I do have some sympathy for Mr Gardner – his job is to ensure safe scrummaging, and it is not his fault if scrums continuously collapse all the time – but the current situation does show that the 'new' rules for the scrum still aren't having the desired effect.

But, after 20 minutes, Harlequins sprang into life.  Robshaw was, once again, everywhere, whilst Evans was starting to vary play nicely with intelligent kicks and delicate offloads, whilst exciting winger Charlie Walker was making some promising bursts with his first two touches.  Alas, for Quins, these proved to be his only two touches of a game in which they were gradually starved of possession and opportunities.  The Quins pack though, were starting to rumble and began hammering away towards the Saints line, with Joe Marler making some good metres with the ball in hand.  The Northampton defence appeared to be stretched when, inexplicably, Karl Dickson took the ball on himself instead of passing it, and the opportunity for a try was lost.  Evans managed to kick 3 points, but they should have had more.

Saints, though, never looked truly worried, and from the restart their pack went straight back to work.  Dylan Hartley was having a rare-off day in the line out but his work in the loose was ferocious, and the pressure told when Tom Guest was yellow-carded for cynically bringing down a rolling maul that looked destined for the Londoners line.  With Courtney Lawes and Luther Burrell making good yardage, a try seemed to be just moments away, but continuously the driving maul and waves of Saints runners were rebuffed by strong defence.  Myler slotted a kick just before half time, and the score was tied at 6-6 at break.

The first half had been a scrappy affair with only flashes of invention, but Quins were dealt a severe blow when Nick Evans was forced off during the interview with a niggle, to be replaced by Ben Botica.  The difference was immediately noticeable when the young kiwi underhit a cross-field kick – bread and butter for Evans – to allow Saints to clear the pressure.  And soon there was pressure at the other end, as a poor clearance from Karl Dickson – who had a terrible game – gave Welsh behemoth George North the chance to steam-roller Charlie Walker and sprint in for a fine try in the corner, superbly converted by Myler.  The impressiveness of North's power and pace was only matched by the poor Quins kick chase – with a 17 stone winger charging into a 13 stone winger, there is only ever going to be one winner, and it was astounding that the Londoners backrow wasn't providing a secondary line of defence in the event that North broke the tackle, given that he had a 15 metre run up.

The game once again descended into a quagmire of mistakes and re-set scrums, before things finally sparked on the 65 minute mark after a Botica penalty.  A scrap between Courtney Lawes and George Robson (in which Lawes appeared to elbow Robson in retaliation to being held off the ball) was swiftly followed by a rather dainty slap by Salesi Ma'afu on Joe Marler, with fullback Tom Collins swiftly following the drama by going down under a late challenge from Tim Molenaar.  It wasn't pretty, but it was exactly what the game needed – and, in my opinion, I would have just given the players a ticking off and let that be the end of it, since the only other option would be to either sin-bin two Saints players for fighting and one Quins player for a body check.  As it were Garner and his TMO then spent 10 minutes looking at each incident from every angle before coming to the grand conclusion of….a penalty to Saints.  The energy from the crowd, and the game, had dissipated, and for what?  A call that could have been made right there on the pitch. 

Myler, who was now playing effectively on one leg with a hamstring problem, smacked over the penalty, and then the hosts made the killer blow to Quins hopes .  With 8 minutes to go and following a line-out on their own line, the visitors messed up a tapped lineout and Hartley responded quickest, claiming the ball and touching down for the try he deserved.  Another great kick by Myler left the score at 23 – 9, and that's how it stayed – despite late pressure from the Londoners and an attempted decapitation of Matt Hopper by George Pisi with a swinging arm, which led to the Samoan seeing yellow (after the mandatory 5 minute delay of going to the TMO of course).

The result leaves Saints clinging on to Saracens' coat tails in the Premiership, far away from the chasing pack.  Anti-climax indeed?  Nope, the four points were all anyone at Franklins Gardens wanted.

 

What else was happening in the Premiership this weekend?

 

Newcastle Falcons 8 – 16 Sale Sharks:  Newcastle's troubles continued as they failed to pick up a bonus point at home.  Sharks crossed through Tom Brady whilst Andy Saull scored his first try for the Falcons.

London Irish 22 – 9 Worcester Warriors:  Irish condemned Warriors to yet another defeat in this crucial relegation battle, with James O'Connor scoring all the hosts' points, including one try.

Gloucester 8 – 29 Saracens:  Saracens marched onwards by thumping Gloucester on their own patch.  The hosts managed a solitary score through Matt Cox, whilst Neil de Kock, Dave Strettle and Alex Goode all crossed for the visitors, who defended superbly despite having only 13 men on the field at one stage.

London Wasps 19 – 16 Exeter Chiefs:  A last-gasp 45 metre by Andy Goode helped Wasps to a superb victory over the Chiefs.  Scrum half Dave Lewis scored in the first minute for the visitors, before his opposite number, Joe Simpson, crossed to set up a grandstand finish.
 

Leicester Tigers 27 – 27 Bath:  Leicester once again played their get out of jail free card as a last minute try secured a draw, and could have won it if Owen Williams' touchline conversion had found it's mark.  As it were, a superb game with tries from Miles Benjamin, Thomas Waldrom and Jamie Gibson for Leicester and Anthony Watson, Francois Louw and Jonathan Joseph led to a stalemate, leaving both sides frustrated.