Harlequins v Northampton: Five takeaways as Steve Borthwick left ‘Green with envy’ as Quins clinch crucial try-bonus in Premiership race
Our five takeaways from a thrilling Premiership encounter at the Stoop.
Following Harlequins’ 22-19 victory over the Northampton Saints in the Premiership, here’s our five takeaways from the Twickenham Stoop.
Top line
Two depleted squads collided in the Gallagher Premiership at the Stoop with the opportunity to move up the table in round 11 of the League.
Void of their Six Nations stars, there was the fear this clash would not live up to the billing but two sets of 23 players did not disappoint in a seven-try thriller.
Youth steered Harlequins to the victory with rising star Cassius Cleaves crossing for a brace after blowing his early chance while experienced head Tom Lawday grabbed a five-pointer with one-cap England centre Will Joseph scoring a crucial try.
Tom Pearson, Tarek Haffar and Tom Seabrook all scored for the Saints who were left ruing their missed opportunities against the Famous Quarters as the defending champions’ hances of making the play-offs took yet another hammer blow.
A belter that shouldn’t have been one
Harlequins versus Northampton Saints last season was one of the pick of the fixtures of the Premiership campaign with two of the most exciting teams in the league going full hog with star-studded lineups going toe-to-toe.
On both occasions, it was the home side that emerged victorious with Quins claiming a two-point victory at the Stoop and Saints holding out for a four-point win at Franklin’s Gardens.
While the Smiths headlined the teamsheets on both occasions as they battled it out for the England starting number ten jumper, this time around the battle instead took place in Girona, Spain. This block of fixtures before the Six Nations is always the case and while we know it is coming, it doesn’t make it any less annoying and disappointing.
Both teams were robbed of many of their star men for this Friday night fixture but thankfully, those who filled the void rose to the occasion and produced a compelling match. While many of the Quins played looked a bit gassed early in the second half as they struggled to deal with the tempo that the Saints set, they fought their way back into the game.
This was not the helter-skelter, balls-to-the-wall blockbuster that Quins v Saints promises to be every season but those who paid the pretty price to be present at the Stoop were still rewarded with a compelling and hard-fought match with both teams doing their utmost to get the W.
Several players like Cassius Cleaves, Simon Kerrod, Ben Waghorn, Will Joseph and Ben Jenson all put their hands up for further involvement in the Famous Quarters colours for the rest of the season while the same is true for Saints’ fringe players Tarek Haffar, Tom Seabrook (again), Archie McParland and so on.
Borthwick left Green with envy
We can only imagine what Steve Borthwick would be willing to do to have Tyrone Green available for selection this Six Nations campaign.
With Northampton Saints star man George Furbank sidelined – he wouldn’t have played today even if he was fit – Borthwick will be sitting down with his coaching team to make a key selection call will it be Marcus Smith or Freddie Steward or even Elliot Daly who dons the number 15 jumper on Sunday against Ireland.
However, one cannot help but feel that section of the selection meeting would be a lot shorter had Green joined Harlequins in January of 2020 rather than June.
The South African-born outside back was in fine fettle on a chilly evening at the Stoop and starred in the areas where many of his naysayers believe to be his weak points.
He killed off a clear try-scoring opportunity for the Saints in the first half with a brilliant late call to spoil what looked like the easiest of two-on-ones for the visitors. That came after he made a good low shot to stop another threatening position for Northampton.
Green then went on the attack playing a key role in Quins’ tries with his superb decision-making and timing of his passes and looked cool-calm and collected in the back-field even during the most troublesome positions.
While Steward has the edge under the high ball, Smith his play-making brilliance and Daly with his booming boot, Green has the advantage of being rather solid in all of the aforementioned skills and is the wonderful middle ground of them all. He is also deceptively strong with ball in hand and has a blistering pace that beats all the trio except for maybe Smith.
A call is likely to come in July, particularly if there are a handful of backline call-ups by Andy Farrell to deplete Borthwick’s outside back pools, that is unless Rassie Erasmus picks the phone up first.
Six Nations snub watch
Wyn Jones is a forgotten man in the Wales context and while he only earned his first start for Quins today, he certainly made the most of it. Saints crumbled under the pressure that the Lions’ loosehead put him under and with Adam Jones joining Warren Gatland’s Six Nations coaching team, maybe, just maybe, a recall could happen.
England’s back-row is so well stocked that three hugely talented loose forwards who could quite easily do the business in Dublin were featuring in the Premiership at the Stoop and they all shone. Tom Pearson was relentless on defence racking up nearly 30 tackles while being superb with ball in hand.
Will Evans popped with a couple of key interventions at the breakdown and landed 14 hits on defence while the always excellent Jack Kenningham – perhaps the unluckiest of the trio not to be involved with England – was brilliant in all facets of the game.
Elsewhere, Jack Walker continues to be overlooked by Borthwick but put in another solid performance leading Harlequins’ defensive charge with 20 tackles, two turnovers and beat two defenders gaining 19 metres with ball in hand.
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Depth key in playoff race
Tonight was yet another example of how crucial strength in depth is to deciding the Premiership title. Harlequins gained good ground on the likes of Gloucester and Sale while moving ahead of Northampton with a full house of points.
Other results this weekend could make this win all the more important as the league goes on pause with the Premiership Rugby Cup resuming. Many of the players featuring today will be involved in those fixtures which is another opportunity for them to stake a claim for more regular minutes but today, Quins’ fringe players and rising stars were marginally better than Saints and got rewarded for being so.
Both teams will still fancy their marginal chances of claiming a playoff place but it was Quins who took a leap forward while the Saints fell slightly off the pace. The hosts were certainly aided by the experience of Leigh Halfpenny, Irne Herbst and Dillon Lewis coming off the bench while the veteran combination of Stephan Lewies and Joe Launchbury in the second row were crucial.
