The Guinness Premiership game between Harlequins and Northampton Saints at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday Feb 20 2010.
A display of enthusiasm and purpose from Harlequins put a dent in Northampton’s title ambitions after an uncharacteristically poor performance from the visitors on a frosty afternoon in the capital.
The tone was set from the first whistle with Quins launching themselves into every tackle with gusto and they showed some real attacking verve. As a result they took the lead after just three minutes via a Nick Evans penalty.
Returning skipper Will Skinner epitomised their effort and his enthusiastic applause after his side won a scrum earned him a punch from Juandre Kruger that wasn’t missed by the referee. Evans stepped up to take on the penalty from the ten-metre line and hit it sweetly to extend his side’s lead.
The Saints’ England hopefuls Ben Foden and Chris Ashton – so electric in recent weeks – were the victims of some suffocating home defence and the watching Ugo Monye can be confident of retaining his place in the back three alongside Delon Armitage.
Northampton looked to be devoid of ideas and spent most of the first period in their own half. And at the end of the opening quarter Quins made their dominance count by scoring the game’s only try through Mike Brown.
A cross-field kick from Evans was claimed by David Strettle who looked inside to feed Brown only for the full-back to be held up agonisingly short.
But from the resulting five-metre scrum Evans and George Lowe combined to put Brown over for a deserved score.
Stephen Myler endured a difficult afternoon and after missing his opening three kicks he was presented with two simpler chances following the break that were duly dispatched to put Northampton within a converted try.
Myler’s testing time on the field was ended on the hour mark when Shane Geraghty replaced him and the substitute playmaker provided Northampton with more direction but unfortunately an equally poor return with the boot.
Two attacking line-outs deep in Quins territory gave the Saints a final chance at leaving with more than a losing bonus point but on both occasions the hosts’ dogged defence held out.
Remarking on his side’s first league win since December, John Kingston, the Harlequins head coach, said: “The intensity of the performance from the guys was outstanding today. I don’t think they probably got the rewards that their dominance deserved.”
Match details
Harlequins: M Brown; D Strettle, G Lowe, J Turner-Hall, T Williams (S Smith 58); N Evans, K Dickson; C Jones, M Cairns (C Brooker 74), J Andress, J Percival, L Stevenson, C Robshaw, W Skinner [capt], T Guest.
Northampton: B Foden; C Ashton, J Clarke (C Mayor 64), J Downey, P Diggin; S Myler (S Geraghty 59), L Dickson; S Tonga’uiha, B Sharman (A Long 64), E Murray (B Mujati 59), I Fernandez-Lobbe (M Easter 55), J Kruger, C Lawes (S Gray 79), N Best, P Dowson [capt].
Referee: JP Doyle (RFU)
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