Hartley and his men are the winners in redemption game

Northampton’s success over fierce rivals proved a point for the team and their under-fire captain Hartley may get shorter England game time but he is a long way from exiting the scene

It might seem a bit early in the season to be talking about redemption, but there was a definite air of it around a few of the Premiership grounds at the weekend. Nowhere could this be felt more acutely than at Franklin’s Gardens, where Northampton took on Leicester in the East Midlands. So abject was the Saints’ surrender against Saracens the week before that some winced to see they had to face the Tigers the following week, and yet this was probably the best fixture they could have had. If ever you want an arena in which you have to call on players to stand up, it is when they are faced with their closest enemies.

All week the Northampton public will have been mentioning the game to the players, in the street and on social media – whatever you do, beat Leicester. To the pressure of those entreaties you can add the critical judgment of the coaching team, which was, deservedly, harsh throughout.

Having been among those critics, it is right to acknowledge the significant improvement from Northampton. They looked as assured and committed as they had looked lost and feckless the week before. They shut out the Tigers for much of the game and their big players took a most conspicuous lead in moving the team forward, both physically and metaphorically.

Courtney Lawes and George North regularly featured in Saints’ best moments and they were aided by one of Luther Burrell’s best games for a while. What a difference simple front-foot ball makes to a team’s fortunes.

Dylan Hartley knows more than most about redemption, having been in need of it throughout a chequered career, and he provided a timely reminder of his ability. So many have been calling time on the England captain’s career in recent months that you would think he had been hobbling round pitches arthritically. On Saturday he led from the front and scored one of three Saints tries.

What we do not see is what Hartley brings to the England cause off the field and it is here that Eddie Jones, the head coach, has always been at pains to stress his importance. Not without very good cause will Jones eschew Hartley’s input and certainly not for a marginal return at hooker, a position where the game workload is invariably shared anyway. Hartley might get progressively shorter game time relative to Jamie George, but he is a long way from departing the scene and do not bet against him leading England into the next World Cup.

For Tigers, it was another loss and one in which they could not lament their own contribution, as it was largely absent. Matt O’connor has to find a groove into which his talent can fix as a point of reference. At present, it feels as though they are uncertain as to what and where they want to play. Mind you, it can’t help when the luckless Manu Tuilagi is ruled out, yet again, for an extended period.

In similar redemptive fashion, Exeter and Harlequins reversed fortunes to register their first wins, both in front of their home crowd.

In the case of Quins, it was at the expense of a Gloucester team who travelled to the game full of hope and back with the knowledge that at no point had they threatened to build on a tremendously spirited win against the champions.

It was another in a series of false dawns when The Shed faithful hoped they had finally seen a side that might have a measure of consistency.

When it came down to it, they featured only once or twice against an uneven Quins side who did something inexplicably poorly, only to fashion three tries that were top-drawer. The second of these was created in the face of a downpour of biblical proportions and was started by the dancing feet of Marcus Smith.

While the second round of games spread the success around, both Newcastle and Wasps maintained their winning starts and Worcester strived manfully, but already look as though it is going to be a battle to survive.

Their home form was so important to staying in the Premiership last season and if they cannot make it harder for teams to win there, it is going to be a distinct struggle.

In each of the three days of televised rugby over the weekend, Jones was featured as a spectator. He seldom looked entertained, probably because after last week the games were of a more prosaic quality.

This season, he knows, is the time to finalise nearly all of his World Cup squad and if his players are not aware of this, the sooner they get the message, the better.