Teimana Harrison’s the star as Saints knock out Castres
TEIMANA Harrison has not had the most auspicious of starts to his England career but, following the back rower’s performance against Castres, he may well be taking a more prominent role in the Six Nations.
With England head coach Eddie Jones looking for suitable individuals to fill the void vacated by injurystricken first teamers Chris Robshaw and Billy Vunipola, the New Zealand-born player has certainly put himself in the reckoning.
While Tom Wood was magnificent in the Saints’ victory over the French outfit, and justifiably took the man of the match honours, his team-mate was not far behind.
Those two, alongside fellow England representative Courtney Lawes, led the way as an otherwise disappointing Champions Cup campaign was given a late boost following this bonuspoint triumph.
“Our back-row has been an area of strength over the last few weeks,” director of rugby Jim Mallinder said. “Teimana Harrison, Tom Wood and Jamie Gibson were outstanding.
“I can only look from a club perspective and all I know is that our back-row is playing well. Eddie Jones will see it from a national perspective and only he can make that call.”
Harrison was substituted after 31 minutes against Australia in the summer but, to his credit, the 24year-old has managed to forge a way back into the fold with his displays for the Midlanders. The backrower was at his rampaging best yesterday. He scored two tries in the opening 40 minutes and went on one barnstorming run that would have made Jones take notice.
He was part of an excellent first-half performance as the Saints, who have regained their bite over recent weeks, moved into a 21-8 lead at half-time.
It took just four minutes for the hosts to register their first try when Harrison burrowed over from close range before Rory Kockott reduced the arrears from the tee.
Castres then went down to 14 men after Jody Jenneker’s sin-binning but they put together a well constructed attack which ended in Alexandre Bias crossing the whitewash.
However, it was their only opportunity in the first half and Mallinder’s men duly went back on the front foot, opening up a 13point buffer at the break thanks to Stephen Myler and Harrison efforts.
That could have taken the game away from the Top 14 outfit but the Saints were slack after the interval and were punished by an improved Castres.
They moved the ball through the phases and, once the space had been created, Julien Dumora shrugged off Lawes’ attempted tackle to score.
Northampton continued to make errors, much to the frustration of their supporters, and the visitors were level via successive Kockott three-pointers.
With the threat of the Frenchmen increasing, that seemed to kick-start the Premiership side, who stopped overcomplicating matters and went back to basics.
The Saints kept it tight and received their reward when, after several minutes of pressure, Wood barged across the line to seal the win.