Bonus point boosts Quins’ play-off bid
CHRIS Ashton’s bonuspoint try helped Harlequins revive their play-off challenge against top-four rivals Northampton.
Nathan Earle and Scott Baldwin crossed to give Quins an 18-14 half-time lead, with Rory Hutchinson and Ryan Olowofela scoring for the visitors.
Tries from Chris Robshaw and Chris Ashton soon after the restart took the game away from Saints in what was a perfect response after defeats to Saracens and Worcester.
Quins head of rugby Paul Gustard said: “The spine of the team played well, and when the spine plays well you get some direction in the attack and that gives us field position and a threat with the ball in hand and then the result.
“Things change fast in the Premiership. The last two weeks we’ve been juggling squads and trying to prepare a team and get some cohesion.
“It didn’t quite work out as we wanted against Worcester – the first 40 minutes were the poorest performance I’ve seen as a coach. But we got it right in this game and we put on a dominant performance.”
Saints went ahead inside five minutes when Matt Proctor broke through on halfway and set Hutchinson free.
A Marcus Smith penalty got Quins into the game and Earle crossed for their first try following a quick penalty taken by Mike Brown and a fine offload by Alex Dombrandt.
Northampton regained the lead through former England Sevens flyer Olowofela, but the hosts went back ahead when Baldwin powered over following a 5m lineout and Smith added another penalty to earn an 18-14 lead.
After the restart two tries in three minutes swung the match in Quins’ favour.
Smith’s break laid the platform for Robshaw to touch down in the left-hand corner seven minutes into the second half. The bonus-point score from Ashton, against his former club, was the pick of the tries as Harlequins swiftly turned defence into attack.
Full-back Brown dummied to kick inside his own 22 and then burst through midfield up to halfway before offloading to
Dombrandt who set Ashton free to race home and finish for his 88th Premiership try, four behind all-time top scorer Tom Varndell.
Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd said: “I thought we probably had the better of the first half. Then it was error on top of error.
“The endeavour is there but the performance is not anywhere good enough.
“We were way too loose in our execution. We weren’t accurate enough, smart enough and efficient enough over long periods.
“We have got a chase now where we’d have to win our last five games to make the top four, and three of those are against the top three sides.”