Saints and Quins stay in the hunt
SUNDAY WRAP: Northampton Saints ended their four-match losing streak with a bonus-point 27-22 win against Wasps at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.
Wasps flew into an early lead through a controversial Jacob Umaga try and the away side were 10-0 up before Saints awoke from their slumber as Alex Mitchell replied.
James Grayson added another try and a couple of points with the boot before the break to put Northampton in front.
Saints built on their lead in the second period, with further scores from Alex Waller – on the day he broke a Premiership appearance record – and Courtnall Skosan.
Wasps refused to go away, adding a couple more scores of their own, but Saints were able to see out a crucial victory.
Saints were behind inside five minutes as Umaga picked up after nice work from Tim Cardall before skipping past Mitchell and appearing to dot down.
However, replays showed that Umaga did not ground the ball and Saints were left feeling aggrieved.
Jimmy Gopperth added the extras and then extended the lead with a penalty as Saints struggled to get any sort of foothold in the game in the early exchanges.
That was until Mitchell opened the door for some powerful carries from Juarno Augustus and David Ribbans, and when the ball came loose, Mitchell was quickest to react to ground it.
Grayson missed the conversion but then went over himself after the ball was worked wide following a penalty to send Saints in 12-10 ahead at the break.
Northampton kept the momentum after the interval, with Waller powering over for a score.
It was a fine way to mark his record-breaking 231st league game as he became the prop with the most appearances in Premiership history.
Grayson converted and Northampton was flying forward, playing some slick rugby that looked to have earned them their bonus-point try.
Mitchell went over only for the effort to be ruled out as Waller was penalised for a push on Dan Robson off the ball in the build-up.
Wasps were keen to make the most of their reprieve, and they did just that with 16 minutes to go.
Will Porter broke the line, jinked his way past a couple of defenders and found Paolo Odogwu, who scored in the corner.
Once again, the hosts thought they had scored when George Furbank dotted down, but Sam Matavesi was penalised for obstruction in the build-up and another try was chalked off.
Northampton finally got their bonus-point try when Fraser Dingwall picked up a loose ball and sent Skosan away for a score that looked to have secured victory for the Saints.
But Wasps refused to go quietly, scoring through the lively Porter to leave the gap at just five points with as many minutes to go.
Grayson had the chance to put the game to bed with two late penalties but missed both as Saints were made to sweat before clinging on for the win.
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* In the other Sunday match Harlequins beat Bristol 38-29 in a 10-try thriller to extend their Premiership winning run to four games.
After last season's epic Premiership semi-final, the sides again provided another compelling spectacle and again it was Harlequins who triumphed.
Last June, Quins came back from 28-0 down to win a classic semi-final 43-36 but this time around, they had the benefit of an early 14-0 lead thanks to Cadan Murley's two tries before holding off a spirited Bristol effort.
Bristol's tries came from Steven Luatua, Sam Jeffries, Dave Attwood and Bryan Byrne, with Callum Sheedy converting three and adding a penalty, while Tom Lawday, Hugh Tizard, Jack Walker and Luke Northmore also crossed for Quins with Will Edwards adding four conversions.
Harlequins made a blistering start with Murley scoring two tries in the first four minutes. First full-back Tyrone Green counter-attacked from just outside his 22 and after a flowing 80-metre move, Green was on hand to send Murley flying over in the corner.
From the restart, Bristol secured possession only for their number eight Fitz Harding to throw out a wild pass which Murley collected before racing 65 metres to score.
Bristol needed a quick response and they got one when Luatua performed heroics to hold off three defenders and force his way over but in the next passage of play, the skipper was injured and left the field with an arm injury.
Before 12 minutes had elapsed a fourth try had arrived through Jeffries. He was injured in the process and hobbled off so Bristol had lost both their try-scoring back-rowers within three minutes of one another.
It was then Harlequins' turn to lose a player when Green was helped off with a leg injury to be replaced by Louis Lynagh.
Despite that setback, the visitors extended their lead with a close-range try from Lawday after a dart from Danny Care had put the defence on the back foot.
Bristol drew level with the sixth try of the first quarter when Attwood rewarded bursts from Antoine Frisch and Harding to cross under the sticks.
The action slowed in the second quarter, though Tizard's bonus-point try for Quins partially offset the loss of Murley through injury and Care to a yellow card.
Quins led 26-19 at the interval but in Care's absence, Bristol were able to pick up the first try of the second half when Byrne rolled over from a line-out drive.
Care returned with no further damage done but Sheedy put Bristol in front for the first time with a penalty before the hosts introduced Piers O'Conor for his 100th appearance for the club.
Steady rain made the playing conditions more difficult so the game became more conservative but with 15 minutes remaining, Bristol lost Harding to the sin-bin for a high challenge.
It proved significant as Walker finished off a line-out drive and though O'Conor's tremendous run spurred on Bristol, Quins just kept their line intact and broke out to seal victory when a well-judged kick from Care was seized upon by Northmore to leave any lingering Bristol hopes of a play-off place in tatters.
All the Sunday scorers and scorers below ...
Bristol Bears 29-38 Harlequins
The scorers
For Bristol Bears
Tries: Luatua, Jeffries, Attwood, B Byrne
Cons: Sheedy 3
Pen: Sheedy
For Harlequins
Tries: Murley 2, Lawday, Tizard, Walker, Northmore
Cons: Edwards
The teams:
Bristol: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Alapati Leiua, 13 Semi Radradra, 12 Antoine Frisch, 11 Henry Purdy, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Max Green, 8 Fitz Harding, 7 Sam Jeffries, 6 Steven Luatua (captain), 5 Chris Vui, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Jake Armstrong, 2 Bryan Byrne, 1 Yann Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Jake Kerr, 17 Ashley Challenger, 18 John Afoa, 19 Joe Joyce, 20 Jake Heenan, 21 Theo Strang, 22 Tiff Eden, 23 Piers O'Conor.
Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Cadan Murley, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Oscar Beard, 10 Will Edwards, 9 Danny Care, 8 Archie White, 7 Tom Lawday, 6 Stephan Lewies (captain), 5 Hugh Tizar, 4 Matt Symons, 3 Will Collier, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Simon Kerrod.
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Santiago Garcia Botta, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 George Hammond, 20 Luke Wallace, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Luke Northmore, 23 Louis Lynagh.
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant referees: Joe James, Paul Dix
TMO: Dean Richards
Northampton Saints 27-22 Wasps
The scorers
For Northampton Saints
Tries: Mitchell, Grayson, Waller, Skosan
Cons: Grayson 2
Pen: Grayson
For Wasps
Tries: Umaga, Odogwu, Porter
Cons: Gopperth, Umaga
Pen: Gopperth
The teams:
Northampton: 15 George Furbank, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Fraser Dingwall (captain), 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tom Collins, 10 James Grayson, 9 Alex Mitchel, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Teimana Harrison, 6 Alex Coles, 5 Api Ratuniyarawa, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Sam Matavesi, 1 Alex Walle.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Conor Carey, 19 Brandon Nansen, 20 JJ Tonks, 21 Tom James, 22 Piers Francis, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.
Wasps: 15 Marcus Watson, 14 Paolo Odogwu, 13 Sam Spink, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Jack Willis, 6 Brad Shields (captain), 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Tim Cardall, 3 Biyi Alo, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Tom West
Replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Will Porter, 22 Charlie Atkinson, 23 Jimmy Gopperth.
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Nick Wood, Jamie Leahy
TMO: Claire Hodnett
Source: PA & RugbyPass