Saints stay top after Quins thriller
Champions Northampton maintained their lead at the top of the Premiership with an impressive 30-25 victory over Harlequins in front of 82,000 fans at Twickenham on Saturday.
Saints had just 25 percent of the ball, yet proved ruthless in their execution, as Quins came up just short in a thrilling advert for the English game.
But Northampton are now just one point ahead of Bath, after the West Country outfit earned a bonus point in a 31-14 win at home to Exeter Chiefs.
Samu Manoa, George North and Kahn Fotuali'i scored tries for Saints while Quins matched them with scores from George Lowe, Jack Clifford and Sam Twomey.
Flyhalf Tim Swiel, however, missed a conversion and a couple of penalties, while Northampton's Stephen Myler was faultless with the boot.
Quins were out of the blocks in breakneck fashion as centre Lowe started and finished off a sweeping move on six minutes. Swiel missed the conversion, but made amends by knocking over a penalty a few moments later after more good work from Lowe.
Yet from the restart the hosts gave away a penalty for accidental offside and Myler stemmed the tide with a three-pointer of his own.
That spurred the champions into life and Toulon-bound, American back row, Manoa bulldozed over after a catch-and-drive line-out move from five yards out.
Myler's penalty gave Saints the lead and he stretched that out before halftime with another despite prop Salesi Ma'afu sitting in the sin bin for a high tackle on Lowe.
It had been a smash-and-grab half from Saints as Quins led in every aspect of the statistics except the one that counted the most - the scoreline.
At the start of the second period Manoa charged down a Swiel kick on halfway, before beating Matt Hopper to the rebound and offloading one-handed to Wales wing North to steam in unopposed.
Just as they had done the week before, when beating Leicester despite playing 63 minutes a man-down, Northampton had proved peerless with 14 men, outscoring Quins 10-0.
Swiel and Myler swapped penalties before the Quins man made a scything break that saw the flyhalf come up barely an inch short. Yet Quins did not despair and after battering away at the Saints line, the defence narrowed and the hosts went wide right where Clifford cut inside to score.
Saints brought on Alex Corbisiero to make his first appearance since September, after a shoulder injury, and the England prop helped the visitors take control up front.
He almost scored a try but had the ball stripped from his grasp as he crossed the line, yet fellow replacement Fotuali'i did burrow over shortly afterwards.
Twomey dived over from close range as Quins set up a tense finale with a late converted try but it was only enough to earn a losing bonus point.
*Earlier in the day, Bath continued their fine form over the last two months, securing a seventh straight victory in European and domestic competition.
Tries by wing Horacio Agulla, centre Kyle Eastmond, replacement lock Dave Attwood and fullback Anthony Watson helped the hosts turn around the disappointment of conceding a breakaway try to Matt Jess, and seeing Jack Nowell level the scores at 14-14 early in the second period, when winning a foot race to touch down in the corner.
*Saracens moved above Exeter into third after Newcastle Falcons' Argentine flyhalf Pablo Socino missed a last-gasp conversion that would have handed his side a draw.
The 2013 champions had been cruising to victory until two Chris Harris scores in the final five minutes could have given Newcastle an unlikely victory. Socino missed both conversions and Sarries won 25-23.
*Leicester Tigers, the 2012 champions, continued their climb up the table after a troubled start to their campaign as Julian Salvi's late try, converted by Owen Williams, gave them a bonus-point 32-30 victory at Sale, who earned attacking and defensive bonuses.
All Saturday's scores and scorers!
Bath 31-14 Exeter Chiefs
For Bath:
Tries: Eastmond, Agulla, Watson, Attwood
Cons: Ford 4
Pen: Ford
For Exeter:
Tries: Jess, Nowell
Cons: Steenson 2
Yellow card: Mitch Lees (Exeter Chiefs, 69)
Teams:
Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 George Ford, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Leroy Houston, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Dominic Day, 4 Stuart Hooper (captain), 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Nick Auterac.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Paul James, 18 David Wilson, 19 Dave Attwood, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Sam Burgess, 22 Micky Young, 23 Ollie Devoto.
Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Don Armand, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Dean Mumm (captain), 3 Moray Low, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Ben Moon.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Mitch Lees, 20 Kai Horstmann, 21 Haydn Thomas, 22 Ian Whitten, 23 Fetu'u Vainikolo.
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Paul Burton and Roger Baileff
TMO: Geoff Warren
Sale Sharks 30-32 Leicester Tigers
For Sale:
Tries: Hines, Cusiter, Tuitupou, Addison
Cons: Cipriani 2
Pens: Cipriani 2
For Leicester:
Tries: Salvi, Benjamin, Bai, Tait
Cons: Burns 2, Williams
Pens: Burns, Williams
Yellow cards: Jamie Gibson (Leicester Tigers, 39), Will Addison (Sale Sharks, 75)
Teams:
Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Will Addison, 13 Jonny Leota, 12 Sammy Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Dan Braid (captain), 7 David Seymour, 6 Magnus Lund, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Jonathan Mills, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Eifion Lewis Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Alberto de Marchi, 18 Ross Harrison, 19 Andrei Ostrikov, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Mark Jennings.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Tommy Bell, 14 Mathew Tait, 13 Vereniki Goneva, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Ben Youngs (captain), 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Robert Barbieri, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Seremaia Bai.
Referee: Tim Wigglesworth
Assistant referees: Simon McConnell and Peter Huckle
TMO: David Grashoff
Newcastle Falcons 23-25 Saracens
For Newcastle:
Tries: Sinoti, Harris 2
Con: Socino
Pens: Socino 2
For Saracens:
Tries: De Kock, Ashton, Tompkins
Cons: Farrell 2
Pens: Farrell 2
Teams:
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Sinoti Sinoti, 13 Adam Powell, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Tom Catterick 9 Mike Blair, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Will Welch, 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Kane Thompson, 4 Calum Green, 3 Scott Wilson, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Rob Vickers.
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Eric Fry, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Joshua Furno, 20 Andy Saull, 21 Ruki Tipuna, 22 Chris Harris, 23 Tom Penny.
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Jacques Burger, 6 Billy Vunipola, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 James Johnston, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Petrus Du Plessis, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Neil De Kock, 22 Nick Tompkins, 23 David Strettle.
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Robin Goodliffe and John Meredith
TMO: Trevor Fisher
Harlequins 25-30 Northampton Saints
For Harlequins:
Tries: Clifford, Lowe, Twomey
Cons: Swiel 2
Pens: Swiel 2
For Northampton:
Tries: Manoa, North, Fotuali'i
Cons: Myler 3
Pens: Myler 3
Yellow card: Salesi Ma'afu (Northampton, 33)
Teams:
Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 George Lowe, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter (captain), 7 Jack Clifford, 6 Joe Trayfoot, 5 George Robson, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Will Collier, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Mark Lambert.
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Sam Twomey, 20 James Chisholm, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Tom Casson, 23 Ross Chisholm.
Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Samu Manoa, 7 Tom Wood (captain), 6 Calum Clark, 5 Christian Day, 4 Sam Dickinson, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Mike Haywood, 1 Alex Waller.
Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Ben Nutley, 20 Phil Dowson, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 James Wilson, 23 Tom Stephenson.
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Paul Dix and Kelvin Stewart
TMO: Sean Davey