It was advertised as a duel between England’s fly-halves, Marcus and Fin Smith, but two tries from Ollie Sleightholme decided the match
Several of his best players performed in Northampton’s bonus-point victory over Harlequins, which would have delighted England’s head coach Steve Borthwick on the day he announced his training squad for the impending fall internationals.
A sell-out Franklin’s Gardens was denied a battle of the Smiths between Fin and Marcus, the only two fly-halves in Borthwick’s team, due to an injury crisis in the Harlequins back-three ranks, but there was an England clash in the backfield. George Furbank, the current England full-back, started opposite Marcus Smith, who made his first Premiership start for the visitors at full-back. Smith was playing in the No. 15 shirt for the first time since England’s World Cup bronze medal win last year. Both players performed brilliantly in front of Borthwick, who was observing from the stands. Marcus Smith’s two tries gave the Harlequins two losing extra points.
“Marcus is a ten; he is our ten and England’s ten,” Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson declared. However, he is a Quin, so he will play 15 if necessary. Although we should have won, I am proud of the closing 20 minutes in which we scored two tries to tie the champs for two points.
Furbank, the captain of the current Premiership champions, took the game by storm with an all-international back three that included Ollie Sleightholme and Tommy Freeman. The visitors will be perplexed as to how they allowed an eight-point lead at halftime to slip away. Sleightholme scored a brace (both made by Furbank) and could have scored a hat-trick if he hadn’t been irresponsible twice when the line was in his hands.
“We were poor in the first half but the second half was much more like us,” said Phil Dowson, Northampton director of rugby. The England call-ups are excellent news for our career path. It’s great to see those guys receive that chance, and maybe they’ll enjoy their three days with England before putting themselves up to be chosen in the autumn.
Harlequins took off quickly. Hooker Jack Walker was dotting down from a driving maul in less than two minutes.
However, the Saints answered right away. The whole Northampton back row welcomed Marcus Smith as he decided to counter laterally. After Emmanuel Iyogun stormed over to tie the score, Alex Coles—who had been included in Borthwick’s 36-man training squad—left with his ribs clenched.
Harlequins took the lead when Marcus Smith skilfully ducked off a pass from Jarrod Evans and cut inside Freeman, but for every great move Marcus Smith made, there was a Furbank trick. With a lavish offload to Josh Kemeny, the flanker sent Sleightholme over.
Marcus Smith scored his second after Evans made a dubious-looking pass, and the Harlequins led by three more points at the half.
Saints were awarded a penalty try thanks to Sleightholme’s dancing feet, and Sam Graham shifted over after Nick David was sent out for a high tackle. Subsequently, Sleightholme’s second Furbank gem emerged, slicing through and bursting off the deck.
Despite having an 11-point advantage, Harlequins refused to give up. Despite the tense conclusion created by Will Porter’s late goal, Saints and their England players continued.
Details of the Match
Walker try (0–5), Smith con (0–7), Iyogun try (5-7), F Smith con (7–7), M Smith try (7–14), Sleightholme try (12–14), F Smith con (14–14), M Smith pen (14–19), Graham try (26–22), F Smith con (28–22), Sleightholme try (33–27), Porter try (33–27), and M Smith con (33–29).
H-T: 14–22
G. Furbank (c); T. Freeman, F. Dingwall, R. Hutchinson, O. Sleightholme (Ramm 63); F. Smith, T. James (McParland 63); E. Iyogun (West 63), C. Langdon (Smith 72), T. Davison (Green 63), C. Munga, A. Coles (Mayanavanua 10), J. Kemeny, T. Pearson, S. Graham (Pollock 63).
Unused replacements: Seabrook.
J Evans, D Care (Porter 50); F Baxter (Els 72), J Walker (Jibulu 59), T Lamositele (Lewis 55), I Herbst (Chisholm 63), S Lewies (c) (Lamb 55), J Kenningham, W Evans, C Cunningham-South are the Harlequins. M. Smith, N. David, W Joseph (Anderson 75), L Anyanwu (Bradley 57), O Beard; J Evans, D Care (Porter 50).
David 42 is shown in yellow.
