Harlequins suffered a crushing blow as Northampton beat them 24 – 3 at the Franklin’s Garden. This was the second defeat that Harlequins have suffered in the Aviva Premiership and was a rather bad one.
This win over Harlequins has now consolidated their position at the third place in the standings – with this win the latest in a dream run of matches for Northampton in the Aviva Premiership. It was their two star players, Roger Wilson and Ben Foden, who combined brilliantly all match in order to crush the Harlequins. Ryan Lamb also contributed fourteen points.
Rory Clegg kicked the Harlequins only goal from their side, but won’t hae enjoyed it -he had a horrible day at work and will hurt all the more because he would love to see his team back on track and on its winning ways.
The newly appointed England coach Stuart Lancaster was watching the players from the stands in order to check out the available players, and judging by the performance it was the Saint stars who gave the coach the most to think about with their thumping victory. According to the latest Six Nations odds, Lancaster has a big task ahead of him if England are to be competitive.
It was surprising that despite the heavy loss, it was the Harlequins who started the match on a good note. They kept good possession and also played really well. Unfortunately they couldn’t convert their attempts into points and it was Northampton who took the lead on a penalty.
This proved to be the turning point in the match and having taken the lead, Northampton gained momentum over the course of the match. The misery of the Harlequins was compounded after their player Nick Easter was shown a yellow card. Having lost the momentum, they gave in to the opposition as Lamb doubled the lead with a brilliant drop goal.
The Harlequins just could not get back into the match and had to suffer a huge and a humiliating defeat at the hands of Northampton, it now remains to be seen if they can still make their way to the top of the Aviva Premiership standings. Most Rugby Betting Tips websites think that this game might well have cost the Harlequins any chance of winning the title.