sport news Harlequins survive comeback to fend off clumsy Saints after constant handling ... trends now
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Northampton spent most of Sunday afternoon at Twickenham Stoop dropping the ball.
By the time they’d finally remembered how to string consecutive phases together and eradicated their attacking mistakes, it was too little, too late.
Harlequins had reinforced their commitment to an entertaining style ahead of this game, but it didn’t matter how they played as the Saints gave them more than a helping hand.
Harlequins fought off a late comeback to beat Northampton Saints and end their barren run
Dan Biggar was far from his best and was culpable for dropping a straightforward catch
The visitors made 11 first-half handling errors alone and butchered at least four prime try-scoring opportunities. It took until the final quarter for them to click into gear.
When they did, Phil Dowson’s side came roaring back to score through Tommy Freeman, George Furbank and Tom James. Northampton pushed hard for a winning score at the death.
But unlike last Sunday at Exeter, Harlequins held on.
‘The positive is we are creating loads of opportunities but in the opposition 22 we are turning the ball over a lot,’ said Northampton director of rugby Dowson.
Cadan Murley scored the fifth and final try for his side in the nine-try encounter at the Stoop
‘We let them off the hook by not being clinical enough.
