Saints rally to beat Quins and keep home streak alive

FRIDAY WRAP: English Premiership champions Northampton Saints fought back after a sluggish first half to beat visiting Harlequins 33-29.

In Friday’s other match Sale Sharks also fell behind at home, before recovering to eke out a 31-27 win over Gloucester.

Prop Baxter Walker gave Quins the lead with a try after 80 seconds.

England flyhalf Marcus Smith, making his first league start at fullback, scored two tries.

The home side hit back with 21 unanswered points either side of half-time, including two tries from Ollie Sleightholme.

Despite a late Quins try, which Smith converted to take his tally to 21 points, Quins held on for a 17th straight win at Franklin’s Gardens.

In Salford, wing Tom Roebuck and hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie both celebrated England recalls earlier in the day by scoring two tries for Sale

All of Friday’s scores and scorers are below.

Northampton Saints 33-29 Harlequins

The scorers

For Northampton Saints
Tries: Iyogun, Sleightholme 2, Graham, Penalty try
Cons: Smith 3, penalty try does not require a conversion

For Harlequins
Tries: Walker, Smith 2, Porter
Cons: Smith 3
Pen: Smith

Teams

Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank (captain), 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Tom James, 8 Sam Graham, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Chunya Munga, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Tom West, 18 Luke Green, 19 Temo Mayanavanua, 20 Henry Pollock, 21 Archie McParland, 22 Tom Seabrook, 23 James Ramm.

Harlequins: 15 Marcus Smith, 14 Nick David, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Lennox Anyanwu, 11 Oscar Beard, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Chandler Cunningham-South, 7 Will Evans, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Jibulu, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 James Chisholm, 21 Will Porter, 22 Bryn Bradley, 23 Cameron Anderson.

Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: George Selwood, Wayne Falla
TMO: Rowan Kitt

Sale Sharks 31-27 Gloucester

The scorers

For Sale Sharks
Tries: Roebuck 2, Warr, Cowan-Dickie 2
Cons: R du Preez 3

For Gloucester
Tries: T Williams 2, Englefield, Llewellyn
Cons: Barton 2
Pen: Barton

Teams

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Will Addison, 12 Sam Bedlow, 11 Arron Reed, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Rouban Birch, 7 Sam Dugdale, 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Josh Beaumont, 4 Ben Bamber, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Si McIntyre
Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 James Harper, 19 Tom Burrow, 20 Le Roux Roets, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Tom Curtis, 23 Waisea Nayacalevu

Gloucester: 15 George Barton, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Max Llewellyn, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams (captain), 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Harry Taylor, 6 Jack Clement, 5 Arthur Clark, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Afolabi Fasogbon, 2 Seb Blake, 1 Val Rapava Ruskin
Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Mayco Vivas, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Matias Alemanno, 20 Ruan Ackermann, 21 Albert Tuisue, 22 Caolan Englefield, 23 Charlie Atkinson

Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Andrew Jackson