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Ollie Sleightholme, last season’s leading try scorer in the Gallagher Premiership, got off the mark for the season by scoring twice in Northampton’s comeback 33-29 victory over Harlequins.
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Matches between these two teams almost come with an entertainment guarantee and this was no exception as two tries from Quins star Marcus Smith, playing at full-back, threatened Saints’ year-long unbeaten home record.
However, 21 unanswered points from the defending champions – error-strewn before the break – during the second half ensured they made it 17 consecutive wins at Franklin’s Gardens.
Harlequins opening the scoring in only the second minute after Northampton infringed at a ruck, with tighthead Titi Lamositele grounding the ball off the back of a driving maul.
Marcus Smith made the conversion but he ran into heavy traffic not long after under his own posts, with the resulting penalty leading to Saints hitting straight back.
The penalty was tapped and the ball worked to the left before Emmanuel Iyogun squeezed his way over, with Fin Smith’s conversion levelling the score.
Two superb pieces of defending then prevented Quins from regaining the lead when Tommy Freeman got back brilliantly to hold up Will Joseph before Curtis Langdon performed similar heroics on Lennox Anyanwu.
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But Harlequins were back in front in the 20th minute when Marcus Smith received the ball from Jarrod Evans and stepped past Rory Hutchinson with ease to go clear.
Northampton struck back almost immediately when Sleightholme scampered away down the left, but Quins led for a third time when Danny Care’s forward pass, allowed to go by the officials, dropped perfectly for Marcus Smith to score his second try.
The England international then knocked over a penalty to extend the visitors’ lead to 22-14, which was how the score remained until half-time.
However, the gap was narrowed to one point within three minutes of the restart when Northampton were awarded a penalty try after Nick David’s dangerous tackle prevented Sleightholme from scoring.
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David was sent to the sin bin as a result before Iyogun looked set to barge his way over for his second try, only for Jack Kenningham to get underneath him and hold him up.
It was all the home side at this point and the try that put them 28-22 ahead arrived after 56 minutes when Sam Graham picked up from a ruck and crashed over just to the left of the posts.
Northampton then extended their lead in the 63rd minute when a superb off-load by captain George Furbank put Sleightholme in the clear.
Harlequins ensured a tense finish when Will Porter gathered Dino Lamb’s wild off-load infield to close the gap to four points with seven minutes left, but the champions were able to hold on for back-to-back wins.
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