Northampton Saints remain top of the Premiership after a 30-25 victory over Harlequins at Twickenham.George Lowe put Quins in front with an early try before Tim Swiel added three points with a penalty soon after. Saints were under considerable pressure in front of a sell-out crowd at the national stadium, but Samu Manoas touchdown against the run of play, along with two penalties from Stephen Myler, gave the defending champions a 13-8 lead at the break. George North went over two minutes into the second half after Manoa had charged down a Swiel kick, but the fly-half composed himself to reduce the deficit with a converted penalty. Jack Cliffords try shortly before the hour mark helped Quins pull within five points of Saints before Kahn Fotualii crossed the whitewash to extend the lead once more. Sam Twomey registered his first Premiership try with four minutes to go - Swiel adding the extras - but it left little time to push for the win. Victory saw Saints regain a one-point lead over Bath, who had briefly climbed to the summit with a 31-14 bonus-point success against Exeter Chiefs. Matt Jess went over as Exeter moved into a 7-0 lead, but tries from Horacio Agulla and Kyle Eastmond - both converted by George Ford - saw Bath assume a 14-7 advantage at the break. The second 40 minutes followed much the same pattern, with Jack Nowells early touchdown helping to pull the visitors level before Dave Attwood and Anthony Watson made try-scoring contributions to Baths 17-point second-half haul. The two sides are now comfortably clear of third-placed Saracens, who edged Newcastle Falcons 25-23 on Saturday to climb above Exeter. Leicester Tigers have also climbed into the top half of the table courtesy of a 32-30 win at Sale Sharks, who slip below Wasps to seventh. Wasps were involved in Sundays only fixture - winning 30-23 at Gloucester. The weekend kicked off with a clash between the divisions bottom two clubs at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, where London Irish claimed a 24-9 win over London Welsh. Welsh remain without a win this season and currently hold a staggering points difference tally of -425, while Irish climb above Newcastle to 10th.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 14:45:03 +0000
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