Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Alex Dombrandt stars as Harlequins return to winning ways by beating Northampton

By PA
Alex Dombrandt on the charge /PA via Getty

Harlequins returned to winning ways to reclaim third place in the Gallagher Premiership table with Alex Dombrandt influential in a 37-19 victory over Northampton.

ADVERTISEMENT

Quins’ four-match winning streak ended with a narrow defeat at Newcastle last weekend but the rampaging Dombrandt was among the standout performers as Saints fell at Twickenham Stoop.

Alongside Exeter’s Sam Simmonds, Dombrandt has been repeatedly overlooked by England head coach Eddie Jones despite stringing together a series of powerful performances at number eight.

Video Spacer

Offload Episode 19 | Dan Lydiate

Video Spacer

Offload Episode 19 | Dan Lydiate

Tyrone Greene, Stephan Lewies and Mike Brown crossed for tries to help build a 27-12 interval lead and while the second half was controlled by Northampton, their execution in the final third was dismal.

Quins were down to 13 players in the closing stages after Dombrandt and Jack Kenningham had been sent to the sin-bin when the lead was 30-19, but error-prone Saints could not exploit the extra space and they even coughed up the bonus point to Brett Herron with 20 seconds left.

A lively opening 10 minutes fought out by two of the Premiership’s form teams produced tries at both ends.

Northampton were the first to strike with a clinically executed line-out move that saw centre Fraser Dingwall take the ball from Sam Matavesi and supply the scoring pass to Tom Collins.

ADVERTISEMENT

But pressure by Andre Esterhuizen on Rory Hutchinson forced a mistake and Quins pounced on the error with Danny Care grubber kicking ahead for Green to score.

Harlequins v <a href=Northampton Saints – Gallagher Premiership – Twickenham Stoop” />

And the high-octane pace continued as captain Lewies reached out to touch down as the home side pressed once again, Care brilliantly orchestrating play at scrum-half as a 17-5 lead was opened up.

But Saints hit back with a jinking Hutchinson capitalising on a hole in midfield opened up by George Furbank’s well-timed pass to send Tom James over.

ADVERTISEMENT

Following James’ try, Quins camped themselves in enemy territory and at times were guilty of forcing play as they closed down on the whitewash on two separate occasions.

Harlequins v Northampton Saints - Gallagher Premiership - Twickenham Stoop

But they would be denied just after the half-hour mark when a big carry by Dombrandt from the base of a scrum began a series of thrusts that ended when Brown raced onto the ball and over the line.

Saints were fired up for the second half as they relentlessly battered away at the home whitewash, but they were almost undone when they were stripped of the ball by the outstanding Dombrandt.

The turnover launched a dashing counter-attack that eventually broke down through Green’s ill-advised pass, and from there Northampton struck as Ollie Sleightholme grabbed the ball, chipped ahead and scored.

Harlequins v Northampton Saints - Gallagher Premiership - Twickenham Stoop

A third penalty by Smith meant Quins were still well in front and the 22-year-old fly-half appeared to have scored a breakaway try but a forward pass was spotted by the TMO.

Play was held up for several minutes as wing Aaron Morris received treatment before being carried from the pitch on a stretcher after his head caught Hutchinson’s hip during a tackle.

With Kenningham and Dombrandt shown yellow cards, Quins were up against it but they were helped by Harry Mallinder failing to find touch with a penalty and Taqele Naiyaravoro knocking on.

They held out and when the sin-binned duo returned, they claimed the bonus point when Herron crossed in an audacious move.

ADVERTISEMENT
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JG 44 minutes ago
Scott Robertson opens up on drama surrounding Bongi Mbonambi's knock-on try

Oh my word, for how long are they still going to keep bleating about that try.

The match officials DID explain it at the time, ruling that the ball was knocked out of Bongi’s hand by a NZ player. The ball went straight down (not forward) and Bongi fell on it, thus resulting in the try being awarded.

So it is disingenuous of Robertson to say that it wasn’t checked. If the match officials are confident in their decision, based on what they saw, then they don’t usually go to the TMO - even if requested.

Or else they’ll be going upstairs for virtually every try scored in a match.

Seriously, the Kiwis must now get over themselves. Every time they lose a match by a narrow margin, they find something to go on and on about. It’s almost as if they believe that other teams are “not allowed” to beat them.

Mind you, I think that dates back to a few years earlier when it seemed like the All Blacks were untouchable in the eyes of the match officials at the time.

Maybe Robertson still thinks that is the case nowadays. He hasn’t received the memo about the ABs no longer being unfairly “protected” by match officials.

Let’s face it - there was a time, not too long ago, where players from other teams were almost too afraid to touch or tackle a New Zealand player, for fear of incurring the referee's wrath.

And also, around the same time, NZ captain Richie McCaw was the “golden boy” amongst match officials and even amongst the big brass at the (then) IRB (now World Rugby).

Dont get me wrong, I’m an admirer of McCaw as a player and captain - I think he was great. And I will ALWAYS regard the All Blacks as a great Rugby team.

BUT let’s just be realistic, the New Zealand Rugby fraternity do tend to have this rather large sense of entitlement when it comes to test matches won or lost.

They expect other teams to accept it whenever a dubious decision goes the All Blacks’ way in a game.

BUT they don’t seem willing to do the same.

They'll routinely congratulate their opponents when they lose a match, but will then (for months, or even years afterwards), continue to bleat and “bitch” about a decision or incident that occurred in that match, trying to play the “victim” that was hard-done-by.

Perhaps it’s time for all involved in NZ Rugby to realize and accept that NO team should expect to have the right to always be “protected” or “favoured” in every match they play in.


Come on Scott Robertson, quit sinking to the low levels of some of your predecessors who, annoyingly, believed that the All Blacks have some divine, inalienable right to win every match they play.

13 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ ‘The RPL is a massive opportunity for rugby in India, Asia and the global game at large’ ‘The RPL is a massive opportunity for rugby in India, Asia and the global game at large’
Search