Northampton boost play-off hopes as Harrison marks his return with a try
Teimana Harrison scored on his return from injury as Northampton recorded a vital 17-14 victory over Sale that put their Gallagher Premiership play-off hopes back on track. Harrison, who had been out for over two months with hand and groin troubles, grabbed Saints’ only try of the game, to add to four penalties from the boot of James Grayson.
The hosts repeatedly needed to defend doggedly at Franklin’s Gardens in what was a tight contest and the end result is them moving to within two points of the fourth-placed Sharks in the table. A succession of early penalties allowed Sale to build some early pressure, with Jean-Luc du Preez being tackled just a few metres short of the line after being played in by his twin brother Dan.
It took until just the 10th minute for referee Matthew Carley to lose patience with Northampton’s indiscipline, as he sent Ollie Sleightholme to the sin bin, following the latest infringement. Saints’ defence was just about holding firm, as Jean-Luc du Preez was held up over the line after a succession of pick-and-goes from the Sharks’ forwards.
Despite being down to 14 men, it was the hosts who opened the scoring in the 19th minute, as Harrison burrowed over after Tommy Freeman had been tackled just short. Grayson slid the conversion wide just as Sleightholme returned to the field, but the fly-half was able to extend Northampton’s lead with a penalty after Sale had illegally sealed off a ruck.
The home side retained their 8-0 advantage into half-time, although they had a scare in the early stages of the second half after Tom James’ kick was charged down by Sale captain Jono Ross. The Sharks’ discipline then let them down as a penalty, given against Lood de Jager at a lineout, was marched 10 metres further forward for backchat, allowing Grayson to add another three points.
A tense battle at Franklin’s Gardens and it’s the hosts @SaintsRugby who hold on for the victory! 🙌
The visitors fought back hard in the second half but Saints closed it out for an important W 👊
Reaction ➡️ https://t.co/DNcXTkx1ff #GallagherPrem #NORvSAL pic.twitter.com/DDfV2g5NpI
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) March 13, 2021
AJ MacGinty then missed a chance to get Sale on the board with a penalty of his own and Grayson punished the USA fly-half with a fantastic kick from halfway that extended the gap to 14-0. It was soon narrowed, however, as Jean-Luc de Preez broke away from a powerful driving maul to stretch over, with MacGinty able to add the conversion.
Grayson quickly took Northampton more than a score clear again with his fourth penalty, but just three points separated the sides following South Africa lock Lood de Jager’s converted try off a rolling maul. That set up a breathless finish where the Sharks kept hold of the ball for countless phases off the final play, only for Tom Wood to come up with an interception that led to Henry Taylor belting the ball off the pitch for the win.
Northampton Saints will field an all-English XV for today's match at Franklin’s Gardens.https://t.co/YYgcaOTkNq
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 13, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Best way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
117 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
2 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
117 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
2 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
117 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
3 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to commentsNRL players don’t have anywhere near the number of Tests. Some people would be happy having Rest Homes full if 40 yo ex-players walking, or hobbling more like it, into walls. It’s just a game!
4 Go to commentsNOW Razor is worried about ABs getting injured or overplayed! Didn’t bother him last year. He happily played his AB Crusaders.
4 Go to commentsWhat is the World Rugby U20 players born year.
2 Go to comments