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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.
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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.
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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
He was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
34 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to comments