Harlequins beat Saints with late Cleaves winner

Gallagher Premiership

Harlequins (10) 22

Tries: Cleaves 2, Lawday, Joseph Con: J Evans

Northampton (14) 19

The late try by Cassius Cleaves gave Harlequins a dramatic bonus-point victory over Northampton Saints, the current Premiership champions.

With Saints heading towards a narrow two-point victory, the 21-year-old burst through to score the game-sealing try with four minutes left.

Jarrod Evans missed both kicks after Cleaves and Tom Lawday had scored for the hosts, giving the visitors a four-point lead at the break thanks to Tom Pearson and Tarek Haffar’s converted tries.

Soon after the break, Tom Seabrook extended Northampton’s lead before Will Joseph immediately reversed and cut the deficit by two points.

As both sides grew tired, the game turned into a race to see who could take the lead. Cleaves eventually scored his second try of the night to give the hosts the lead for the first time.

In their quest for a play-off spot, Harlequins managed to score just five points.

They move up to fifth in the table, while Northampton’s fall from table-toppers last season continues.

In his pre-game press conference, Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson described this team’s biggest league game of the season as “our biggest league game.”

Without their England players, who are currently training with their respective national teams ahead of the Six Nations, both teams were absent.

And Evans missed three of Marcus Smith’s four conversion attempts, putting the score at a closer range than it could have been.

Cleaves’ flying speed caused problems for the Saints’ left-wing backline with his excellent play.

If he had dived over the line early on, he could have given his team the lead and ultimately claimed a stunning hat-trick, but Saints full-back James Ramm was able to get over and make the tackle into touch with the lack of deemed contact with the head or neck, avoiding the penalty try.

James Chisholm had to go off midway through the first half after twisting his leg awkwardly in the turf, leaving Lawday in his place. Harlequins suffered a significant injury blow.

Wilson confirmed that the incident was a “possible Achilles injury” and that it “didn’t look good” after the game.

After leading the majority of the game, Northampton will regret the loss of that final try, and they can take positives from some of their young players’ performances, with prop Haffar standing out.

Danny Wilson, the head coach for the Harlequins, told BBC Radio London:

“I think if we had lost, we would have been in a really difficult position,” and we’re hoping things turn out well. Getting five points was huge in the race for top four.

We initially thought we were a little off in the first half. We’ve got some boys who’ve played lots of rugby – with six-day turnaround after six-day turnaround, that catches up with them – and some boys who haven’t played enough rugby.

We discussed how to improve a little bit at half-time, and the following performances came out fantastic.

On Cassius Cleaves: “He’s out and out gas is what he is. He’s still got a lot to learn but what he’s got is finishing ability”.

Phil Dowson, Northampton’s rugby director, stated to BBC Radio Northampton: “

“With regards to effort and how they applied themselves, I couldn’t have been more proud of that group. The work ethic we put forth was wonderful.

” There’s obviously some elements we can do better and to concede it]Cleaves ‘ second try] so late feels really cruel but we need to be better defensively, there’s things we can do better in attack and in the midfield.

“Heartbreaking experiences like this will benefit us over the long run.”

There were definitely times in the first half where we could have slightly increased the screw. They’re desperate to climb the table as well. “

On Saints ‘ season as a whole:” I don’t think there’s anything negative other than our league position.

Replacements: Riley, Els, Lewis, Herbst, Lawday, Porter, Benson, Halfpenny.

Northampton: Ramm, Litchfield, Savala, Hutchinson, Seabrook, Makepeace-Cubitt, McParland, Haffar, Walker, Davison, Mayavanua, Lockett, Kemeny, Pearson, Augustus.

Replacements: Wright, West, Green, Prowse, Hunter-Hill, Scott-Young, James, Glister.