NEC HARLEQUINS 20

Zurich Premiership

Franklin's Gardens

Saturday, March 26, 2005

A late, late show by Shane Drahm and Mark Tucker gave Northampton Saints a much-needed two-point victory over NEC Harlequins that further eased relegation worries.

But up until that point the four league points had looked out of reach in a frustrating and often wayward Saints performance.

The first quarter was a contest between the visitors' rolling maul and home adventure out wide. Two penalties apiece from Drahm and Arwel Thomas ensured that honours were even in the battle of styles. On 23 minutes, however, Thomas looked to have given Saints the edge when his professional foul handed Drahm his third penalty as well as a spell in the sin-bin.

Nevertheless from the restart Quins established pressure deep in Saints' half that ensured that the advantage couldn't be utilised. But the hosts didn't help their own cause by constantly turning the ball over. After two successive let-offs when Quins' back-line dropped the ball with the defence stretched, loose ball from Saints and a turnover conceded by Marc Stcherbina gave George Harder the simple try. Thomas, just back from his spell on the sidelines added the conversion to give the visitors a deserved 13-9 halftime lead.

The second half's opening minutes didn't bode well for Northampton nerves as position after position was wasted. Simon Keogh's sliced kick gave Saints an early platform but Jim Evans nicked the lineout. And with a two on one overlap, John Rudd chose to run instead of pass to the waiting Andy Vilk.

Drahm missed his first penalty of the afternoon, albeit from five metres inside his own half, but Thomas' shanked clearance still gave Saints a good opportunity. But Thomas quickly made amends by popping up in the Saints midfield to snatch Stcherbina's flicked pass and the Welshman took off with Rudd and Tucker in pursuit. But miscommunication between the two saw Tucker veer off to cover the potential pass. This simplified Thomas' task immensely and he stepped inside Rudd and touched down between the posts. The straightforward conversion rounded off the 80-metre move and gave Saints a mountain to climb at 20 points to nine.

Drahm's fourth penalty narrowed the gap to eight points on 57 minutes, a margin maintained by Thomas' miss as the game entered its final quarter. This inspired both Saints' attacking flair and the hitherto subdued crowd into action. Drahm's cross-kick gave Tucker the space to split the defence. But though Bruce Reihana hit the inside pass at pace the support wasn't there to capitalise. And the game to that point was summed up in two moves when Johnny Howard and Drahm opted to run down a two-metre blindside, and Stcherbina lost the ball when passed behind him.

Two kickable penalties were also turned down in a push for the crucial score. But Quins held out - firstly through an illegal intervention by Tom Williams that saw the visitors again down to 14 men, the second through an interception by Gavin Duffy.

Drahm's fifth penalty looked to have won a bonus point but then, in the seventh minute of injury-time, the final twist came. Saints won a scrum on the 22, Andrew Blowers picked up, and replacement Ben Jones smartly changed the direction of attack. Drahm's dummy fooled the defence and gave Tucker the run-in to tie the scores. And with the final kick of the game - during which you could have heard a pin drop - Drahm snatched the victory.

Teams:
Northampton Saints - Reihana; Rudd, Vilk, Stcherbina, Tucker; Drahm, Howard (Jones 69mins); Emms, Richmond (Thompson 52mins), Morris (Smith 40mins), Lord (Codling 61mins), Browne, Blowers, Krige (capt), Soden (Fox 47mins).

NEC Harlequins - Williams; Harder, Duffy, Deane, Keogh; Thomas, So'oialo; Worsley (Dawson 45mins), Fuga (Tiatia 29mins), Jones, Evans, Miall (Maling 57mins), Easter (Barratt 78mins), Vos (capt), Diprose.

Scorers:
Northampton Saints - Try: Tucker; Con: Drahm; Pens: Drahm (5).

NEC Harlequins - Tries: Harder, Thomas; Cons: Thomas (2); Pens: Thomas (2).

Yellow cards:
Thomas (23mins)
Williams (74mins)

Attendance:
12,064