Gallagher Premiership: Harlequins hold on despite late fightback from Northampton

Harlequins survived a late scare to beat Northampton 35-29 in a Gallagher Premiership game that featured nine tries.

Despite controlling possession and territory for most of the contest, the Saints went 14-0 behind after only six minutes and looked down and out in the second half after the Quins took a 28-10 lead early in the second half.

But bad luck and a lack of precision cost them, as Jack Musk scored two tries for the Quins and Lennox Anyanwu, Luke Northmore and Cadan Murley all touching down.

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Lewis Ludlam, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank and Tom James scored for the Saints to earn them two bonus points, but head coach Philip Dawson was frustrated by his side's inability to take their chances and their slow start.

"We were very slow coming out of the blocks, we were under pressure in the first scrum but fine in that area after that, but we went 7-0 down and then 14 after we lost possession after trying to play too wide too early," he said.

"Then we were not clinical enough and need to be better, but we showed great character so it's frustrating.

"It's positive that we are creating lots of opportunities but we repeatedly turned the ball over in their 22 so it became an uphill battle as we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

"The off-load is a great attacking weapon but we need to assess whether we throw it or not and that's a problem for the coaches to consider."

Cadan Murley scored a specular try to help the Harlequins win

Not many finishers like Murley, says Matson

The Quins looked to have won it thanks to a spectacular try by Murley, which put his side 35-15 up.

Northampton clawed the deficit back to six points, but it proved too late as the Quins hung on to take the win.

Harlequins head coach Tabai Matson praised Murley after the match, adding that he could boost Eddie Jones' England squad.

Matson said: "What a finish that was as I thought he would be cleaned out before he even got to the 22.

"There are not many finishers like him in the league and we've already recommended him to Eddie Jones but we haven't heard anything back.

"We knew it would be tough and it certainly was but it was amazing to get a victory as they butchered a few scores.

"It was a really good spectacle for the neutral but the most pleasing aspect for me was the five minutes of defence at the end as it takes a lot of discipline not to give penalties away in that situation."