Saints sail past Quins

Northampton Saints maintained their exceptional home form with a 26-17 victory over Harlequins in the Guinness Premiership.

Bruce Reihana, Juandre Kruger and Soane Tonga'uiha all scored for Saints as Jim Mallinder's men made it four home league wins out of four so far this season.

The four points gained sees Northampton move into third spot, while the defeat brings an abrupt end to Harlequins' two-game winning run on the road.

All talk ahead of kick-off surrounded the return of Quins wing Tom Williams - the player banned for four months for his part in the 'Bloodgate' scandal.

But there was nothing he could do to prevent Northampton powering into a 5-0 lead after just three minutes.

A Jon Clarke chip ahead caused confusion in the Quins defence and there on cue was fan-favourite Reihana to latch onto the loose ball and score.

Decisive pass

Stephen Myler missed with the conversion attempt, however he extended the home side's lead 15 minutes later with an expertly taken penalty from inside his own half.

Saints trio Reihana, James Downey and Chris Ashton were all causing problems as the half progressed, but it was left to fly-half Myler to extend the advantage to 11 points with a 30 metre penalty after 32 minutes.

Northampton were then dealt a double blow when, on the advice of the touch

judge, Neil Best was yellow-carded for an illegal challenge on Tom Guest and the resulting penalty saw Nick Evans reduce the lead with his successful kick.

The score remained 11-3 to Northampton at half-time, however when play resumed Myler quickly increased that advantage with his third successful penalty.

Courtney Lawes, released by England, and Euan Murray, playing his first game of the season, were both introduced by the Saints but it was Quins who had the better of the third quarter without capitalising.

And the visitors were made to pay on 58 minutes, Tonga'uiha providing the decisive pass for Kruger to score a try which Myler failed to convert.

Despite the Saints having sealed the match, Quins continued to press and eventually got their reward with 10 minutes to go when Josh Drauniniu crossed in the corner for Evans to land the conversion.

Tonga'uiha capped off a fine individual display with a try of his own in the closing stages, however Drauniniu at least added a hint of respectability to the scoreline with a last minute consolation for the visitors.