Premiership: Harlequins 41-27 Northampton - Champions edge to win over Saints

Quins and England number eight Alex Dombrandt completed his hat-trick with the last play of the game

Defending champions Harlequins ended a memorable year victoriously as they climbed to third in the Premiership by narrowly edging past Northampton.

In a heated encounter, Saints led 21-7 at Twickenham after two early tries for Juarno Augustus and one for Alex Waller, all improved by Dan Biggar.

But Alex Dombrandt added a second to his own early try, matched by two from left winger Cadan Murley.

Louis Lynagh raced clear for a fifth try before Dombrandt crossed again.

While Quins had their try bonus point wrapped up before the break, it was rough luck on Saints who gave their all on a filthy wet day in south-west London but could not cross the whitewash again to claim a bonus point of their own.

In fact, their only second-half points were a Biggar penalty, to add to the one late in the first half that briefly edged the visitors ahead before Dombrandt's unconverted second try.

And they were even denied a losing bonus point when England number eight Dombrandt crashed over in the last play of the game, to which Andre Esterhuizen added the conversion.

Quins pair Jack Kenningham and Matt Symons were part of a general second-half disagreement also involving Saints' Api Ratuniyarawa (far left)

The game ended with 14 men-a-side when the superb Danny Care and Saints replacement Rory Hutchinson were both sin-binned after far from the first bout of pushing and shoving of the afternoon.

But Quins got the key final score as they completed the job, having shown what they can do even without the creative flair of Marcus Smith, after the England outside-half's Covid-enforced absence.

While Smith was sidelined, former England Sevens star Will Edwards proved an able deputy on only his second Premiership star, kicking a penalty and three conversions as well as looking a threat with ball in hand..

Edwards played a big part in this stunning game of nine tries in front of a 72,785 crowd, with seven scores in the first half, of which the first five came inside the first 18 minutes.

But, while all the big name players shone at HQ, Dombrandt's stunning display will perhaps have given England boss Eddie Jones most reason to smile.

He picked a clever line to cross from close range to halt Saints' lively start, then was pivotal again when Quins went downfield, setting up the position for Edwards to send Murley over for the first of his brace.

Dombrandt then scored his second close to the break after being fed by scrum-half Care to give Quins the lead for the first time. And, although Biggar's second penalty qgot Saints back in front, Lynagh outpaced Courtnall Skosan to go over in the left corner - and Dombrandt had the final word when he completed his hat-trick.

Both sides are due back in action next Sunday (2 January), when Quins go to Gloucester and Saints entertain Saracens.

Harlequins boss Tabai Matson:

"Every time Alex Dombrandt delivers like that it catches your eye. He's a loose forward who finds his way to the try line, so that's always eye-catching. But when you look deeper into the performance around the physicality, getting on to the ball and working hard to get into tackles, that complements an international player. Three tries - greedy guy.

"Will Edwards was exceptional. We didn't have fly-half cover and people don't realise how hard it is to step into the breach like that. He kicked his goals and got us around the park. He adjusted well.

"Marcus Smith is good. He's actually available and back in the mix. These are strange times. We're really fortunate to have an amazing medical team who mitigate as much of these strange times as possible."

Northampton Saints director of rugby Chris Boyd:

"We're disappointed we didn't get four or five points from that. We made a couple of awful decisions at the end and paid the price. It's disappointing.

"We weren't accurate enough, gave away too many penalties and got on the wrong side of the referee.

"When you do that you pay the price. We gave them too many platforms to set themselves up to win."

Harlequins: Green; Lynagh, Marchant, Esterhuizen, Murley; Edwards, Care; Marler, Walker, Collier, Symons, Lewies (capt), Lawday, Kenningham, Dombrandt.

Replacements: Mush, Botta, Herrod, Tizard, Taulani, Gjaltema, Northmore, Jones.

Sin-bin: Care (74)

Northampton: Furbank; Sleightholme, Proctor, Dingwall, Skosan; Biggar, Mitchell, Waller, Matavesi, Painter, Ribbans, Ratuniyarawa, Lawes, Ludlam (capt), Augustus.

Replacements: Fish, Auterac, Hill, Coles, Wood, James, Hutchinson, Tuala.

Sin-bin: Hutchinson (74).

Referee: Wayne Barnes.