Gallagher Premiership Rugby: Northampton Saints claim comeback win over Harlequins, Sale Sharks edge out Gloucester

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Friday night served up a cracking double header of Gallagher Premiership Rugby, with hard-fought victories for Northampton Saints and Sale Sharks. The Saints showed plenty of character, which typified their status as reigning champions, to recover from a frustrating first half. Meanwhile, the Sharks claimed their second win of the season after edging out Gloucester.

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Northampton Saints staged an impressive comeback to seal an epic 33-29 victory over Harlequins at Franklin's Gardens.

Marcus Smith looked to have made a telling impact in the first half after contributing to 17 of the Saints’ 22 points at the break to give the visitors a 14-22 lead.

But the reigning champions responded superbly in the second half to claim a second win of the season, with Ollie Sleightholme’s two tries, a penalty try, along with one each from Emmanuel Iyogun and Sam Graham proving to be the difference.

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It took only 80 seconds for Quins to mark their mark on the contest after using a line-out quite brilliantly, and Jack Walker was there to cross the line.

Smith got his first points of the match to add the conversion to give the visitors a quickfire 7-0 lead, but the Saints soon hit back.

Parity was restored when Smith was penalised for a foul close to the try-line, and Iyogun managed to dot the ball down under a raft of bodies.

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However, Smith took centre stage from that point and showed his superb footwork to weave his way past Tommy Freeman before adding the extra two points.

A pulsating first half continued to take another twist though, and Saints were level again following a fine individual try from Sleightholme. It was then the turn of another Smith to turn centre stage, as Marcus's namesake, Fin, added the conversion.

Smith would then restore Quins' lead at 19-14 after latching onto a long ball along the line to cross over. There were suspicions of a forward pass being made to the England fly-half before crossing over, but the referee confirmed this was not the case and the try stood.

Smith ensured the visitors were in even more of a commanding position at the break when he sent a penalty over the sticks, contributing to 17 of the visitors’ 22 points in the first half.

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Saints moved to within one point of Quins with a penalty try two minutes after the restart, before Sam Graham continued their resurgence with an excellent try ahead of a successful conversion from Fin Smith.

Sleightholme then added his second try of the evening to extend the hosts' lead at 33-22, with Smith failing with the conversion on this occasion.

Will Porter ensured it would be a nervous ending for the Saints when he capitalised on some space out wide to cross over, but they held on to secure a second win of the season.

Sale edge out Gloucester

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There was also an entertaining night of rugby at the Salford Community Stadium, as the Sale Sharks overcame Gloucester with a 31-27 victory.

Gloucester drew first blood when Tomos Williams showed some brilliant fleet-footedness to cross the line, but George Barton failed to ram home that early advantage by missing the conversion.

Sale hit back after playing a scrum quite brilliantly, and arguably deserved their element luck after the ball dropped and fell to Tom Roebuck to cross over.

Sharks extended their lead to 14-5 following some fine work by Sam Bedlow to play in Gus Warr to claim the try ahead of Robert du Preez adding the conversion.

The Lancashire outfit extended their lead after half-time when Du Preez made an excellent diagonal run and subsequently picked out Roebuck to cross the line.

However, The Cherry and Whites reeled the hosts back in with a successful try and conversion to cut the deficit to four points.

A superb individual effort from Williams was followed by a successful conversion by Barton, to bring the visitors right back into this absorbing clash.

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There was to be no grand comeback though, and Sale kicked on with a try from Luke Cowan-Dickie from the maul.

Cowan-Dickie struck again following an overload in the corner, as Arron Reed played the ball into his path before Du Preez added the extras.

Gloucester may have ultimately ended up on the losing side, but Caolan Englefield reduced the arrears at 31-20.

Max Llewellyn then became the fourth Gloucester player to cross over and leave the final score at 31-27.

Watch and stream every game of the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership season, the 2024 Autumn Nations Series and Premiership Women's Rugby on TNT Sports and discovery+

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