Harlequins continue to accelerate up Premiership table inspired by players overlooked by England
Harlequins 24 Sale Sharks 12
Alex Sanderson described Harlequins’ form as “fizzing” last week, and his Sale Sharks were promptly submerged by opponents that have now won four in a row since the departure of Paul Gustard.
Hours before England were due to train across the A316 at Twickenham, Alex Dombrandt was among the most bubbly of Harlequins’ players in a victory founded on dogged defence and illuminated by three moments of attacking brilliance within 12 minutes before half-time.
The uncapped back-rower, last picked by Eddie Jones for an autumn training camp, scored the last of Harlequins’ three tries. Gliding centre Joe Marchant was responsible for the first two on his 100th club appearance. Sale did not surrender, and denied their hosts a bonus point in a defiant second half, but Harlequins are on a roll.
Will Evans, Marcus Smith, Mike Brown and Joe Marler, such a valuable asset having withdrawn from England duty, also impressed as they overtook Sharks and moved into third place.
Gallagher Premiership 2020/21 latest standings
There are more Premiership fixtures during the Six Nations this season, a result of last year’s protracted campaign. Usually, these crossover games are unsatisfying. However, the only member of England’s current squad from these two sides is Tom Curry.
As such, despite some rotation from Sanderson, this represented an intriguing contest between two teams harbouring realistic play-off aspirations. A scoreless opening quarter was understandably cagey.
Harlequins manufactured the first chance. Marchant, a member of England’s ‘shadow squad’, broke through off the shoulder of Andre Esterhuizen. Smith then chipped towards Aaron Morris, but there was a knock-on in the ensuing scramble. From there, Sale appeared to settle.
Matt Postlethwaite charged down Smith, and it took a typically tenacious jackal from Brown to save Harlequins. Dombrandt, one of many Harlequins to register a double-figure tackle count, and Smith also forced turnovers inside their own 22. Another steal, from excellent openside Evans, allowed his team to open the scoring.
Evans pilfered the ball cleanly from a midfield breakdown and Dombrandt sparked the deadly counter. He rounded two Sale defenders, sucking in two more before releasing Brown with a perfectly-timed pass.
Marchant was in support to score, and had his second within three minutes. Evans gathered an overthrown Sale lineout, Esterhuizen looped the ball wide and Morris kicked ahead.
Marland Yarde covered across but a cruel slip allowed his former employers to double their advantage. Marchant collected and Smith added a second conversion.
Sale were shell-shocked, and duly conceded a third try before half-time. Will Cliff’s rushed clearance did not find touch and Smith accelerated clear with a dummy following Evans’ sharp pull-back pass. Domdrandt had made the decoy run and trailed his fly-half, dotting down after taking an inside pass.
There was still time for Jean-Luc du Preez to complete a miserable spell for the visitors, earning a yellow card for a hot-headed clear-out on Dombrandt directly from the restart. It could easily have been red.
“They’ve scored a lot of those one- and two-phase tries from transitions over the last three weeks,” Sanderson said afterwards. “They’re very good at it. Traditionally they have been, and they’re back to their best in that regard.
“We expected a couple of those lightning bolts. It’s how you react off the back of that. For some reason we seemed to spiral in that 10-minute period.”
Sanderson wasted no time in playing a trump card, replacing Josh Beaumont with towering Springbok Lood de Jager at the break. The World Cup winner was returning from a three-month lay-off after shoulder surgery.
Following Smith’s 40-metre penalty, Sale rallied. Hooker Curtis Langdon rewarded some prolonged pressure with a short-range shunt on the hour-mark.
Another Sharks replacement, promising scrum-half Raffi Quirke, then went very close with a scurrying snipe that sliced Harlequins. It yielded a five-metre scrum, from which Rob du Preez muscled over.
Harlequins finished in pursuit of a bonus-point try, and thought they had one on the final play when Luke Northmore linked with Dombrandt. The acrobatic offload had travelled marginally forward, though. At the final whistle, so had Harlequins.
Match details
Scoring: 5-0 Marchant try, 7-0 Smith con, 12-0 Marchant try, 14-0 Smith conversion, 19-0 Dombrandt try, 21-0 Smith conversion, 24-0 Smith penalty, 24-5 Langdon try, 24-7 R du Preez conversion, 24-12 R du Preez try.
Harlequins: M Brown; L Lynagh (L Northmore, 63), J Marchant, A Esterhuizen, A Morris; M Smith, D Care (M Landajo, 66); J Marler (J Els, 75), S Baldwin (E Elia, 70), S Kerrod (W Louw, 56), M Symons (G Young, 70), S Lewies, A White, W Evans (J Chisholm, 45), A Dombrandt.
Replacement not used: B Herron
Sale Sharks: S Hammersley; D Solomona (C Doherty, 65), S James, L James, M Yarde; R du Preez, W Cliff (R Quirke, 56); V Mozorov (B Rodd, 52), E Ashman (C Langdon, 52), C Oosthuizen (W John, 52), M Postlethwaite (C Wiese, 46), J Beaumont (L de Jager, 40), J-L du Preez, J Ross (C Neild, 65), D du Preez.
Yellow card: J-L du Preez 39
Referee: I Tempest
