Northampton fight back to sink depleted Quins in rollercoaster clash

Yesterday at 04:50 PM

• Northampton 33-29 Harlequins
• Sleightholme doubles up in Saints' bonus-point win

It was a helter skelter night under the lights at Franklin's Gardens, where Northampton beat Harlequins.

All the talk beforehand was about the showdown between England's two likely fly-halves, Marcus Smith on one side and Fin Smith on the other. But in the end, Harlequins had so many injuries among their back three that Marcus ended up playing at full-back, so he was squaring off against George Furbank instead. It's a bit of a disservice to everyone else on the pitch to frame the game that way, but the unavoidable truth is that in this sort of form Marcus Smith does have a way of sucking up all the attention.