Harlequins stun star-studded Saracens to decisively end derby day hoodoo
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Consider the derby day hoodoo most definitely banished. Before overturning Saracens at the Stoop in October, Harlequins had lost eight in a row against their London rivals, but a more significant streak was snapped with an against-all-odds win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium here. It was March 2012 when they last tasted victory in this fixture away from their southwest London home; a neutral site this may have been but the travelling fans in their quarters filling the seats would have relished such a victory.
The matchday programme declared Alex Dombrandt, Danny Care, Marcus Smith, Chandler Cunningham-South and Cadan Murley as the five Harlequins players to watch; the fact that only one of them was on the pitch made this win all the more significant.
Injury put paid to Care and Murley's chances of featuring but for Smith and Cunningham-South, this fixture served as a mandatory stand-down after their England exertions. It would have been a commercial own goal had the Sarries stars done the same – Maro Itoje and co. will take their breaks in coming weeks – but with the league always battling for eyeballs, it was a shame not to see all of the stars on show.
That is not to criticise Smith, sunning himself in Miami, and the rest, but more to highlight the sacrifices that have to be made with an ever more congested calendar complicated further in a British and Irish Lions year. Even the relentless Itoje, who has played every minute of the last six editions of the Six Nations, admitted in November that it would be impossible to play at the peak of his powers throughout a gruelling year.
For that reason, then, this was a serious setback to Saracens' hopes of a top-four finish with so many sides in the mix. This would, should, have been a banker given the circumstances; to come away without even a single point is a major blow.
This might not be a Saracens squad quite able to rival that which they assembled, by hook or by crook, during the glory years but the talent is still considerable, which made this flat performance perplexing. With Ben Earl nursing a knee infection, Mark McCall could still call upon Theo McFarland, Juan Martin Gonzalez and Tom Willis as an elite back row, with Andy Onyeama-Christie – back from a horror injury sustained in the reverse fixture in October – as a high-quality reserve. Youngster Nathan Michelow is also tipped for big things.
It took not even five minutes for McFarland to open the scoring. A loose offload from Quins skipper Dombrandt gave away possession softly, with Ivan van Zyl's resultant kick ahead well chased by Sarries. A breakdown penalty was tapped quickly by Jamie George, and the flanker did the rest.
What followed thereafter, though, did not live to the spectacle provided pre-match at a world-class arena. The crowd of 54,414 had been lively ahead of kick off but drifted with a sloppy game played largely between the two 22s, both sides perhaps displaying understandable rust given that some of their Six Nations representatives had been back in camp a mere matter of days. It took Saracens until on the brink of the break to strike again, with the cutest of blind balls out the back from Alex Goode helping create room for Tobias Elliott to squeeze into the corner.
open image in gallery Tobias Elliott scored on the stroke of half time for Saracens
( Getty Images )
Harlequins had done well to stay in the fight but, much like Ange Postecoglou, their ideological tendencies weren't perhaps helping them. Several times they turned down kickable penalties to head for the corner and came away with nothing to show for it.
Their route back into the game came from one of the few England squad members who was on show in the quarters. Oscar Beard must have become very familiar with the backside of a tackle bag after a Six Nations spent toiling at training for a first cap to no avail, but the centre could well end up a key figure on the tour to Argentina in the summer, and showed his quality here. Showing the pace and power that make him a player of high potential, the centre shook off the attentions of Elliot to surge across halfway and send his midfield partner, Ben Waghorn, under the sticks.
open image in gallery Young fly half Jamie Benson kicked Harlequins to victory
( Getty Images )
Jamie Benson, uber impressive off the bench at fly half, nudged over a penalty to close the gap to two points, before slotting another nine minutes from time to put Harlequins in front. A high tackle from Alex Lozowski and the young 10 stepped up and delivered again. Smith will soon be back rested and recharged but his shirt is in safe hands. Will Porter's score put the result beyond all doubt – what a win, what a statement, what a turnaround.
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South Wales Argus
19 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
England beat Wales 47-14 in World Rugby U20 Championship warm-up
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Wales dashed English Grand Slam dreams at Cardiff Arms Park in March with a 23-13 victory earned by going toe-to-toe with the world champions and rattling them. That meant that this tune-up was sure to have its spicey moments, and that's exactly what both sets of coaches wanted in the build up to the tournament in Italy. The two teams were drastically different to that Six Nations encounter with five starters retained in the home XV and three in the English selection – opportunity knocked for spots in the final squad. Wales were captained by Dragons number eight Evan Minto in his hometown and he was one of five starters who played for Pontypool in Super Rygbi Cymru last season, with flanker Ryan Jones, tighthead Owain James, fly-half Harri Ford and wing Ioan Duggan the others. Pooler and Cardiff Met hooker Evan Wood was on the bench along with Dragons scrum-half Logan Franklin and influential openside Harry Beddall, who moves to Rodney Parade from Leicester this summer. 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Replacements: Evan Wood (Pontypool/Cardiff Met), Louie Trevett (Bristol Bears), Jac Pritchard (Scarlets), Tom Cottle (RGC), Luke Evans (Exeter Chiefs), Deain Gwynne (Gloucester), Harry Beddall (Dragons), Logan Franklin (Dragons), Lloyd Lucas (Cardiff Rugby), Dylan Scott (Cardiff Met), Steffan Emanuel (Cardiff Rugby), Osian Darwin-Lewis (Cardiff Rugby), Jack Woods (Bath Rugby), Dylan Alford (Scarlets). Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales).
Scottish Sun
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Lewis Hamilton risks wrath of his beloved Roscoe after he is seen petting Chief Mouser Larry the Cat at meeting with PM
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SIR LEWIS HAMILTON has risked the wrath of his beloved dog Roscoe... after he was seen petting Larry the Cat. Formula One superstar Hamilton is well known to be a socially conscious person, and leads his Mission 44 project to support young people in their education. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Lewis Hamilton risked the wrath of his dog, Roscoe, after he was seen petting Larry the Cat Credit: Lauren Hurley 5 Hamilton said his 'heart stops' when he gets a message about his beloved pet pooch Credit: Instagram @roscoelovescoco 5 12-year-old Roscoe is often seen alongside Hamilton Credit: Instagram @lewishamilton 5 Hamilton's visit to Downing Street came for a meeting on education reform Credit: Crown Copyright To that end, the 40-year-old was seen in attendance at Downing Street earlier this week for a meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to discuss education reform. During his visit, the seven-time F1 world champion took some time out from the meetings to introduce himself to Number 10's Chief Mouser, Larry. Larry has served in the role since 2011 after being adopted by then PM David Cameron. Born in 2007, the tabby is as old as Hamilton's F1 career when he started out with McLaren in the same year. 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Rhyl Journal
4 hours ago
- Rhyl Journal
Appleby offers note of caution ahead of Ruling Court's Derby bid
Perhaps unsurprisingly given one is run over a straight mile and the second takes place over a turning mile and a half, few horses have landed the first two Classics of the British season, with only three managing to do so since the great Nijinsky completed the Triple Crown 45 years ago. Nashwan claimed Guineas and Derby glory in 1989, but it took a horse as brilliant as Sea The Stars two decades later to repeat the feat before Camelot did the same in 2012, after which he came up narrowly short in his Triple Crown quest in the St Leger. Appleby, who has trained two previous Derby winners in Masar (2018) and Adayar (2021), is hoping Ruling Court can etch his name into the history books, but said at Epsom on Friday: 'We're just on weather watch. There's not as much rain around – we were forecast showers this afternoon and it's been a lovely, drying day. 'We know what this track can do in these conditions, the horse is in great form and I'm looking forward to him running, (but) I will just highlight that if all of a sudden we get a deluge (of rain) and the ground becomes very testing, then conversations will have to be had during the build-up to the race over whether we participate or not. 'So there is a warning out there, but I think we'll be OK. It looks as though the weather has broken up a bit and the forecast tonight doesn't look as though it's going to be quite as severe as it was first forecast to be.' Like Masar, Ruling Court will be ridden by William Buick, who said: 'He's not too dissimilar from Masar. They have completely different pedigrees, but Masar was a good third in the Guineas and again went to Epsom having not run beyond a mile. They are not similar horses but have not too dissimilar profiles. 'Masar winning the Derby was the highlight of my career. I'd ridden in it enough before and been placed before and I thought I'd know how it would feel to win it, but it was an amazing day.' On whether his mount could be a Triple Crown contender, he added: 'I got asked about it before the Guineas and there were still three races to go! 'Ruling Court is heading into the most important race now. I'll answer the question after Saturday as I don't think I can answer it in a sensible way right now.' The biggest threat to Ruling Court appears to be Aidan O'Brien, who has saddled a record 10 Derby winners, including the last two and eight in the last 13 years. His chief hope this weekend appears to be Delacroix, who has impressed in winning the Ballysax Stakes and the Derby Trial at Leopardstown this spring and is the chosen mount of Ryan Moore. 'Everything has gone well with him, he's won his two trials and we always thought of him last year as a potential Derby horse,' said O'Brien. 'We've been very happy with both of his runs. We found out that he gets a strongly-run mile and a quarter and there's every chance that he will get a mile and a half. 'He has form on all types of ground and he's a big, powerful horse. We feel he has gone the right way every week really.' At the start of the year Delacroix's stablemate The Lion In Winter was at the head of ante-post lists for the Derby, but an interrupted spring campaign and defeat in the Dante at York have dented his reputation. 'He'd only the two runs as a two-year-old, winning his maiden at the Curragh and then winning the Acomb at York. The Acomb is over seven furlongs on a quick track and you're never sure, but we always thought that there was a strong possibility that he could (be a Derby horse),' O'Brien added. 'He's a good traveller, that's what he did in the Acomb and the Dante. I think Ryan was very happy with the way he travelled in the Dante, he travelled down the straight well and as he was getting ready to have a go he just got a little bit chopped and with a horse needing the run as badly as he did, that would be a big disadvantage to him. 'Everything has gone well since York and we couldn't have asked any more from him really.' The Ballydoyle handler's trio is completed by Chester Vase winner Lambourn, of whom he said: 'He had a lovely run first time and then he ran a lovely race in Chester. There's no doubt he looks like a horse that will stay further, he's straightforward and obviously he got the trip in Chester well. 'You couldn't be happier with him at Chester as we knew it would be plenty sharp enough for him, but he still coped with it and we're looking forward to seeing him run again.'
