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 as young fly half Jamie Benson produced a coming-of-age showing. With a degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge, his mind is just as sharp as his boot.
“I am really proud of this group considering a few people would have had something to say about not selecting our three internationals and giving them the week off,” Harlequins coach Danny Wilson said. “A lot of these combinations has helped us get an unbelievable win against a full-loaded Saracens in front of that crowd in their big game.
“We’ve been really pleased with how [Jamie Benson] has been going. We are very lucky here to have three outstanding 10s. Huge credit to him. That is a pressure-cooker environment in that stadium.”
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. “There’s no point getting too emotional about it,” coach Mark McCall said. “We’ve got to understand why we were poor today. There are some clear things for us to get after. It is a bit of a test for us as a group now.”
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, 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.
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.
Benson, uber impressive off the bench, 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. Will Porter’s score put the result beyond all doubt – what a win, what a statement, what a turnaround.
Smith will soon be back rested and recharged but his shirt is in safe hands. Benson has had to bide his time behind the England playmaker and fellow international Evans, but he could not have seized his opportunity any better. “It does not take a genius to work out that it is a frustrating position to be in and I am working hard behind the scenes to try to be ready when I do get an opportunity,” he said. “It is a great environment to learn off those two guys and I am sure it will put me in a good position going forward.”
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