Phil Dowson frustrated by sloppy Northampton Saints

Northampton head coach Phil Dowson rued his side’s inability to take their chances after a late rally came up just short in a 35-29 defeat to Harlequins in a Gallagher Premiership game of nine tries.

The Saints trailed 14-0 after only six minutes and 28-10 early in the second half but had the majority of territory and possession in the contest.

But ill-luck and a lack of precision cost them as Jack Musk scored two tries for Quins with Lennox Anyanwu, Luke Northmore and Cadan Murley also touching down.

Lewis Ludlam, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank and Tom James scored Saints’ tries to earn them two bonus points, but Dowson was frustrated with his side’s start.

He said: “We were very slow coming out of the blocks, we were under pressure in the first scrum but fine in that area after that, but we went 7-0 down and then 14 after we lost possession after trying to play too wide too early.

“Then we were not clinical enough and need to be better, but we showed great character so it’s frustrating.

“It’s positive that we are creating lots of opportunities but we repeatedly turned the ball over in their 22 so it became an uphill battle as we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

“The off-load is a great attacking weapon but we need to assess whether we throw it or not and that’s a problem for the coaches to consider.”

Murley’s spectacular effort put Harlequins 35-15 up before Northampton fought back.

And Harlequins head coach Tabai Matson feels Murley could boost Eddie Jones’ England squad.

Matson said: “What a finish that was as I thought he would be cleaned out before he even got to the 22.

“There are not many finishers like him in the league and we’ve already recommended him to Eddie Jones but we haven’t heard anything back.”

On his side’s win, Matson added: “We knew it would be tough and it certainly was but it was amazing to get a victory as they butchered a few scores.

“It was a really good spectacle for the neutral but the most pleasing aspect for me was the five minutes of defence at the end as it takes a lot of discipline not to give penalties away in that situation.”