Dave Ribbans advertised his wellbeing for England’s Six Nations campaign as Northampton ensured Harlequins finished a miserable festive period with another defeat.
Ribbans put in a powerful carrying performance to build on his progress in the autumn when he made his England debut and he hit hard in defence.
Fraser Dingwall, who toured Australia with England in summer, was a thorn in Harlequins’ side all game when Saints were pouring forward.
In a game reminiscent of the hammering Saracens dished out to Exeter on Saturday, this was virtually all one-way traffic with Harlequins hardly landing a blow.
Alex Dombrandt did his best from No 8 to stem the tide with a heroic defensive performance but when he was sent to the sin-bin in the second half it did not help the cause.
Even in a hailstorm at the end of the game everything was sticking for Saints who scored their sixth try through centre Rory Hutchinson with three minutes left. George Furbank, shifted to fly-half after Fin Smith’s HIA, rubbed it in with a touchline conversion in the downpour.
But Ribbans was at the forefront as he stated his case for inclusion in Steve Borthwick’s first squad, set to be announced on 16 January.
“During this week he came away for the tackle tech session at the end of training,” said Northampton director of rugby, Phil Dowson, who confirmed Courtney Lawes is set to return from his gluteal injury. “He whacked some of the academy lads and I said to him I had not seen to that before. He is just trying to push himself to the next level and today he was outstanding. Dave in terms of getting us going forward, leading that lineout, he has really stepped up the last couple of weeks – he has been brilliant.”
With Alex Mitchell being taken off on 45 minutes, Callum Braley, in his third league game for Saints, injected even more pace and Saints had their bonus point, for a fourth try, in the bag on 53 minutes when the impressive Australian back row Lukhan Salakaia-Loto went over.
Northampton needed it with games against Exeter, Munster, La Rochelle and Leicester to come in the next four weeks but this was a huge step up from recent outings.
This was a harsh wake-up call for Harlequins who lost to Bristol last Tuesday, the infamous game in which prop Joe Marler was banned for six weeks, four of them suspended. This hiding comes before Sale’s visit next Sunday.
But Tabai Matson, the Harlequins head coach, refused to hide behind the Marler controversy and use it as an excuse for their no-show.
“It is nothing to do with tonight,” he said. “We’ve got to find out why we played like that and Joe’s absence was not a part of that. We were lucky to be 16 points down at half-time. I hope Joe wasn’t made a scapegoat for something and a clear mandate is handed down from above.
“We were clearly not at the races. We’ll have to let that settle and fester on it. We’ll have to be significantly better against Sale. We failed on a number of levels tonight and if we put in a performance like that against Sale then we will get another shellacking.”
By half-time Northampton had scored three tries and were value for more than a 19-3 lead with a couple more chances left out on the Franklin’s Gardens turf.
On their first visit to Harlequins territory after a burst from wing Tommy Freeman they ended up with a full complement of seven when prop Alex Waller muscled over under the posts after lively work from Alex Mitchell. Then Smith’s long ball found wing James Ramm, after more good work from Dingwall, and all of a sudden Saints were 14-0 in front.
Then cue frustration after a botched lineout drive, after a good set-up and catch from Ribbans, frustrated them again and another chance went begging when Saints turned down the points, Waller tapped the penalty, charged and was held up. But Ramm and Freeman, with the latter delivering a perfect pop-up off the turf, combined for the third score after Andre Esterhuizen had fumbled for the visitors and the Australian claimed his second of the game.
Northampton turned the screw in the third quarter, claiming their fourth score, Jordan Els grabbed one back but Furbank’s score put Harlequins back in their place and Rory Hutchinson’s rubbed it in. Nick David’s try was little consolation for Quins.
