Battle for top four reaching climax

THE battle for the Premieship play-off places heated up yesterday with leaders Northampton losing to Harlequins and a revitalised Bristol Bears launching a stunning comeback to end Leicester’s hopes of making the top four.

- BRENDAN GALLAGHER

In front of 60,000 at Twickenham, Harlequins overcame Saints 41-32. Luke Northmore and Will Porter both scored twice as Quins lost three players – Danny Care, Louis Lynagh and Tyrone Green – to the sin-bin.

Both Northampton and Quins now face daunting challenges in Champions Cup semi-finals next weekend, Northampton against Leinster on Saturday and Quins against Toulouse on Sunday.

Quins skipper Alex Dombrandt said: “We now have the biggest week in the club’s history, it doesn’t get much better. We will give it a good crack and see what happens”

Bristol moved into the play-off positions, level on points with Quins but with a superior points difference, after pulling off an astonishing comeback from 19-0 against the Tigers to win 19-21.

Bristol’s DoR Pat Lam praised the defence and his forwards. “I knew we could score three or four tries in 10-15 minutes. There was a lot of heart, lot of mental toughness and stuff which we have built over the season.”

HARLEQUINS kept their play-off hopes alive with this exhilarating – and exhausting win – over Premiership leaders Northampton at Twickenham.