• Northampton 33-29 Harlequins
• Sleightholme doubles up in Saints’ bonus-point win

It was a helter-skelter Friday night under the lights at Franklin’s Gardens, where Northampton beat Harlequins 33-29 in an enjoyably entertaining game. It was set-up to be a showdown between England’s two likely fly-halves, Marcus and Fin Smith, but Quins’ injury crisis in the back three meant Marcus ended up starting at full-back for the club for the first time. So he was squaring off against George Furbank, instead. It ought to be a disservice to everyone else on the pitch to frame a game that way, but the unavoidable truth is that in this sort of form Marcus Smith does have a knack of hogging everyone’s attention.

The first half included the best of Marcus Smith’s game, and the worst of it too. He was at fault for Saints’ first try. He gathered a kick to the corner that had stopped just short of touch, and decided to try to run his way out of trouble. He ended up running his right back into it instead. He shot sideways across the field like a startled rabbit looking for a lick of cover in a farm field, and he ended up being scragged right under the posts, where he was penalised for holding on to the ball. Saints’ Manny Iyogun drove his way over right after the turn-over.