Leigh Halfpenny and three Wales outcasts help take down English champions in front of famous fan
Four Wales internationals played their part in Harlequins' last-gasp victory over Northampton Saints in front of a familiar famous face on Friday night.
Saints, who are the current holders of the Premiership trophy, were pipped by Quins in the 77th minute thanks to a try from Cassius Cleaves. A late surge from the away side bore no fruit, with Quins securing a 22-19 win.
Like fellow Premiership club Gloucester, Quins have a few Wales internationals in their ranks, and all four of them played their part at Twickenham Stoop. It was Quins' first home win in the competition since beating Saracens on October 13.
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Jarrod Evans started at fly-half, with Wyn Jones packing down at loosehead prop in the scrum. Dillon Lewis provided tighthead cover from the replacements bench alongside the legendary Leigh Halfpenny.
Quins fans lauded Evans' performance, doing a fine job in the absence of their usual starting fly-half Marcus Smith.
"Amazing effort. Please ensure Jarrod Evans has a beer in hand ASAP after that, outstanding effort," wrote one on X.
"Jarrod Evans best Welsh 10 in the world and he doesn’t even get a look! Make it make sense," remarked another.
After the match, Halfpenny and Evans met with Welsh comedian and actor Rob Brydon, famous for playing Uncle Bryn on Gavin and Stacey, who chatted with the players from the stands.
Quins boss Danny Wilson spoke of the importance of their win going into the Six Nations break.
"It was huge to get five points from what we talked about being our most important league game of the season so far," he said.
"I don’t think that’s exaggerating it, getting five points was massive in the race for making the top four. If we’d lost we might have been in a really difficult situation and hoping other results would go our way, so that was really pleasing.
"Off the back of a big win in Europe last weekend against Glasgow, that was two really good performances from one weekend to the next. I’m really pleased and proud of what the boys did. There were some great performances out there."
Halfpenny has retired from international rugby, but Lewis, Jones and Evans are all still eligible to be selected for their country. They were left out of Warren Gatland's Six Nations squad earlier this month.
