All four of the England coaches, Stuart Lancaster and his three assistants, Andy Farrell, Mike Catt and Graham Rowntree, turned up at Northampton to watch a Welshman save what should have been a showpiece for English rugby.
For 44 minutes Northampton and Harlequins, second and fourth in the Premiership beforehand and two sides with a natural enthusiasm for adventurous rugby, got bogged down by the elements, endless collapsed scrums and television reviews before George North, currently in a rich vein for Northampton, fielded a poor clearance, brushed the cover aside and went over in the corner to fire a second half which was everything the first 40 minutes failed to be. As North said later: "It was one of those games where you had to keep working. We needed to up the tempo and that try kicked it off."
However, both coaches, Jim Mallinder for Northampton and Conor O'Shea for Harlequins, admitted to being frustrated by the energy sucked from the game by the constant references to the TMO.
Northampton had the pleasure of going top, at least until Saracens visit Gloucester on Saturday. They also have the satisfaction of extending their league run to nine games without defeat, completing a double over Harlequins for the first time in eight seasons and proving they have come a long way since last season. "We remember last year," said Mallinder. "We hurt when people said we couldn't beat top four sides."
However, the form team in the league and a side seemingly coming back to its best after a wobbly start to the season did little to show they are in fine fettle before next week's return to the Heineken Cup. Typically the game was settled with a couple of mistakes, Northampton seemingly losing a lineout on the Harlequins line before their hooker and the man guilty of a squint throw, Dylan Hartley, pounced on the loose ball to ease the lead out from 16-9, thus robbing Harlequins of their bonus point.
After last week's six-try beating of Bath Jim Mallinder stuck with 12 of that starting line-up, resting Tom Wood and bringing in Lee Dickson, while Harlequins also made three changes but only because of injuries to Danny Care, Luke Wallace and Tom Casson, who needed nine stitches in his head after the win over Exeter. However, evidence of either side reproducing last weekend's form was not immediately apparent.
Unfortunately for the England quartet, the best news during the first half was Alex Corbisiero climbing into the stand to relate to Lancaster that he could be back in action by March, although presumably not in time for the Six Nations.
On the field it was North who hinted at what was to come, getting involved three times in the opening four minutes – up the left, through the middle thanks to a clever run round Stephen Myler and then on the right – before the first penalty of the night put Northampton three points up.
Nick Evans responded almost immediately, but it was Northampton who applied what early pressure there was, making best use of the wind at their backs, Lee Dickson testing both the elements and his England team-mate Mike Brown with the full box of kicks.
On the plus side for Lancaster, Charlie Walker, the Harlequins wing currently getting good notices, was doing himself no harm with Marland Yarde and Christian Wade out of the England equation. It was his dart up the right in the 19th minute which brought the first sustained Harlequins pressure and the second Evans penalty.
And that was about it for a lacklustre first 40 minutes, with players struggling to keep their footing and the referee, Greg Garner, struggling to make sense of what the big boys were up to in the scrum. The set piece was a shambles, collapsing and ending in squabbles until Garner grew tired of the collective sinning and showed Tom Guest a yellow.
But even then both teams remained locked in mediocrity Northampton managing just three points from Myler in the flanker's absence and the interval score of 6-6 just about reflected the evening to date.
Northampton Collins (Autagavaia 75); Elliott, G Pisi, Burrell, North; Myler (Dickson 75), Dickson (Fotuali'i 64); A Waller (E Waller 68), Hartley (capt; Haywood 74), Ma'afu (Mercey 68), Lawes, Day, Clark, Dowson (Wood 61), Manoa.
Tries North, Hartley. Cons Myler 2. Pens Myler 3. Sin bin Pisi 78
Harlequins Brown; Walker, Hopper, Molenaar, Smith (Lindsay-Hague 74); Evans (Botica h-t), Dickson: Marler (Lambert 74), Ward, Collier (Doran-Jones 68), Matthews (Kennedy 56), Robson, Guest (Trayfoot 61), Robshaw (capt), Easter.
Pens Evans 2, Botica. Sin bin Guest 28, Doran-Jones 72.
Referee Greg Garner Attendance 13,400
