Harlequins ran in six tries as they beat Gallagher Premiership table toppers Northampton Saints 41-32, in a game in which former England man Danny Care was fortunate to escape a red card.
Care had already been yellow carded at Twickenham when he appeared to come off his feet at the breakdown to kill the ball, but referee Karl Dickson decided it was only a penalty.
Care was substituted immediately and his replacement Will Porter delivered a pair of tries to seal victory for the home side in the final 20 minutes.
Luke Northmore also touched down twice for Quins, who are fifth in the table on 49 points, behind fourth-placed Bristol on points difference after the Bears secured an epic comeback win over Leicester Tigers.
Bristol stun Leicester in final 10 minutes
Magnus Bradbury scored the last-gasp try as Bristol rallied from 19-0 down after 70 minutes to win 21-19, with the result boosting the Bears’ play-off-hopes and ending the Tigers’ chances.
Ollie Hassell-Collins notched two tries and Francois van Wyk one to put Leicester in complete control, only for Bristol prop Max Lahiff to score a brace.
Lahiff touched down either side of Mike Brown’s sending off for the Tigers for a second yellow card, with Brown given his marching orders following a head head-on-head collision with Benhard Janse Van Rensburg.
Bradbury then levelled the scores before AJ MacGinty’s conversion clinched the dramatic turnaround.
Care escapes red as Quins win at Twickenham
In the Harlequins-Northampton match – in which Quins trio Care, Louis Lynagh and Tyrone Green were all sin-binned – the Care controversy came after 62 minutes.
Saints used the penalty to produce a try as Tom Litchfield darted over, allowing Fin Smith to give his side the lead but after Green returned to the field, Porter brought Quins another two scores.
Northampton bagged a try through Courtney Lawes. but Jarrod Evans then landed a penalty with the final kick of the game as Saints lost their losing bonus point.
Northampton director of rugby, Phil Dowson, said of the Care incident: “There was a lot going on in that break of play.
“Karl [referee Karl Dickson] and the TMO have had a good look and they’ve deemed that Care pushing James Ramm and diving on the ball wasn’t a yellow-card offence.
“They had a lot of yellow cards and we didn’t capitalise and that was fundamentally the difference.
“Three or four times we’re on their line and we either dropped the ball or didn’t convert, so we left points out there.”
‘Entertaining rugby is in Harlequins DNA’
Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson:
“We’re going to come out and entertain. We’ve got to score four tries week in, week out [in the play-off race] and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. It’s their DNA, it’s the club’s DNA, it’s what it’s been built on and long may it continue.
“It’s so tight, it’s mad. Every game feels like knockout rugby, so you’ve got to score four tries and get bonus points to give yourselves a chance. We’ve done what we needed to do in front of a big crowd here, which is an amazing experience.”
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