Danny Wilson insisted Harlequins’ 22-19 victory over Northampton had transformed their Gallagher Premiership outlook heading into the league break.
Quins climbed to fifth in the table with a bonus-point victory that was sealed by Cassius Cleaves’ 77th-minute try – the first time the hosts had led in an entertaining encounter at The Stoop.
Head coach Wilson felt that had Harlequins not produced their first home win since October, their chances of reaching the play-offs would have suffered a serious blow.
“It was huge to get five points from what we talked about being our most important league game of the season so far,” Wilson 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.”
Cleaves showed his finishing skills with two well-taken tries, although the 21-year-old wing might have had a hat-trick had he dived on approach to the line near the start of the game.
“Cassius has out and out gas. He’s still got a lot to develop and a lot to learn, but what he’s got is finishing ability and you felt like he was going to get away,” Wilson said.
“He’s been produced from within and that’s the important message. Because of the salary cap, the more we can produce from within the more we can be consistently successful.”
The only downside to Quins’ victory was the departure of in-form number eight James Chisholm with a suspected Achilles injury in the first half. Chisholm is to undergo a scan on the damage.
While Harlequins rocketed up the table, champions Northampton are facing an uphill task to reach the top four and are stuck in eighth place.
“Every result feels significant as we go along. We’re losing lives effectively with every opportunity to get back into the mix,” director of rugby Phil Dowson said.
“We were eight points off the top four at the start of the day and we’ve got a long break now.
“We were delighted with the effort in terms of how we applied ourselves, how physical we were and how hard we worked.
“Obviously it’s heartbreaking to concede in the last five minutes, but that’s the nature of the beast and there’s lots of things we can do better from an execution point of view.”
