Andre Esterhuizen sent another timely statement of intent to the Springbok selectors with a dominant Man of the Match display for Harlequins.
Harlequins scored in the third minute, but the Exeter Chiefs took control of the contest as they opened a 12-7 lead which they held onto until late in the match.
Despite dominating play, Quins were kept relatively quiet until Esterhuizen powered his way over the tryline to level the scores, teeing up flyhalf Marcus Smith to kick the conversion for the win.
The centre had a superb game which led to him winning a third consecutive Man of the Match award.
Tyrone Green was again excellent from the backfield, with the most run metres (63) and joint-most carries (13) in the game.
Flankers Jannes Kirsten and Don Armand played for the Chiefs, but they weren’t as effective as their compatriots in the Quins team.
André Esterhuizen scoring for @Harlequins in his Player of the Match performance #SaffasAbroad #GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/1YcUmC1701
— Darren Carlson (@SaffasRugby) January 8, 2022
André Esterhuizen’s last three #GallagherPrem appearances:
? vs Northampton Saints
? vs Gloucester
? vs Exeter Chiefs“I’m loving life at the moment, I never get these!” ?
Three consecutive Player of the Match awards for @Harlequins‘ ‘Giant’ ? pic.twitter.com/0VxNMXXHUU
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) January 8, 2022
David Ribbans and Courtnall Skosan starred in Northampton Saints’ 44-8 demolition of the Newcastle Falcons.
Bok wing Skosan crossed for one of Saints’ five tries.
Louis Schreuder, Philip van der Walt and Kyle Cooper turned out for Newcastle.
In the only other fixture on Saturday, Gloucester secured an enthralling 25-24 win over Saracens in an ill-disciplined match that produced three yellow cards.
Ruan Ackermann was once again a cut above the rest with a game-high 63 run metres and 17 carries.
Saracens had Ivan van Zyl, Ruben de Haas and Vincent Koch in their ranks.
