Fine margins were what cost Harlequins in their 32-31 defeat to Northampton Saints, said captain Stephan Lewies. 

Harlequins were chasing the game from early on as Tommy Freeman opened the scoring for the home side. 

Six tries were scored in the first half, with both sides scoring bonus points after the break but it was a James Grayson penalty in the 76th minute that ultimately saw Saints claim victory.

“We just weren’t good enough. It just shows in this competition if you are five per cent off, it’s not good enough,” Lewies said. 

“With this team there was always belief. There is enough talent but I think there were too many unforced errors.

“The lineout didn’t function the way we wanted to and we put ourselves under massive pressure and well done to Saints, they capitalised.” 

The narrow defeat took the shine off a milestone for Lewies as he made his 50th appearance for the club. 

His side now have the chance to reset with their next game against Gloucester on 21st May as Harlequins take over Twickenham for the Big Summer Kick Off. 

He added: “We’ve made it hard for ourselves now, that is going to be a massive game for us but the one thing that is good about this team is we know we’ll bounce back. 

“We’re back to Twickenham, back at the big Stoop. It’s really exciting, hopefully we can fill it up.” 

One bright point from the defeat was Huw Jones performance at fullback, although his first piece of brilliance came as he filled in at no.9 for Danny Care.

Jones took on the responsibility of taking the ball from the ruck before sending a quick offload to Andre Esterhuizen to level proceedings early in the first half. 

The Scotland international then produced a bit of magic, holding on to a tricky ball from Joe Marchant, who sent the ball over his head having chased his own kick. 

Jones clung on before racing across the whitewash, however the backline’s acrobatics were in vain as Saints won the game at the death. 

Jones said: “I really am enjoying it [at fullback] good to get my hands on the ball, try my best to deal with the kicking game, it is really fun and playing with this backline is brilliant.  

“Getting the ball off the likes of Joe [Marchant], Marcus [Smith] and the lads when they put you in space it is awesome. 

“Both a bit of instinct, I knew DC [Danny Care] wasn’t at the ruck so I had to play 9 and tried to go myself and saw Andre [Esterhuizen] at the last second, just popped it to him. 

 “And the other one we get into March for his kicking. That [kick] was going out, but he managed to keep it in, and I managed to just hold on to it and get over the line.”