It took a long time for the team to put together the sort of play which these matches usually provide and it was well into the second half before there was a try scored. The weather had a certain amount to do with that. The ball was clearly hard to handle. Torrential rain had greeted the arrival of the visitors to the field and persisted for much of the first half. Handling errors and loss of the ball in contact afflicted both sides as did some idiosyncratic refereeing by Greg Garner whose view of the advantage rule did not allow the game to flow.

Almost from the start Quins were afflicted by a failure on the part of Aston Croall to throw in straight at the lineout returning possession to the visitors when least expected, an error repeated fairly often during the match. Some early aimless Irish kicking was followed eventually by a dangerous break and a likely Irish try was lost when the final pass wasted the chance. Eventually, however, it was the Exiles who put the first points on the board with Shane Geraghty kicking a penalty from twenty-five metres.

Almost immediately Quins broke back into Irish territory and were awarded a penalty for an offside offence which Mike Brown kicked to level the score at 3 – 3 after twelve minutes. A further attempt, however, from about 35 metres was missed a couple of minutes later. From the restart a fine run by George Harder, well supported gained an attacking lineout but the ball was lost in the attempted catch and drive.

Then, as the first quarter ended, a yellow card for a late tackle by Matt Humphries, on as a substitute for the injured Feaunati, allowed Mike Brown to kick another penalty and put Harlequins back into the lead 6 – 3.

The rain had now lessened considerably and Harlequins began to show more ambition. A good break from the base of a scrum by Gommersall produced a lineout deep in the Irish twenty-two but Quins were penalised for closing the gap. It had taken Andy Gommersall a little time to accustom himself to new faces in new shirts and he was occasionally looking around to ensure he knew who his first receiver was. Then his beautifully flat fast pass across the front of his centres was taken by Jordan Turner-Hall and only a knock-on from the following pass to Luke Sheriff ended a dangerous attack.

As the first half-hour came to an end, a penalty for coming in from the side at a maul produced an immediate yellow card for Tom Guest. No previous warning had apparently been administered and nor had Guest been penalised previously. Geraghty kicked the points to level the score at 6 – 6. A drop goal attempt by Seb Jewell missed the target.

Now Mr. Garner appeared to decide that the laws of Rugby no longer applied and despite players being offside, knock-ons were ignored and forward passes deemed acceptable, Irish were allowed to mount an attack until finally a more blatant infringement appeared to leave him no alternative but to blow his whistle. Craig McMullen came on as a blood substitution for Tosh Masson.

Another penalty to Quins saw Mike Brown miss the points and the half came to an end with an excellent 40 metre drop goal by Geraghty to leave Irish leading 6 - 9 at the interval.

After a nondescript start to the half Quins were awarded a scrum from an Irish lineout and from that scrum a good deep cross kick by Andy Gommersall saw Adam Thompstone, well offside in front of the kicker, chasing hard. The winger caught the full-back, forcing player and ball into touch. A scrum from the ensuing lineout saw Quins produce a fine pushover try with the scrum almost running as they drove the Exiles pack over the line for Tom Guest to touch down. The conversion was missed but Quins regained the lead at 11 – 9 with eight minutes of the half elapsed.

Almost immediately, from a quick penalty, Jordan Turner-Hall who was a potent force all evening made a great break thr4ough the centre and almost reached the line and stretched for the score but had it disallowed for a double movement. Then in the fourteenth minute, Andy Gommersall successfully chased down his own grubber kick to touch down for a try to which Mike Brown successfully added the conversion for 18 – 9.

Almost immediately from the restart, good pressure from Quins saw them move the ball right along the backs to put Tom Williams in for a simple score. Once again Mike Brown converted for 25 - 9. In ten minutes Harlequins had snatched and sealed the match and all that was left was to look for the bonus point. There was still over twenty minutes remaining.

All but five minutes of those had gone when an excellent low kick through the defence saw Charlie Amesbury, in full flight down the left wing, gather the ball, sidestep around the Irish full-back and touch down between the posts to allow Mike Brown a simple conversion. 32 – 9 was the final score and the bonus point secured leaves Quins at the top of the Southern Conference, two points ahead of Bristol who have a game in hand.

Despite the score, this was not a performance which will have given the management much to be pleased about. There was a lack of ambition about the first half which was not entirely attributable to the conditions. Andy Gommersall’s class shone through and when he is fully match fit he will be a fine addition to the squad. McMullen was less obvious but both he and Gommersall had only trained with their team-mates that day for the first time and recognising the fly-half whom you have only met that day can slow down the quickest scrum-half.

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