Quins created fewer chances, but benefited from two opportunist tries by Adam Thompstone and Danny Care and their conversions by Andrew Mehrtens.

From the kick-off the Exiles sought to run the ball and attack, largely keeping Quins penned in their own half of the field. That Irish were playing with the wind at their backs helped too. Unforced errors on both sides made the game disjointed with Quins turning over ball too easily and forced to defend strongly. Neither side made any attempt to score from the many kickable penalty chances, usually kicking for touch or at times calling a scrum.

The first score of the game came from a chapter of errors as a Quins line-out was overthrown and the ball went loose and in the resulting chaos Irish had a three man overlap on the right and that allowed their full-back Dominic Shabbo to score in the corner. The conversion was missed to give Irish a 5 - 0 lead after twenty minutes.

Quins began to try to exert more pressure upon their opponents. The forwards drove hard and Mehrtens kicking to the corners pushed the Irish back, but the hosts responded and again Quins found themselves held back. Then just before half-time a kick out of the attacking Quins’ forwards saw the Irish backs in full pursuit. Despite a blatant knock-on, wholly ignored by Wayne Barnes, the referee, the Irish centre Gower was allowed to gather and score their second try which Lewis-Pratt converted with the last kick of the half and Irish led 12 – 0.

Quins came out for the second half showing their attacking intent with a fine break by Tom Guest and another from Luke Sherriff. When that thrust was stopped the ball was moved rapidly right along the backs but a deliberate knock-on stopped the move, although Quins had a penalty. The catch and drive was resisted and the ball came back to a more central position where Quins had an attacking scrum some 10 metres from the Irish line. Three times the scrum was reset as Quins forwards sought push Irish back over their line.

A penalty for an offence at the scrum saw Quins take another scrum and gain another penalty for an offside at that scrum. They opted for another scrum, but this time they lost the ball and the Irish relieved the pressure. Harlequins had increased their work-rate and increased their pressure on the Irish forwards although the Exiles were always looking to break away, often succeeding only to turn over possession with unforced errors.

Quins responded by trying to use their backs and eventually as the third quarter was ending, an overlap on the right saw the winger Thompstone cross for the try. Mehrtens kick from wide out added the points. By this time the substitutions had begun on both sides. For Quins the most significant was the appearance of Danny Care for Steve So’oialo.

Care was incisive, quick and on top of his form. Only five minutes after the previous score, the scrum-half picked up from the base of a ruck, evaded two would-be tacklers and touched down under the posts for Quins’ second try. Mehrtens added the points for Quins to lead 12 – 14.

That ended the scoring despite valiant efforts by the home team to score again. They were frequently forced back by the pin-point accurate kicking by Mehrtens who drilled three successive kicks sixty metres down the field to with a couple of metres of the corner flag, closing out the game and guaranteeing the win.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS