This was a match that initially left your reporter wondering what to write. This was certainly not a classic match, and Quins were made to work very hard for their win. But they defended very well against a strong Newcastle side. Both sides appeared nervous at the start, wanting to preserve their current Premiership positions. It was very pleasing to see such a high turn out, and that some Falcons fans had made the journey south. However, despite the size of the crowd, the atmosphere was noticeably subdued particularly in the first half, especially if you consider that this was a “top of the table” clash.

Quins kicked off playing into the sun. The ball disappeared into a ruck and was a long time before it was released to Gollings, who kicked for touch. Quins lost that line out, but knock on gave possession back to Quins. This was to set the pattern for the most of the match. On six minutes Quins were awarded the first penalty of the afternoon after Newcastle went in to the ruck from the side. Burkes’ kick had the length but drifted to the side of the posts. The ball did not travel far from the restart, and remained inside the Newcastle half. Quins pressure was soaked up by Newcastle and when the ball came out to Ugo on the wing, he made about 20 metres before he was tackled but Quins won another penalty with Newcastle being offside. Nine minutes gone and Quins were 3-0 up.

The first half continued as a mistake-ridden affair for both sides. Peel was giving our front row a torrid time. Handling errors plagued both sides in open play. Harvey put in a brief appearance for Newcastle after being on the end of a pass from Godman. Burke’s kicking from hand was good and at times put Gollings under pressure, as he wavered under the high balls. Gollings was still having difficulty in finding touch. On a number of occasions the ball fell into the waiting hands of Gavin Duffy. Before he was substituted, following an injury to his calf, Ace was playing well with a couple of bursts carrying the ball into the Newcastle defence.

Ace's Low (Robshew)

On 17 minutes Fuga replaced Tiatia and he settled in very quickly, despite Archer and Vyvyan disrupting our line out ball. On 21 minutes Quins conceded a penalty, Gollings levelled the scores 3 –3, after taking a very long time to take the kick.

Ugo was having a quieter game. I think a lot of the crowd expect him to produce those scorching runs week in week out. There was one brief spell of magic, midway through the first half as he danced and jinxed with the ball but was not able to fully break through. His defending today was very good and his pace up field prevented any quick line out ball from the Falcons. A potential try did go begging on 30 minutes after Quins had won their line out on the far side with some excellent cross-field passing but Ugo missed the final pass which the referee judged to be forward. It was clear to see the psychological games being played out on the pitch. With the scrum given on the 10-metre line the Quins pack formed immediately and stood staring menacingly at their opposition pack waiting for them to form.

Aggressive Pack (Andy Hancock)

On 35 minutes Burke made it 6-3 after Newcastle were penalised once more for being offside.

From the restart the Gollings kick once more found the safe hands of Duffy and the Quins attack was on again. The resultant series of play saw Burke miss another drop goal attempt and a penalty kick, before once more Archer was penalised and Burke successfully slotted another kick from 40 metres out to make it 9-3 as half time approached. Keogh came on to replace the injured Deane (Hamstring), and was into the action immediately. As the clock ticked down, Quins repeated a previous move, following their line out win and passed the ball quickly cross-field. This time Burke decided on another drop goal attempt instead of passing down the line, maybe he thought that the rock solid Newcastle defence would prevail. Had the ball continued along the line, the Newcastle defences were flat and our man Ugo did have the space….

Maybank blew for half time Harlequins 9 - Newcastle 3.

Playing into the sun, Newcastle kicked off the second half. With a number of substitutions from the Newcastle bench, the match continued in the same vein as the first half. Taumalolo and Jewell were playing better today, and in defence Davidson, Evans and Sanderson were a very good match for the strong Falcons back row. Seven minutes into the second half; Quins began to pull away with Burke’s fourth successful penalty of the afternoon. As the game wore on, Newcastle began to maintain a sustained period of attack deep inside the Quins, half. A prop substitution saw Quins shore up their defence as Gomez and Jones were replaced by Worsley and Dawson. Falcons were kept at bay and were unable to get across the try line despite being camped within the 22-metre line for nearly five minutes.

Solid defence under pressure (Andy Hancock)

Referee Maybank missed Archer's attack on our ruck, but shortly after Quins were able to clear the ball after winning a scrum in front of the posts and play moved back to the centre of the pitch.

Newcastle scored the only try of the match, on the hour, with Stephenson evading the Quins defence and passing the ball to Gollings who put down in the corner, after Duffy had just failed to tap tackle him. Gollings was not so lucky with the conversion, which went wide. 12-8.

The most talked about incident of the game came in the 65th minute When Roy Maybank dismissed Veteran springbok Mark Andrews for dropping his knee on the prostrate Pat Sanderson's head, on the fringes of the ruck, right in front of a packed West Stand. After deliberating with his linesman, Maybank sent Andrews off the field to the strains of “Go Now”. He faces a disciplinary hearing next week. When asked about this incident, Mark Evans said “I'm going to sound like Arsene Wenger again, but I was turning round to talk to coach John Kingston and suddenly it had happened, I did not see it”. He added that referees do not give red cards unless there is good reason to, and that he did not think this affected the outcome of the game. In fact as the clock ticked down the final quarter of the game Quins were unable to push home their advantage of superior numbers, but managed to keep the Falcons in check. Following the sending off Newcastle re grouped and made some substitutions. Newcastle run a good line out system, and despite being a man down they continued to effectively cope with the lineout.

Quick Pass (Simon Jones)

On 69 minutes Gollings kicked again for goal, he took a full 50 seconds to prepare The successful kick brought the score to 18-11 with Newcastle back in contention for a losing bonus point. Ben Gollings at full back had taken on penalty kicking duties again for the Falcons. From his timing, poise and preparation it was clear who his tutor and mentor had been. Most kicks we taking up most of the allotted time allowed. Fortunately for Harlequins a number of his executions were not as precise as that of his mentor! Sanderson was replaced by Harlequins “Mr Big” Roy Winters. As play continued Keogh intercepted a through ball and passed to Burke who kicked to touch. Monye streaked down the wing to prevent a quick line out from Newcastle.

Diprose Caught (Simon Jones)

From this the Falcons became confused and the ball went out of play. Andy Dunne then replaced Taumalolo who had picked up a hamstring injury. Then Harlequins showed the best play of the afternoon was a fine rolling maul, which, as we all know, is a Thing of Beauty. Prior to the match, Rob Andrew had warned his side against “if you give them a driving game then you will get squeezed”. But with Vos protecting the ball, Quins produced a lovely 30 metre rolling maul, which needed an infringement from Newcastle to stop it! Coincidentally there was a posting on the Falcons site late last week praising our technique. “I have watched quite a few games against Harlequins, including the Cup Final a couple of years ago, and they have employed the rolling maul against us with great effect. I assume this is what RA means by a driving game. It is not easy to defend against the rolling maul when it's done well. The point of the attack keeps changing and you can't be sure who's got the ball!” Today we had another fine example of this technique.

The match ended in farce when Maybank signalled a penalty in the 82nd minute and hoards of youngsters swarmed on to the pitch assuming the match was over. Credit to the stewards who got them off fairly quickly to allow Burke to kick for touch and the official end to the game with Quins winning 18 – 11.The two sides left the pitch to an ironic “Don’t stop me now!” Mad Max is such a wit!

Although Burke had put nine points on the board by half time, the number of missed kicks disappointed me. His tally of 3 failed drop goal attempts and 2 penalty kicks, from a man of his calibre was surprising. However Mark Evans saw this very differently, his glass was half full where mine was half-empty! Burke finished the day with six kicks out eight.

In the press box after the match, early arrivals questioned Harlequins’ MD, Mr Tony Copsey who was heard to respond “Second in the table? - We’re not moaning! ”. At the post match press conference, Evans described the match-winning performance of Paul Burke, whose 6 penalties secured the Quins win, as "a goal-kicking masterclass." Indeed Burke was awarded Man of the Match. With the little possession we had in the second half we were able to do enough to gain sufficient territory for Burke to kick from. Our midfield was disrupted early on with Taumalolo playing with a niggling hamstring. When Deane went off Jewell covered for Taumalolo who then moved to 12 to replace Deane.

Vos was a giant in defence again. He is a crucial figure, and he is the top tackler in the Premiership this season. When asked whether he thought the game was affected by the World Cup Evans commented "Both sides are affected. They are missing three: one is the best fly-half in the world and we're missing, in my opinion, the best inside-centre in the world”. Pressed about the dullness of the match he added "This is a very confrontational league. People do their homework and do video analysis. It's a very bruising league and sometimes like today the game doesn't flow. We didn't get a lot of ball. We were under a lot of pressure in the second half but defended very well for long periods."

Quins substituted three players due to injuries but the extent of those injuries is as yet unknown. After Mark Evans and Mike Scott had left the gathered hacks waited in vain for the arrival of Rob Andrew. I was disappointed, as this was one of the reasons why I’d chosen to write this match report. We assumed that he wanted to avoid any questions regarding the dismissal of his captain Mark Andrews, and that he was obviously not happy with his teams performance. More plausibly it may have been that he’d lost his “squeaker” like Mr Penguin in the Toy Story film.

I can, however, report a brief and exclusive interview Mr Andrew had with our official Supporter, Jason the Orang Utan!

What's that monkey doing with Jason? (Binky)

I understand Andrew confided with Jason that he thought it an awful game of Rugby and that the sending off turned the game in favour of a Quins win. On balance Burke did have a very good game as did Vos. Duffy continues to grow in his role at full back, and his fellow countryman Keogh played well in the second half.

So it is now four wins out of five, and Harlequins remain in second place as the other Premiership sides jockey for positions below, following indifferent starta to the season. The next few weeks will see whether Quins can hold their mettle, starting with a mouth watering encounter next Saturday at the Stoop against Gloucester as 2nd in the table plays 3rd. I hope it will be a more entertaining game that the one we all witnessed today.

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