and the strong defence aided by the referee’s whistle rendered Quins unable to penetrate with their usual ability.

Quins started off at good pace and for much of the first ten minutes kept play in their opponents half of the field and earned a penalty which Jarvis kicked to open the scoring. 0 – 3.

Renewed pressure from Saracens, after they had regained possession by a turnover at the breakdown saw them mount a series of attacks resulting in a scrum deep in Quins’ twenty-two. From the set piece the ball was moved along the line to an overlap created on the left allowing the winger, Paul Bailey, to cross for the try which Russell converted to give Saracens the lead at 7 – 3.

Quins took play deep into their opponents half and a rolling maul which started to move threateningly towards the line saw Quins earn a penalty but this time Jarvis’ kick drifted wide,

For much of the remainder of the half play remained in midfield and largely inconclusive as neither side was able to exert superiority and Quins lacked penetration. Possession was lost at the breakdown which was poorly policed with Saracens forwards coming in of their feet, from the side and through offside but rarely penalised.

On the point of half time Jarvis missed a second penalty and the half time score remained 7 – 3.

The second half saw a number of replacements on both sides but Quins increased pressure saw the forwards take the ball up towards the Saracens’ line and George Robson score the try which Jarvis converted. 7 – 10 with only some five minutes of the half elapsed.

For the next fifteen minutes play returned to midfield with largely inconclusive attempts by both teams to gain superiority. Unforced errors and the referee’s whistle restricted the play. Tempers were a littler frayed in the forwards and in the end earned a yellow card for George Robson who had his scrum cap deliberately torn off his head by a Saracens’ forward and a finger in his eye in the process. Unwisely, he appeared to retaliate and Quins were down to fourteen men.

Almost immediately Saracens pressed forward into the Quins’ half and missed tackles allowed their centre, Adam Powell, through for the try which was converted to restore the lead to Saracens by 14 – 10 as the match entered the last quarter. Subsequently Russell kicked two further penalties given for offside and failing to roll away from the tackle which allowed Saracens to increase their score to 20 – 10.

As the match moved into injury time, a penalty to Quins was successfully kicked by Jarvis to earn Quins a losing bonus point. Quins then exerted great pressure as they drove deep into their opponents’ territory and were only a few metres from the line. Was there to be another great escape like that at Otley? Not this time. Possession was lost and a penalty conceded to allow Saracens to kick the ball out and bring the final whistle.

The nest A League match is against Bristol at The Stoop on Monday 19th September at 7,30 p.m.

Teams:
HARLEQUINS: 15. Charlie Amesbury, 14. Kiba Richards,13. Tosh Masson
12. Mel Deane, 11. Simon Keogh, 10. Adrian Jarvis, 9. Steve So’oialo, 1. Alex Rogers, 2. Jimmy Richards, 3 Lorne Ward, 4. James Inglis, 5. Pablo Bouza
6. Chris Robshaw, 7. Tom Guest, 8. Tony Diprose.
Replacements: 16. Aston Croall, 17. Dave Millard, 18. George Robson, 19. Kevin Burke, 20. Darren Clayton, 21. Duncan James, 22. Luther Marais, 23. Justin Jones.

SARACENS: 15. Nicky Little, 14. Nnamdi Obi, 13. Adam Powell, 12. Dan Harris, 11. Paul Bailey, 10. Ben J Russell, 9. Mosese Rauluni, 1. Lawrence Marsh, 2. Andy Kyriacou, 3. Ben Broster, 4. Tom Ryder, 5. Iain Fullarton, 6. Emmanuel Amapakabo, 7. Steffon Armitage, 8. Donald Barrell.
Replacements
16. Adam Gelman, 17. Alex Ayling, 18. Richard Gill, 19. Jon McDonough, 20. Huw Collins, 21. James Mathias, 22. Craig Wilson.

Referee: A. Small

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