Harlequins
FALCONS GROUNDED: Newcastle 9 - 35 Harlequins
By Alanquin
December 2 2013
Victories at Kingston Park for Quins have been almost as rare as those at Welford Road. There was, however, no doubting the determination and intent of Harlequins as they inflicted a four try drubbing of the Falcons, the score of 9 – 35 accurately reflecting the gap in class, skill and ability of the two sides.
It took a little while for Quins to overcome the desperate manoeuvres of the Falcons as they sought to do more than merely repel the threats to their line from the visitors’ incursions. Then after ten minutes had elapsed, a break from Evans put Ward on the run and the hooker’s pass put Williams clear in space to score under the posts. The simple conversion put Quins into a lead that they never lost.
A penalty at a lineout allowed Falcons to gain territory and another penalty, for offside, allowed Godman to open the Newcastle score with successful kick at the posts. But a good chase from the restart gained a penalty for Quins that allowed Evans to score similarly. In a largely poor half from each side both fly halves added another three points apiece, though Godman missed with a further attempt. The Quins scrum was under pressure and penalties against them mounted although most were not kickable for points.
Both defences stood firm and neither side looked likely to run away with the game although Newcastle’s lack of penetration left Harlequins reasonably in control. The score at the interval was 6 – 13.
It took only forty seconds of the second half for Harlequins to stamp their authority indelibly on the match. They recovered the ball at the restart and when the ball came to Nick Evans he started a fine break that was continued by Ward. The speed of the attack created a three man overlap on the left and the pass from Ward found Guest who passed simply to Sam Smithfor a simple try. Evans missed with the conversion attempt from the touchline.
Both Godman and Evans were successful with penalty kicks at goal to make the score 9 – 21. Now Quins were in attack mode most of the time and Falcons were engaged in desperate defence. A determined surge for the try-line by Smith was adjudged to have been touched down short. But Quins still had a five metre scrum and Danny Care sold a dummy and dived over for the third try. Evans added the extras. With twenty minutes remaining Harlequins led 9 – 28 and went in search of the bonus point try.
The fourth try was not long in arriving. Guest collected a ball dislodged from a Falcons’ attacker in a crunching tackle and passed to Sam Smith on his own twenty-two. The winger set off with increasing pace and scored fully 70 metres upfield. A superb kick from the touchline by Evans took the score to 9 – 35.
There were fine performances from Smith, Easter and particularly Dave Ward and Quins will face the French next week with increased confidence. The beginning of the return of the long term injured was presaged by the appearance of Ollie Lindsay-Hague, Doran-Jones and Sam Stuart and others including Nick Kennedy are also back, although Monye has joined the injury list till the New Year.
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