Harlequins cause a stir at Kingsholm

Early try: Mike Brown

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Harlequins picked up what could be a vital Heineken Cup victory away from home as they beat Gloucester 28-9 in Pool 6 at Kingsholm on Saturday.

It was the Twickenham Stoop outfit's twelfth victory in a row this season as they remain unbeaten in all competitions. And they fully deserved their win.

Mike Brown got the ball rolling with a try on five minutes before Matt Hooper went in just before the interval. Nick Easter's score saw them fall narrowly short of the try bonus while Gloucester's only points came from Freddie Burns' boot.

His total of nine points followed Quins opening the scoring when full-back Brown sliced through the home defence after a powerful driving maul and some slick handling from the visiting backs.

Conor O'Shea's side's second try arrived just before the half-time break as outside centre Hopper dipped his head and burrowed over in the right corner.

Gloucester then piled on the pressure in the second stanza after Samoan flanker Maurie Fa'asavalu was shown yellow for a dangerous tackle on Fijian back-rower Akapusi Qera.

However, the side who troubled Toulouse could not break down the Quins defence and when number eight Easter went over for the domestic leaders, Gloucester were floored.

The scorers:

For Gloucester:
Pen: Burns 3

For Harlequins:
Tries: Brown, Hooper, Easter
Con: Evans 2
Pen: Evans 3

Gloucester: 15 Jonny May, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Rory Lawson,8 Alasdair Strokosch. 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Peter Buxton (c), 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Will James, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Tom Savage, 20 Luke Narraway, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Tim Taylor, 23 Tom Voyce.

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Seb Stegmann, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Sam Smith, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Karl Dickson,8 Nick Easter. 7 Chris Robshaw, 6 Maurie Faasavalu, 5 George Robson, 4 Tomas Vallejos, 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Nic Mayhew, 18 Tim Fairbrother, 19 Charlie Matthews, 20 Luke Wallace, 21 Danny Care, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Tom Casson.

Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)