Harlequins win high-scoring thriller against Leicester

Adam Kyriacou
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Harlequins maintained their push for a Premiership play-off spot with a try-filled 37-24 win over Leicester Tigers at the Twickenham Stoop.

Tries from Mike Brown, Marcus Smith, Andre Esterhuizen and Louis Lynagh helped Quins make it three league wins on the bounce.

But it was the Tigers who drew first blood and, after being camped on the Quins line following sustained pressure, it was Cyle Brink who finished the job as he barged over from a metre out. Zack Henry added the extras to give them an early 7-0 lead.

The hosts soon had a score of their own. Matt Scott gave away the ball by kicking out on the full just outside his own 22, and after some good hands from both the forwards and backs, Brown had the easy task of crossing the line from close range.

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Marcus Smith booted the sides level with the conversion and then pushed them ahead with a penalty less than 10 minutes later.

They extended their lead when a wonderful line-splitting run from Lynagh and interlinking passing from Danny Care put them within the five-metre line, but would have to settle for another penalty from Smith instead.

Smith soon got a try of his own, Will Evans offloading in the tackle leaving Smith to score untouched under the posts before adding his own conversion to lead 20-7.

Leicester got back in the game straight afterwards, with Jack Van Poortvilet making a darting run from the back of a ruck to touch down after a good work from Freddie Steward. Henry added the extras again before exchanging penalties with Smith.

Harlequins grabbed a try on the stroke of half-time, Esterhuizen barrelling through his opposite number from five metes out and Smith converting to give them a 13-point half-time.

Quins started the second half as they ended the first by scoring a try as the ball was spun through the backs before finding Lynagh on the wing to cross from a few metres out and grab the bonus point, Smith remaining perfect from the tee to push the lead to 37-17.

Smith’s boot got the home side in trouble soon after though, his clearing kick charged down by Jaco Taute who smothered the ball before offloading to George Martin to give Leicester a slither of hope with 34 minutes to go after Henry converted.

The game slowed down after a frantic first hour, Leicester’s attacks not gaining a head of steam as they kept squandering possession and field position by kicking the ball out on the full.

With the game out of sight heading into the final five minutes, focus turned to just playing for bonus points for the visitors, but despite one final push, the home side held out to take a well-earned victory.

Elsewhere, reigning champions Exeter moved to within one point of leaders Bristol at the top of the Premiership table with a comfortable 26-3 victory over London Irish at a freezing Sandy Park.

Injury-ravaged Irish battled throughout to frustrate their opponents and it was not until after their replacement hooker Motu Matu’u was dismissed that Chiefs were able to secure their bonus point.

Sam Simmonds scored two of Exeter’s tries to take his tally to 11 for the season. Alex Cuthbert and Dave Ewers scored the others, with Joe Simmonds converting two and Harvey Skinner one.

A penalty from Paddy Jackson was London Irish’s sole response.

It took Exeter only three minutes to take the lead, with Sam Simmonds forcing his way over from close range after surges from Alec Hepburn and Ewers had put the visitors’ defence on the back foot.

Exeter soon had a second try when a strong run from Cuthbert secured Chiefs a platform in the Irish 22 before Ewers finished off a line-out drive with the opposition having little idea as to how to prevent it.

Irish suffered a further setback when centre Curtis Rona departed with an injury as the tempo of the game was disrupted by frequent delays for treatment for his side’s players.

Lock Rob Simmons was the visitors’ second injury casualty as he left the field for a head assessment, swiftly followed by full-back James Stokes in similar circumstances.

After 29 minutes, Jackson put Irish onto the scoreboard with a straightforward penalty before Australia scrum-half Nick Phipps came on to play on the wing as his side had elected to put only two backs on the bench.

With wind advantage in their favour, Exeter must have been frustrated at the stop-start nature of proceedings as Irish kept their line intact for the last 25 minutes of the first half to trail only 14-3 at the interval.

In the last move of the first half, Joe Simmonds was left dazed after attempting to tackle powerful Irish number eight Albert Tuisue and the fly-half did not return after the interval.

Within three minutes of the restart, Exeter collected their third try when Cuthbert brushed aside some weak tackling to run 35 metres and score.

The Welsh wing then gave way to Ian Whitten, who was himself replaced after a head-high tackle from Matu’u saw him dismissed. The Chiefs immediately capitalised with Sam Simmonds crashing over for his second score.

Exeter Chiefs