Harlequins v Leicester: Five takeaways as ‘penalty milking machine’ and ‘luxury bench’ leave hosts exposed
Leicester loosehead Nicky Smith enjoyed a field day at the scrum before James O'Connor, inset, came on as a sub to help finish off Harlequins
Following Leicester Tigers’ convincing 34-7 victory over Harlequins in their PREM Rugby fixture, here are our five takeaways from the match at The Stoop.
The top line
So much for Leicester owing a massive debt of gratitude to Harlequins after last weekend’s win by the Londoners at La Rochelle qualified Tigers for the Investec Champions Cup Round of 16.
Quins fleetingly began with a level of aggression and confrontation evident in their recent European performances. Still, their overall collection of inaccuracies and defensive weaknesses was more reflective of the desperate PREM Rugby form that has left them winless in the league since an October 25 success over Newcastle.
It meant that four PREM losses on the bounce coming into this fixture depressingly became five, leading them to tail off in ninth spot on the table, 25 points behind Leicester, who occupy the fourth and final play-off spot.
The first two talking points were scrubbed out Tigers tries, Billy Searle’s 10th-minute effort chalked off for obstruction by Will Wand, and then Ollie Hassell-Collins was denied six minutes later due to Jack van Poortvliet’s forward pass.
Everything clicked for them on 20 minutes, though, after Nicky Smith won his third scrum penalty off Pedro Delgado, Searle’s looping pass giving Wales’ new call-up Gabriel Hamer-Webb an unchecked run-in for a converted try.
Quins would have immediately hit back if Bryn Bradley had not fumbled a Luke Northmore pass with the line fast approaching, following a super Caden Murley break from halfway.
It was a costly, game-defining let-off. The resulting scrum ended in another penalty against Delgado, and following the ensuing throw-in on the 10-metre line, Van Poortvliet swashbuckling gathered his own kick ahead to score the converted try.
A 33rd-minute penalty kick from Searle followed, and a Tommy Reffell turnover penalty win then safeguarded the 17-0 lead Leicester took to the break and ended a short-lived Harlequins riposte sparked by a Marcus Smith chip and chase.
The second half was a forgettable affair until Freddie Steward struck on 61 minutes, bursting in between a pair of static front-rowers to score with a beautiful line.
Jamie Blamire sealed the bonus point with his 72nd-minute maul try, and Izaia Perese then put Bradley on his backside to score from deep three minutes later.
The rout was now complete, and numerous Quins fans had long since departed by the time of Chandler Cunningham-South’s clock-in-the-red consolation score.
Six Nations auditions
Two weeks out from England hosting Wales in the Six Nations at ‘the Big House’ across the road, there were plenty of their players auditioning at ‘the Little House’. How did they rate?
At the top of the charts were the Leicester props, Welsh pick Smith at loosehead and English selection Joe Heyes at tighthead. They schooled the Quins front row during the first half, and their potential scrummaging head-to-head is something appetising to look forward to if Steve Tandy and Steve Borthwick go that way.
It was intriguing how the influential Van Poortvliet’s successful chip and chase for Leicester enticed Smith to try and do likewise for Quins, but without the same rewards. It was indeed a frustrating afternoon for Smith, trying to spark a struggling team to life.
Bar one early hit on Wand, Chandler Cunningham-South drifted, and while he ended with a consolation try, his performance wasn’t what it needed to be to jump off this page. It was a similar type of review for Murley, so instead it was Leicester’s Six Nations contenders who shone.
Ollie Chessum was fully deserving of a shoutout for his astute leadership and work rate while Wales’ Hamer-Webb and England’s Steward both chipped in with tries. Welsh back-rower Olly Cracknell’s appearance from the Leicester bench was cut short, though, due to a HIA.
Penalty-milking machine
Hardly a weekend goes by without someone’s scrum becoming a penalty-milking operation. At The Stoop, it was Tigers who were left relishing the set-piece as the pressure exerted by props Smith and Heyes was far too intense for Delgado and Simon Kerrod to handle.
There were four penalties in the opening exchanges, a situation that royally contributed to Leicester getting themselves 14 points up. Then, after Kerrod hobbled away on 32 minutes to be replaced by Will Hobson, came another infringement, an advantage on halfway that led to a breakdown penalty materialised in the 22 to extend Leicester’s lead to 17.
It left referee Adam Leal issuing a yellow card warning to Quins that came into play some minutes later when Nick David was sin-binned for a high tackle.
The scrum wasn’t a similarly dominant feature in the second half, with Delgado unceremoniously hooked at the break and replaced by ex-England pick Harry Williams, but the wounding damage was done, and the troubling curiosity was how out of depth Delgado was making his first PREM Rugby start.
The rookie is an Argentine international who had the No.3 Quins shirt in three of their recent Champions Cup games, so he shouldn’t have been as flaky as he was. Quins did manage a 65th scrum penalty win against Tigers sub Archie van der Flier, but the kick to the corner it earned them counted for nought.
Luxury bench
Coach Geoff Parling is more and more getting his feet under the table at Leicester in his first season in charge, and the squad he is building exhibited its depth at Quins. What a luxury it was to have two Wallabies internationals in reserve to come on and finish the job.
Midfielder Perese was thrown into the fray following the Steward try, and his bruising physicality was showcased with his emphatic sprint from halfway for the fifth Leicester try, racing away and leaving Quins centre Bradly with much to regret.
Before that barnstorming run, we had the small but critical influence of James O’Connor. It’s been a frustrating winter for the signing from the Crusaders, as a calf problem has limited his availability.
However, sent on for his comeback cameo with 15 minutes remaining and the securing of the bonus point still on Leicester’s to-do list, he did his bit in making it happen. In fairness, it was a Van Poortvliet box kick that initially got Tigers from one half to the next before the scrum-half made his exit.
O’Connor’s value then came into play, organising the attack and issuing the instructions. If there was any justice, his sweet kick-through would have got Hassell-Collins in for the bonus try, except the touchline beat the winger.
The sub out-half knew that was a penalty advantage play, though, and after the whistle went, he kicked Tigers into the corner, positioning them for Blamire to rumble over off the maul.
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Soft missed tackles
What ultimately did for Harlequins was some poor tackle tech and dreadful scrummaging. We have addressed the set-piece failing and written about how this weakness was shored up the longer the game went on.
What couldn’t be fixed, though, was the porous nature of their defence. When a team is on a bad run, you can understand things going awry in defence and tackles getting missed.
However, bar one change to the second row, this was the very same Quins XV that went and courageously won away at La Rochelle last Sunday in the Champions Cup.
They succeeded in France with a 73 per cent tackle success, and while that number increased to 78 against, they were heavily punished for some badly executed efforts in their missed tackle count of 28.
Tigers’ full back Steward is, of course, an improved menace these days when joining the line, but the way he breezed in between sub prop Williams and sub hooker Sam Riley was way too soft. The optics weren’t good either when Perese did Bradley for his score, where the lack of cover in behind was again exposed.