Leicester v Harlequins: Five takeaways as Marcus Smith injured in ‘thrashing’ while England wing bags ‘brilliant’ hat-trick
Leicester Tigers wing Adam Radwan scored a hat-trick against Harlequins.
Following a 40-7 victory for Leicester Tigers over Harlequins in the Premiership, here are our five takeaways from Saturday’s clash at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
The top line
England wing Adam Radwan bagged a brilliant hat-trick as Leicester reclaimed second place by thrashing 14-man Harlequins in the East Midlands.
On a bruising afternoon for Marcus Smith, who suffered heavy blows to the same right ankle in each half, Quins lost Cameron Anderson to a 44th minute red card.
They also had the angst of seeing the young wing lying motionless on the ground after his second aerial yellow card infringement. The red was brandished at him while he did not know what day it was.
Five of Leicester’s six tries came from their wings, with Ollie Hassell-Collins striking twice, but the game’s outstanding performer was Tigers scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet, who pulled the strings throughout.
Van Poortvliet steals Ben Youngs’ thunder
The day was supposed to belong to Ben Youngs, England’s most-capped player, who announced his impending retirement from all rugby in the week.
The Leicester scrum-half duly came off the bench for his 333rd Tigers appearance, 239th in the Premiership. But the afternoon belonged firmly to the young man he replaced.
Van Poortvliet has not been himself since damaging ankle ligaments so badly in 2023 that it cost him his World Cup place and sidelined him for the next eight months.
Before then the 18-cap England scrum-half had been sharp as a tack. Without confidence in his legs he lost his USP, that devastating turn of pace which fixed defences, enabling him to snipe away from scrums.
At Welford Road on the final Saturday of April the 23-year old returned to his best. It was his pass from the base which put the speed on the play which Radwan converted into the first try.
His superb short side break, which Chandler Cunningham-South won’t want to see back, which got behind Quins and enabled Nicky Smith to put Hassell-Collins over for number two.
His change of direction which gave Radwan his second, his quick-thinking with the tap penalty which allowed Hassell-Collins top dot down his second.
Radwan shines with sensational finishing
A mid-season signing from Newcastle, Leicester knew the quality of finisher they were getting in Radwan.
The flying Falcon’s pace was already the stuff of legend but he showcased his full bag of tricks to extinguish all hope from Harlequins’ season.
His first try was a sublime one-handed finish, planting the ball down right handed with the rest of his body airborne out of play. His second was far more routine, his third will long be remembered.
The 27-year old latched onto the shoulder of Freddie Steward, himself capping an impressive day with a powerful counter attack. Radwan still had much to do but tore inside, then outside, with golden footwork to score.
The Yorkshire-born ace, who won his two England caps in 2021, would have had four but saw it chalked off – after the conversion – for a knock-on by Joseph Woodward.
Smith’s season goes from bad to worse
Smith came to Tiger Town in need of a big performance after slipping down the England fly-half pecking order and seemingly dropping off the Lions radar.
“Smith looks like he’s off a bit of confidence,” Austin Healey observed as the Harlequins playmaker prepared to kick off. Eight minutes later he looked a whole lot worse, having been stepped on by Joe Heyes, twisting his right ankle.
Quins’ medics taped the injury, crudely encasing boot and ankle in black tape which inevitably hindered both Smith’s footwork and ambition and made Leicester’s defensive job a lot easier.
Smith battled on gamely but just past the hour mark he went down again writhing in pain after Hanro Liebenberg landed on his already damaged ankle. Again he got up valiantly but four minutes later limped off, his game and Quins’ season done.
Harlequins’ season goes from worse to truly terrible
Quins came to Leicester needing victory to keep their season alive. In truth, they already looked to have written it off.
That 62-0 shellacking by Leinster in Europe earned them a tide of criticism from which they have not really recovered. Here they were still in the contest at half-time, but only because Handre Pollard gifted Luke Northmore a try on the stroke of half-time.
Rather than cash in on that good fortune the Londoners gave the game away within minutes in the restart. First Anderson leapt recklessly to contest a high ball for the second time and was sent off, albeit on a stretcher.
Then, a minute later, Tyrone Green was sent to the sin-bin. Down to 13 men Tigers ran riot, scoring three more tries. The Stoop boys’ sorry day was summed up by Jake Murray dropping the ball with the try line at his mercy and no-one near him on the final play of the afternoon.
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