Marcus Smith shines for Harlequins in front of 76,813 fans at Twickenham as Gloucester’s drought continues
Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith against Gloucester.
England star Marcus Smith put in a player of the match performance as Harlequins beat Gloucester 32-26 in an entertaining Premiership meeting at Twickenham.
The Big Game 15 fixture saw the busy fly-half shine alongside Danny Care and Alex Dombrandt, with those two internationals scoring tries for the Famous Quarters.
Harlequins‘ other tries came via a brace from wing Nick David and one from flanker Dino Lamb, with Smith chipping in with two conversions and a drop-goal for his team.
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A crowd of 76,813 watched Quins conjure five tries despite slippery conditions – but injuries to Joe Marler and Lamb took some of the shine off their sixth win in 10 league matches.
From the moment outstanding wing David went over in the eighth minute they led opponents who fell to an eighth successive Premiership league defeat, equalling their worst ever losing run in the competition.
Only Newcastle sit below Gloucester in the table but they defied their lowly position to subject Quins to an anxious finish with two late tries reducing the deficit to six points.
Smith dazzled on occasion and was named man of the match, but captain Dombrandt was also influential in ensuring the club’s annual festive party at Twickenham went off as planned.
A pre-match downpour failed to douse Quins’ ambition as they struck early when a quickly-taken penalty sent Care shuttling across the field until David arrived to straighten and score.
Gloucester hit back with a well worked try for Adam Hastings but they then produced successive knock-ons in the wet conditions, inviting pressure and contributing to their line being breached twice in four minutes.
David added his second after a dummy enabled Smith to accelerate into space and supply his wing the scoring pass, in the process exposing the vulnerability of the visiting defence.
Gloucester were also slow to react with a chip off the outside of Care’s boot and Dombrandt punished the mistake by gathering and touching down.
In contrast to their leaky defence, Gloucester were sharp in attack and it took a last-gap tackle by Oscar Beard to prevent Santiago Carreras from scoring in the left corner.
A line-out maul was then stopped inches short and the pressure on Quins’ whitewash evaporated, allowing them to drive downfield where Dombrandt bounced off a challenge from Zach Mercer, one of his rivals for the England number eight jersey.
The home side’s fourth try was a bitter-sweet experience for Lamb, who marauded over after being given an opportunity by slick handling only to injure an arm in the act of scoring.
🤔 Harlequins a tad fortunate here, surely… #BigGame15 #HARvGLO pic.twitter.com/ZPV8005Qmp
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) December 30, 2023
Gloucester were determined to go down fighting and so over went George McGuigan from close range, leaving his side just 10 points behind.
The door appeared to have been slammed shut on their comeback just three minutes later when strong carries from Andre Esterhuizen and Joe Launchbury propelled Quins forward until Care exploited an absent ruck defence to touch down.
David’s superb game continued with a try-saving tackle on Ollie Thorley but replacement wing Jonny May succeeded where Thorley failed as the match entered the final 10 minutes.
Gloucester had their tails up and another attack ended in a penalty try but the clock ran out on their final throw of the dice.
The teams
Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Nick David, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Cameron Anderson, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Alex Dombrandt (c), 7 Will Evans, 6 Dino Lamb, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Will Collier, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Irne Herbst, 20 James Chisholm, 21 Will Porter, 22 Will Edwards, 23 Lennox Anyanwu
Gloucester: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 Matias Alemanno, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Jamal Ford-Robinson
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 Jack Clement, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Max Llewellyn, 23 Jonny May
Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant Referees: Joe James, Mike Hudson
TMO: Stuart Terheege
