Paul Gustard delighted with ‘very good performance’

Editor

Harlequins director of rugby Paul Gustard was delighted with his side’s 20-7 victory over Newcastle Falcons at Twickenham Stoop on Friday.

Alex Dombrandt and Francis Saili scored tries either side of the break, while Marcus Smith scored two penalties and a conversion as Gustard hailed his side’s effort as “a very good performance”.

Andrew Davidson crossed for the Falcons late on but they could not mount a comeback and remain in 12th place.

“I enjoyed the fact we won, we needed that tonight,” said Gustard.

“We were the dominant team by a long way and we were courageous.

“We kept the ball in slippery and wet conditions, it was a very good performance. Unfortunately, we did not break them down as much as we would have liked to and that was partly because of our accuracy and partly because they refused to roll away at the breakdown.

“I was really happy in the first half but just frustrated we did not score more points. In the second half, the game lost momentum and we were grinding it out.

“Newcastle came back into it through our error but we kept it in there. I thought our defence was excellent until the last 15 – we had some players come on who did not make an impact.”

Newcastle Falcons boss Dean Richards believes a poor first-half showing cost his side dearly in the end.

“I think we lacked a lot of accuracy in the first half and it came back to haunt us,” he said.

“I don’t think Quins were much better than us.

“It came down to who was playing in the right areas, but sadly we weren’t. We cannot play with the same inaccuracies and, if we do, we lose.

“We don’t want to lose next week and we are not prepared to do that, so we have a lot to look at.”