Premiership: Harlequins show their class as they claim bonus-point win at London Irish

Adam Kyriacou

03 Apr 2022 4:53 PM

Harlequins produced an outstanding attacking performance as they beat London Irish 41-14 in a bonus-point victory on Sunday.

The reigning Premiership champions crossed the whitewash seven times at Brentford Community Stadium, but London Irish certainly had chances to stay in touch as Ollie Hassell-Collins and Lucio Cinti went agonisingly close to scoring much-needed tries.

Harlequins‘ five pointers came via Jack Walker (2), Cadan Murley, Huw Jones (2), Danny Care and Andre Esterhuizen, with Marcus Smith and Will Edwards adding four and two points apiece off the kicking tee as Tabai Matson’s men impressed throughout.

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The hosts came out firing in front of a partisan derby-day crowd, with Paddy Jackson keen to keep the ball in hand as often as possible.

He had a willing ally in Curtis Rona and it was the midfield pair who combined to turn Irish’s early exuberance into points as Jackson went over unscathed following a turnover.

If the defending champions needed a wake-up call, that was it. Just two minutes later they were on level terms.

Walker’s feed into the lineout was unerring, and it was the former England U20s skipper who was driven over from the resulting maul, with Smith slotting home an awkward conversion.

Rona was again at the heart of everything positive for Irish, putting away Hassell-Collins who inexplicably lost control of the ball in the act of scoring.

And it was costly as three Quins tries in the following 10 minutes securing the four-try bonus point.

Alex Dombrandt and Esterhuizen did the heavy-duty work ahead of Smith superbly releasing Murley with a long, looping pass which the Quins man gobbled up ahead of comfortably dotting down.

Smith was at it again minutes later, his deft hands allowing Jones to wriggle over in the opposite corner.

When Walker went over for his second – sent on his way by Hugh Tizard’s pass back to him five metres out – Irish were in danger of being overrun at 22-7 down.

Care was hauled over for a fifth Quins try, capitalising on Joe Marchant’s line-break, and after Irish’s Cinti lost control in the in-goal area when all he had to do was get to the floor, Esterhuizen eased past two half-hearted tackles to underline his side’s superiority.

Benhard van Rensburg crept over the line five minutes from the end as Irish rallied but, fittingly, Quins had the final say when Edwards ghosted one into the path of Jones to cross.

Harlequins