On to the game itself, and one of the more bizarre (though very welcome) starts. Straight from the kick-off Irish made serious inroads into the Quins defence, and after a few phases of play Tom galloped over to score before 2 minutes were on the clock. His reliable boot added the conversion to make an early 7 point advantage. Soon the opposition were on the scoreboard with a penalty from Nick Evans, and the first scrum came after 10minutes. Irish were penalised for early engagement and Quins opted for the scrum again. More scrappy play followed until Evans had a chance to get another 3 points after 17min: his shot from about 37m and in the centre of the pitch surprisingly missed. From a poor restart Quins countered and were soon awarded another penalty closer to the posts. Once again Nick Evans contrived to miss a relatively straightforward kick. This however seemed to spur on the home side and on 22 min they were ahead 10-7 after good handling led to a well taken try and conversion. This galvanised the Exiles into action and good breaks from Tagi resulted in another shot at goal for TH who duly obliged to level the scores after 22min.

At this point the Quins supporters become more vociferous, but most of their noise was directed towards the referee, whose decisions were confusing to both sides. A hotly disputed penalty near the 22 saw TH add a further 3 points for Irish to send the visitors into the warm at half time with a pleasing 13-10 lead. (My “stato” host Richard reminded me that Quins could and should have been 16-10 ahead at this point). Your correspondent was caught out at the start of the 2nd half whilst adding an extra layer of clothing. I am reliably informed that Irish failed to tidy up the restart, and that an attempted clearing kick was charged down for Tom Williams to win the race to the ball, touching down in the corner. From wide out Nick E added the conversion to swing the game in Quins’ favour.
Irish defence was looking more stretched now with Quins determined to pick and drive most effectively. More attacking play resulted in a Danny Care DG to extend the lead to 20-13 (still just within 7 points). Just as it looked as though the floodgates would open Irish hit back with a superb try from JJ. Collecting the ball near the half way line he accelerated, brushed past 2 attempted tackles, and continued to cross the try-line. TH added the extras to level the scores at 20 all. This was the cue for the replacements to start from the bench, with a triple changeover for Quins.

With 55min on the clock Quins stole an Irish line-out and then were awarded a penalty 30m out. Mr Evans had clearly changed his boots at half-time and duly bisected the posts to restore the Quins’ lead. The subsequent restart failed to go 10m and from the resulting scrum Quins gained another penalty on half way (at limit of NE range says “Stato Richard”): as predicted the ball hit the crossbar and bounced back into play, without further score. The game now ebbed and flowed until a promising Irish attack broke down after a chip kick bounced kindly for Quins. From the resulting counter attack the ball was kicked upfield and the despairing lunge by TH was unable to prevent Chisholm from crossing the line to score the 3rd try which NE converted. Topsy and Clarke were then replaced by Max Lahiff and Marland Yarde. The game now entered an interesting phase with Quins seeking their 4th try and Irish chasing at least the bonus point in the last 13min. Four further changes from the Irish bench took place with 9 minutes remaining, and Adrian Jarvis settled nerves with a penalty on 75min to make the score 30-23. With the clock running down the Irish defence stood firm, and another penalty put the team onto the front foot with an attacking line-out on the 22. Promising attacking phases ended with Quins turning over the ball and clearing to touch ahead of the final whistle.

To conclude Quins probably deserved the win, but both defences were in good form. The multi-coloured ones took their chances well, and controlled several phases of play from the 8/9/10 axis. To their credit Irish kept attacking to the very end and could even have levelled the scores at the death. The pitch was in excellent condition and the “sell-out” crowd (but swathes of empty seats in south stand) was treated to an entertaining spectacle. Another losing bonus point for the team though, which is so important with the congested mid table.

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