Quins were on the attack from the start, recovering possession from unforced errors and pushing their opponents back deep into their twenty-two from Malone’s accurate kicking from hand. Good work by the Quins’ forwards round the fringes kept the pressure on and the inevitable penalty came to provide Malone with his first score and Quins with their first points after only eight minutes.

Another penalty allowed Quins to keep Irish penned back in their twenty-two and a lineout in an attacking position too. Although Irish stole the ball they could only knock it into touch to Quins the throw. Five minutes later Quins might have had their first try, but Mike Brown was adjudged to have lost the ball forward as he tried to touch down.

The forwards had been doing battle both on and off the ball with Olly Kohn and Kevin Roche opening the proceedings with a scuffle in the second minute. On the quarter hour another off the ball exchange saw the Irish hooker, Paice, shown a yellow card. From the subsequent penalty and another lineout, a good catch and drive eventually saw Olly Kohn push his way over to score. Malone’s conversion kick missed. Quins led 8 – 0

A penalty allowed Staunton to put the Exiles’ first points on the board but Quins resumed the attack and kept Irish pinned back. The forwards continued to pick and drive and a penalty against Irish on their five-metre line saw Quins call for another scrum only to see the sin-bin end before the scrum could be formed. Quins, however, retained the ball and moved it right along the backs for Jordan Turner-Hall to crash through the Irish defence and score the try under the posts. The easy conversion put Quins 15 – 3 in the lead after just less than an half-hour. But from the restart they conceded a penalty and a further ten metres for something said unwisely allowing Staunton an easy three points.

Irish began to exert some pressure in Quins’ twenty-two for almost the first time in the match. A penalty allowed Staunton to kick to touch for a lineout only some twelve metres from the Quins’ line. The Exiles tried to catch and drive and gained a penalty and an attacking line out. But the throw was not straight and their attack came to nothing except a scrum to which Quins had the put-in on their five-metre line.

Excitingly, Quins ran the ball from the scrum with Tom Guest moving the ball left to Mike Brown who passed onwards to Ugo Monye whose 70 metre run along the left touchline failed by only a few metres to reach the tryline as he was put into touch just short.

Quins continue to exert pressure for another score, winning the ensuing lineout. A penalty for offside produced another catch and drive but they could not get across the line and when another penalty was awarded Quins sought to take the points, but Malone failed to score from wide out and the first half ended with Quins leading by 15 –6 and having had the bulk of both possession and territory, were well in control.

The second half saw Quins starting where they left off the first half. A penalty allowed them a lineout on the Irish twenty-two. The forwards held control and edged forward. Then the ball came back to Malone who put an inch perfect kick to the right wing for Tom Williams to catch and score. Malone converted for 22 – 6. Unfortunately for Quins an injury to Danny Care saw him carried off and replaced by Simon Keogh after only six minutes.

Irish now began to try to break out of the shackles and gained an attacking lineout from which they were able to catch and drive and then Paice broke away to score the try and Staunton converted. 22 – 13. Phil Davies replaced Tom Guest on twelve minutes.

Quins were awarded a penalty immediately from the restart and Malone duly kicked the three points to increase the Quins lead. Quins continued to lose lineouts, but the advantage that their opponents gained was regularly squandered by unforced errors.

Then with Quins in possession and pressing, Malone produced an elegant and beautifully weighted chip over the Irish defence that Hal Luscombe was quick to run on to and score the bonus point try under the posts. Malonme took the easy conversion and Quins’ lead stretched to 32 – 13 as the last quarter began.

A good break down the touchline by Topsy Ojo was stopped ten metres short of the Quins’ line as the winger lost the ball in contact. Masson replayed Turner-Hall and an injury to Mike Brown saw the full-back replaced by Will Skinner with fifteen minutes remaining.

Irish began to attack with more determination and with ten minutes remaining, Delon Armitage received the ball in space. After a run for the line, he appeared to touch down with various defenders hanging on to him, but the try was disallowed after the television match official ruled that he had touched down short of the line! Irish had another attacking lineout and another catch and drive allowed Steffon Armitage to touch down for a try under the posts. Staunton converted to reduce the lead to 32 - 20.

With five minutes remaining Quins had a penalty on the Irish 10 metre line wide out which Malone slotted to increase the gap to 35 – 20. Irish were now playing with more conviction than throughout the match and looked to have scored again but the try was not allowed and the referee decided the ball had been knocked on. Irish in a last desperate attempt again created an overlap on the left and with only 37 seconds left on the clock Thorpe went over for another try. Staunton conjverted with the final kick of the match but Quins had their first win of the Premiership season and a bonus point with the Irish empty-handed at 35 - 27.

This was an excellent Quins’ performance with Malone giving them position and points and creating opportunities. In the back row Tom Guest and Chris Robshaw both had fine games and apart from the problem in the lineout there was little to criticise.

At the press conference after the game Dean Richards was quietly satisfied and chose to talk about Harlequins’ youth policy and the youngsters on the pitch. He emphasised that their youth policy was paying dividends as he pointed specifically to the contributions of Brown, Care, Turner-Hall and Guest.

“We've blooded youngsters over the last two years and they're starting to get international recognition," said Deano. The likes of Mike Brown and Dave Strettle are all young and then you have to take into account the fact that we've got a young scrum half in Danny Care, Jordan Turner-Hall at centre and Ugo Monye on the wing is still only 23. When you have a small squad it gives opportunities. Our youngsters have really stepped up to the mark and they're getting wiser as a result."

“We totally dominated the first half, the second was give and take and we deserved to win," said Richards. "There's a quiet confidence in the camp and if we lose games it's generally because we shoot ourselves in the foot rather than other sides beating us."

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, (W.Skinner 65) 14 Tom Williams, 13 Hal Luscombe, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall,(Masson 65) 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Chris Malone, 9 Danny Care,(Keogh 45) 8 Tom Guest,(Davies 52) 7 Paul Volley (c), 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Jim Evans, 4 Ollie Kohn,(Spanghero 74) 3 Mike Ross,(Nebbett 75) 2 Aston Croall,(Laurent 75) 1 Ceri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Christophe Laurent, 17 Ricky Nebbett, 18 Nicolas Spanghero, 19 Phil Davies, 20 Will Skinner, 21 Simon Keogh, 22 Tosh Masson.

London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14.Topsy Ojo, 13 Mark Ireland, 12 Nils Mordt, 11 Tomas De Vedia, 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 Paul Hodgson (captain), 8 Phil Murphy, 7 Richard Thorpe, 6 Declan Danaher, 5 Kieran Roche, 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Faan Rautenbach 2 David Paice, 1. Tonga Lea'aetoa.
Replacements: 16 Dan Murphy, 17 Stuart Mackie, 18 Gary Johnson, 19 Steffon Armitage, 20 Dominic Shabbo, 21 Warren Fury, 22 Shane Geraghty.

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