Quins began with what seemed a simple but effective game plan, quick and well-organised pick and drive at the ruck followed by bombs and long touch-finders from Malone who grew rapidly in authority as he did last week. Leeds lost the influential blindside flanker Dunbar after only three minutes with what looked like a hamstring injury although their early defence remained solid; this was matched by Quins who remained disciplined particularly in open play.

Malone opened the scoring with a narrow penalty on eight minutes having missed his first kick of the game after Roy Maybank called the Leeds defence offside at a ruck. This was the first sign that their early composure was beginning to slip although a sharp run from Biggs when released by Holtby was a reminder that Quins would suffer if they thought today was going to be easy.

Soon after this Leeds failed to take advantage of a two-on-one down Quins’ right wing and it took a forward pass from Brooks to end the move. At this point Keogh appeared to be everywhere at once; bearing in mind it was his first game at 9 in three years I felt he did particularly well.

Quins began to establish dominance at the ruck and maul, forcing a turnover and huge clearance from Malone to Leeds’ 5 yard line; the ensuing lineout was called not straight and Quins chose to scrummage. Ceri had slowly been making a horrible mess of his opponent Hopcroft and the latter turned in and up – Maybank immediately called a penalty try for foul play and with an easy conversion Quins led 10 – 0 after 18 minutes. I would not be surprised if Leeds’ fans feel hard done by at this decision – the majority of referees would allow a few scrums with empty threats of action but Maybank made a call rapidly and clearly in what was, I felt, a good performance.

More pressure from the Quins back row forced another penalty on 22 minutes particularly from Robshaw who seemed magnetically drawn to the ball in another excellent display. In addition to this the tight five had started to dominate proceedings at the set piece, Turner-Hall was carrying strongly and committing two or more defenders every time; Luscombe chased everything that moved and seems to be much more settled this year than last which bearing in mind his injury problems can’t have been easy. Malone was making 50 plus yards with every kick while Leeds were only gaining around 30 at best and to compound this their pack had plenty of ball but no momentum. One passage of play went through ten phases without moving forward at all until a knock-on arrived with a degree of inevitability. Paul Volley was in full Prince of Darkness mode – it’s hard to think of many players as blessed as he is at being quite so annoyingly disruptive; by contrast Guest was relishing the time and space he was creating which would lead to one of the moments of the match early in the second half.

Leeds finally managed to get some width late in the first half and capitalised on a knock-on from Amesbury, quick hands led to a ruck in which slower and rather less legal hands from Quins were penalised as Jones entered the ruck from the side to give Leeds their first score on 38 minutes. Quins again left the field together as a team without leaving anyone behind – the sense of cohesion is a marked difference from a few years ago.

At half time I think it would be fair to say that Quins were dominant but the gap was only ten points – Dewi Morris, (yes, him again), complained at Quins’ lack of adventure and while it had not been an expansive game things were to change soon after.

The start of the second half saw Jones making mincemeat of Hopcroft yet again although Ma’asi brought a degree of dynamism which Rawlinson had not provided in the first half. However, Guest took a fine offload from Turner-Hall at the same scrum and burned Hinton on the outside with sheer pace for a fine try which Malone converted to make the score 20 – 3 on 41 minutes.

The pressure on Leeds’ defence was not lifted as Amesbury and Brown combined to return a poor clearance and win another penalty as Leeds’ defence was forced into another offside. More destruction from the Quins front row led to a ball against the head and another surging run from Guest; Luscombe was able to flick the ball up from the tackle into Turner-Hall’s hands and he scored for the second game in a row through a flat-footed defence. The regulation conversion was missed but bearing in mind Malone’s overall display it would be harsh to complain; Quins led 25 – 3 on 48 minutes.

Lancaster then made a substitution which I felt turned the match in replacing Hopcroft with Noon. All of a sudden the Leeds set piece was far stronger and finally gave their halfbacks some time and space in which to operate. This was quickly shown by a series of penalties on the Quins line at which Leeds chose the lineout each time. They were rewarded on the third attempt with a try by Oakley who burrowed through to touch down on the left; Welding added the extras to make the score 25 – 10 on 57 minutes.

Quins responded quickly with a fast chase in numbers at the restart and a horrible knock-on by Stitcher gave possession 35 yards out. A chip through from the scrum by Keogh was his last act as scrum half as Billy Fulton came on for the first time in four years replacing Amesbury. Skinner and Laurent came on for Volley and Croall who has clearly gained confidence in his throwing and showed the advantage of playing three props in the front row.

Another knock-on from Leeds gave Quins an attacking scrum which produced a training ground special as Malone looped his centres and chipped over the defence for an excellent score and conversion, 32 – 10 on 63 minutes.

One telling moment followed the restart; Quins gathered the ball and the ruck formed without a right guard and only Evans bridging, with three Leeds players in opposition he must have been expecting to be driven off the ball but no hit came until far too late by which time possession was recycled safely. By contrast in the same position the Quins back row and Volley or Skinner in particular would have been digging for the ball and disrupting possession to keep the opposition from settling. There didn’t seem to be much communication across the visitors’ team, not enough direction from halfback and a consequent lack of cohesion. Having said that we were no different last year before Gomarsall’s arrival brought us much needed yap and control, I would think it’s more a reflection of confidence and adapting to the different pace than a question of the players’ calibre.

Leeds regathered possession and drove for the left corner again in what looked to be a repeat of their first score; Guest capped an otherwise excellent performance with a yellow card for collapsing the maul after another well-taken lineout from the Leeds pack. Leeds kept their concentration up and despite Spanghero’s steal of the next ball took the next lineout and scored through Ma’asi being driven over the line. I couldn’t see the ball being grounded but it was surely a score although the conversion was missed to bring Leeds back to 32 – 15 on 71 minutes. On this point I am not sure what the rules are in terms of video refs as I thought it was still the case that the try had to be seen to be scored rather than being seen not to be scored; in any case it was deserved.

Scoring was not quite complete as a powerful hit from Williams forced a knock-on and a few phases later Malone sent another cross-field kick which Keogh collected in his stride for a try in the left-hand corner. Malone kicked an excellent touchline conversion to complete the scoring at 39 – 15.

So another bonus point and top of the table at least until Gloucester travel to Newcastle on Sunday. The greatest compliment I can pay Robshaw is that we are not missing Andre Vos at the moment and in concert with Guest it is difficult to see how Easter and Hala’Ufia will force their way into the starting line-up at the moment. The front five had a fine game and John Kingston’s work continues to reap dividends with a settled pack which has come a very long way since being dismissed last year as being lightweight and uncompetitive. Malone gave another man-on-the-match performance and looks to be playing with more liberation than I remember him being allowed to show at Bath. Turner-Hall and Luscombe were a well-balanced pairing and Williams looks right back to the form which saw him come into the first team a couple of years ago. Brown was quieter than usual but bearing in mind the hits he took last week and an ankle injury that he carried through the game this is not surprising.

Dean Richards was happy with the result, saying that:

"Having the smallest squad in the Premiership obviously impacts on us more than anyone.

"But we are comfortable with our squad and the players we have brought in."

"If we continue with the performances we are showing, we might get somewhere this year, but we are going to give a lot of people a run for their money.

"I'm very fond of my squad. I wouldn't change anyone."

Richards praised his club's academy coaches, who are producing a conveyor belt of young players like today's tryscorers, Tom Guest and England under-19 centre Jordan Turner-Hall.

He continued: "Our academy has been very good, and the coaches are doing a great job. We are a lot better organised than we were when I came here, two-and-a-half years ago.

"A lot of our youngsters have now got a lot of experience, and a number of others are going to make it over the next few years. The beauty is that the players who are coming through are all England-qualified.

"We are a young side that is growing, and if some of them are selected for England, it will be a bonus for us."

But Richards admitted that his young team, which had an average age of 25 today, still has a long way to go to develop into the all-conquering Leicester Tigers side he played in during the 1990s.

He explained: "You only become a close-knit squad when you go through triumph and adversity and stick together. We haven't done that yet.

"We have a strong squad - but there again, it is still a bit fragile - but we are getting there."

One point to remember is that our currently unavailable squad players include, in no particular order, De Wet Barry, Gary Botha, Andy Gomarsall, Nick Easter, Steve So’oialo, Tani Fuga, Chris Hala’Ufia, Stuart Abbott, Ugo Monye and David Strettle, most of whom would usually be in consideration for the matchday 22. How the squad is managed over the next few months will be very telling. It should also be noted that our start to this season is considerably easier than last year’s although this is no criticism of the recent performances which have been extremely good.

Before any Leeds fans or journalists feel that they need recruitment on a large scale they should remember that our change in fortune was achieved with virtually the same core players that started the season. It’s far too simplistic to state that chequebooks will save Leeds’ season but compare their current position to ours last year and where we finished; today’s pack included no new players from last year’s squad and dominated much of the game until the arrival of Noon steadied their set-piece. Having said that the one glaring difference between Leeds’ current squad and those of Bristol and Quins immediately following promotion is that the latter two had a raft of seasoned top-division professionals particularly in the pack which Leeds simply do not have at the moment. I think that Leeds do need to recruit a few more players and the arrival of the Tongan monster prop as well as Schusterman’s return will certainly help. I would suggest however that this needs to be soon as they are less affected by World Cup call-ups than many other teams and need to avoid the kind of start that we suffered last year as every other team will only get stronger as their full squads become available. Bearing in mind that Leeds’ relegation happened with a range of Internationals and well-known players it is understandable that they have retained faith in the less well known players that got them back up. As Quins are well aware there are a lot of excellent Division One players around who are more than capable of playing at Premiership and International level and as such there is no need to panic so early in the season. Welcome back to the Premiership and good luck for the rest of the season.

Oh and Dewi – how do you like us now? On second thoughts I don’t much care.

Teams

Harlequins:
Mike Brown, Tom Williams, Hal Luscombe, Jordan Turner-Hall, Charlie Amesbury, Chris Malone, Simon Keogh, Ceri Jones, Aston Croall, Mike Ross, Ollie Kohn, Jim Evans, Chris Robshaw, Paul Volley, Tom Guest.
Replacements: Christophe Laurent, Ricky Nebbett, Nicolas Spanghero, Will Skinner, Billy Fulton, Tosh Masson, Seb Stegmann.

Leeds Carnegie:
Leigh Hinton, John Holtby, Jonny Hepworth, Richard Welding, Tom Biggs, James Brooks, Joe Bedford, Michael Cusack, Rob Rawlinson, Adam Hopcroft, Stuart Hooper, Kearnan Myall, Jon Dunbar, Mark Lock, Rhys Oakley.
Replacements: Colin Noon, Viliami Ma'asi, Erik Lund, Sam Stitcher, Mike Aspinall, Jon Goodridge, Lee Blackett.

Scores:
Harlequins: Tries: Penalty, Jordan Turner-Hall, Chris Malone, Simon Keogh, Tom Guest. Conversions: Chris Malone (4). Penalties: Chris Malone (2). Yellow Card: Tom Guest
Leeds Carnegie: Tries: Rhys Oakley, Viliami Ma'asi. Conversion: Richard Welding. Penalty: Leigh Hinton

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