It did not take long for Quins to show their attacking skills, just four minutes. From a lineout on the twenty-two they set the three-quarters running and Masson got across the line but was adjudged to have knocked on as touched down.  Both teams were trying to run the ball, but both defences were fresh and able to prevent real penetration.  It was twelve minutes before Bath opened the scoring with a penalty kick from 40 metres. 

It took very few minutes for Harlequins to respond, running hard and moving the ball through the hands until an excellent cross kick to the wing found Luscombe who caught and ran the remaining few metres for the try. The conversion attempt missed.

Chasing the restart, Quins forced a scrum well inside their own half and quick ball out to the right found Seb Stegmann at full speed along the wing as he ran a full seventy metres to the line and round to touch down under the posts.  Jarvis made no mistake in adding the extra points for a 3 – 12 lead. 

Quins continued to run the ball and so too did Bath, making an entertaining spectacle as each side looked for further points.  A superb break from the half-way line by Tom Sargeant was stopped a couple of metres short but Quins had a penalty just in front of the posts and Jarvis took the easy three points.

As the first half-hour drew to its conclusion another fine, accurate cross kick from Jarvis found Luscombe again and his inside pass put Phil Davies over for the flanker’s first of his two tries.  Jarvis was again successful with the conversion, increasing the lead to 3 – 22.

Quins were now running everything from all over the pitch.  A penalty to Bath saw the home side catch and drive and cause the Quins’ defence some problems.  Somehow they turned the ball over and there was Jordan Turner-hall leading the runners as they came from behind their own try-line in what seemed an irresistible run towards the Bath line.  A forward pass ended the run on the halfway line.  

All the backs were now exhibiting fine running and handling, particularly Danny Care, Stegmann and the two centres, Turner-Hall and Masson.  Another kick through for Masson to touch down was ruled a knock-on and it was only in injury time that Danny Care took a tap penalty very quickly and passed to Chris Hala’ufia who cashed over for the bonus point try.  Jarvis added the conversion and at half time the score was 3 - 29

Harlequins made three changes at half time with Frazier, Jewell and Robson replacing Brooker, Williams and Inglis respectively.  Bath started the half trying to inject more pace than they had been able to do in the first half but they turned over the ball and Quins were back on the attack.  There was a sense of déjà vu about yet a third cross kick that accurately found Hal Luscombe out on the wing and whose inside pass again put Phil Davies in for his second try only three minutes from the restart.  With Jarvis again converting successfully, the lead increased to 3 – 36.  The game was effectively won and it remained only to see what the final score would be.

Bath were not minded to roll over and be trampled and over the next ten minutes began to exert considerable pressure on the Quins defence and eventually they created the gap that allowed full-back, Ollie Goss to cross on the right for a try.  Cozens’ kick struck a post. 8 – 36 after twelve minutes of the half.  Quins made more substitutions bringing on Amesbury for Jarvis and Pointing for Nebbett with Jewell taking over at fly half.

Quins immediately began to attack from the restart with Jewell and Amesbury.  Bath were caught offside and a penalty allowed Jewell to find a good touch.  Unfortunately a knock-on inn the lineout turned over possession.  Then from another lineout, Robson broke through the defence and fine handling saw the ball go to Masson and slickly to Stegmann for yet another try which Jewell converted. 8 – 43.

Barely five minutes later, from a scrum about fifteen metres from the Bath line, Danny Care sliced through the Bath defence to score under the posts and with Jewell converting the half century of points was reached.  Bath again tried to respond with a good catch and drive from a lineout and aided by a penalty and another good lineout put considerable pressure on the Quins’ line but failed to cross the line in the face of staunch defence.

Quins’ response was to run with the ball and a long miss pass from Jewell found Stegmann who sliced passed would be tacklers to score his third try to which Jewell added the conversion to increase the score to 8 – 57 with about ten minutes remaining.

At the same time, an injury to Tom Sargeant saw the entry onto the field, amid the cheers and barracking of the bench and management of the mysterious No.19 who turned out to be none other than Tony Diprose!  Truly that added the icing on the cake of a memorable match.  The Assistant Academy Manager appeared to survive the ordeal well.

But all was not yet over.  A good run along the left wing by Amesbury took play down into the Bath twenty-two and from a quickly taken penalty Jordan Turner-Hall broke through to score Quins’ ninth try of the night.  Jewell’s kick just curled out. Bath were still trying and with almost the last move of the match they produced the fourth cross kick of the match and scored their second try which Cozens converted.  The final whistle followed.  The final score was 15 – 62.

It was good to see the team shrug off the poor performance of last week and there was some truly magnificent running and handling from both backs and forwards.  There was clearly a deal of satisfaction among the coaching staff at the performance and the result. 

Team:           

Harlequins:
1. Aston Croall, 2. Chris Brooker, 3. Ricky Nebbett, 4. James Percival, 5. James Inglis, 6. Phil Davies, 7. Tom Sargeant, 8. Chris Hala'ufia, 9. Danny Care, 10. Adrian Jarvis, 11. Seb Stegmann, 12. Jordan Turner-Hall, 13. Tosh Masson, 14. Hal Luscombe, 15. Tom Williams

Replacements: 16. Micky  Pointing, 17. Dan Frazier, 18. George Robson, 19. Tony Diprose, 20. Ryan Manyika, 21. Seb Jewell, 22. Charlie Amesbury.

Referee: R. Kitt

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