A cold night, with the chill factor increased by the bitingwind, saw two teams who tried to run but good defending and a high penaltycount produced a stop/start match.

The Quins scrum had the edge from the start and found theiropponents penalised at almost every scrum in the early period of the game.  So’oialo robbed Saracens of the ballfrom their scrum and his darting run took play deep into their twenty-two wherean offside allowed Clegg his first successful kick at goal after ten minutes.

It was not until the final kick of the half that Terblanchesucceeded in equalising the scores at 3 – 3, having previously failed with twopenalty kicks and two long-range drop goal attempts.

It was ten minutes into the second half when a penalty justinside the Saracens’ half allowed Clegg to increase the score and five minuteslatter he was again successful from much the same distance.  A yellow card for the Saracens’ propAlex Brown gave Clegg another successful kick from the half-way line andincreased the lead to 3 – 12.

Saracens had opted to kick for touch from penalties, but theQuins defence stood firm and frequently turned over possession.  But now the wind had dropped as thenight grew colder and another Saracens’ penalty kick evaded the goal.  A try-saving tackle from Ross Chisholmsnuffed out a dangerous run from the left wing.

The cheers rang out for Terblanche who finally succeededwith another penalty when Rob Buchanan was shown a yellow card for an offencein a ruck with just over ten minutes remaining.  Quins’ defence resisted the increased pressure that loss ofa man produces.  With five minutesremaining Clegg again succeeded with a long range penalty from the half-wayline.  Almost immediatelyTerblanche missed again.

As the first yellow card expired, it was Rory Clegg’s turnto be shown a yellow card and Quins’ numbers were again reduced.  This time Saracens finally brokethrough the defence along their left wing to cross for the try and a successfulconversion to make the score 13 – 15.

Though Saracens tried hard to get into position for anotherscore, Quins turned the ball over and kicked it out to produce the finalwhistle and a win that keeps Quins firmly at the top of the A League table.

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• Q&A Session with the Players at The Patch TONIGHT
• Saracens A v Quins A - Updates