Harlequins
Leicester Tigers 40-22 Harlequins
By AlanQuin
April 25 2010
A possibly unjustified yellow card for Chris Robshaw, early in the second half, was the watershed in this match as Leicester scored 17 unanswered points during his absence. Having led at half time by 16 –17, Harlequins ultimately lost 40 – 22, the eighteen point margin reflecting the disastrous reduction to fourteen men.
Quins started in attacking mode but an early penalty blunted the attack. Then, only three minutes into the match, a flat pass from Danny Care intended for the right wing was intercepted by Flood on his own ten metre line and he was away unstoppably to score under the posts and add the conversion for a 7 – 0 lead. Almost immediately, too, Flood increased the lead with a successful penalty kick. Only five minutes had elapsed and Quins trailed by 10 points.
Quins’ pressure gained a scrum inside the Tigers’ twenty-two and a free kick at the engagement and they opted for another scrum. When the ball came out Danny Care darted round the blind side, chipped over the defender and gathered for the try wide on the right. Clegg added the conversion.
Over the next twenty minutes Flood succeeded with three out of four penalty kicks, increasing the Leicester lead to 16 – 7. Quins were conceding too many penalties at the breakdown, as the referee appeared to see no offence by anyone except Quins. Despite the successful kicks adding points, the Quins’ defence worked hard to keep Tigers from the try-line.
Then a counter-attack from a poor kick saw a fine run from Strettle supported by Care whose pass put George Lowe in for the second Quins’ try. Clegg was again successful with the conversion. Another good kick chase took play deep into the Leicester twenty-two and when the opportunity came Clegg dropped a nonchalant drop goal for Quins to take the lead at half time 16 – 17
Leicester started the second half with greater determination, clearly stung by being behind at the break. Good attacks ended first with a knock-on in the tackle and then with Johne Murphy bundled into touch a couple of metres short of the line. The came the yellow card for Robshaw and the successful kick by Flood regained the lead. In the time Robshaw was absent, Tigers added two tries. First a fine run from Johne Murphy put Matt Smith over the line and then Youngs nipped past a slow Quins’ defence from a tapped penalty about ten metres out. Both scores were converted by Flood for a lead of 33 – 17.
Now Leicester were gaining the upper hand in the forward battle and strengthened their front row with the introduction of Castrogiovani and Stankovitch And more than once they powered across the Quins line in typical Leicester fashion, but were held up. It simply could not last. With ten minutes remaining, a penalty in front of the posts allowed Tigers to opt for a scrum at which they were awarded a free kick and opted for another scrum.. This time they were rewarded with a full penalty and the referee clearly issued a warning to Easter, who had taken over the captaincy when Guest replaced Skinner earlier. Leicester took the option of another scrum and this time when Quins were deemed to have offended the penalty try was inevitable.
Quins resumed on the attack and found themselves camped on the Tigers line following a penalty and a five-metre lineout and Joe Marler crossed for the try.
Clegg’s kick failed to add the conversion points. An effort to seek a bonus point try failed and the match ended in defeat 40 – 22.
Leicester: G Murphy (capt) (L Amorosino 60min); S Hamilton, M Smith, A Allen, J Murphy; T Flood (J Staunton 72min), B Youngs (J Grindal 72min); M Ayerza (B Stankovich 66min), M Davies (G Chuter 72min), D Cole ( M Castrogiovanni 64min), G Parling (B Kay 75min), B Kay (B Deacon 64min), T Croft, L Moody, C Newby
Harlequins: M Brown; D Strettle (S Smith 75min), G Lowe, J Turner-Hall, U Monye; R Clegg, D Care (K Dickson 72min); A Croall (J Marler 64min), M Cairns (R Buchanan 73min), J Andress (J Johnston 53min), J Percival (L Stevenson 53min), G Robson, C Robshaw, W Skinner (capt) (T Guest 59min), N Easter
Referee: T Wigglesworth (RFU) Attendance: 22,604
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon25/04/2010 20:45
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Other than that. Good summary. Quins were just outplayed up front. But some of their counter-attacking was very good
I don't think I heard a peep out of the Caterpillar Stand all game. But then I was on the opposite side of the ground and I had spent quite a while in the local hostelries...
