By Alanquin
March 10 2013

With an excellent display of exciting, running rugby the young, second-string Harlequins team overcame a virtually full strength Bath side, booking their place in the LV= Cup final by 31 – 23. In the process these two sides produced as good a rugby match as any spectator could wish to see.

It was apparent from the start that Harlequins were going to play ball in hand, with pace and invention.  The visitors, too, were making efforts to run through their opponents. But it was Quins that broke through first as the ball was moved rapidly from a lineout to Botica who put Tom Williams through a gap in the Bath line.  Williams found Fa’asavalu inside and his pass left put Tom Guest in for a try between the posts. Botica added the simple conversion for a 7 – 0 lead after eight minutes.

Quins soon resumed the attack but Bath now began to get back into the game as they first withstood the Quins’ onslaught and then began to exercise dominance at the scrum and were dangerous in attack. Then Tom Williams, just outside his own twenty-two, intercepted a pass intended for Banahan and ran unchallenged to touch down under the posts. Botica again added the extras giving Harlequins a 14 – 0 lead after twenty minutes.

A scrum in the Quins’ twenty-two crumbled under pressure from the Bath pack. The penalty was kicked to the corner as Bath prepared to attempt to drive over the Quins’ line. The maul that resulted was adjudged to have been pulled down and another penalty produced another lineout. A further penalty, this time for taking the catcher in the air, allowed Bath yet another attempt to catch and drive. This time they succeeded in driving powerfully across the Quins’ line for a try scored by their captain, Louw, and Heathcote added the extras.

Encouraged by their success, Bath were anxious to repeat the manoeuvre and another penaslty allowed Heathcote to kick deep into the corner. But the catch and drive was resisted and a penalty to Quins allowed them to clear the danger. Bath tried to attack with ball in hand but possession was turned over and a scorching break from Karl Dickson with Smith and Chisholm in support took play deep into Bath’s twenty-two.

Then a penalty allowed Quins to kick to touch for a lineout on  Bath’s five metre line. The catch and drive was stopped and the ball was moved along the Bath line with a series of lunges for the line from Fa’asavalu, then Botica, Guest and Wallace until Dickson darted through the defence for Harlequins’ third try. Botica duly converted.

A penalty for offside allowed Heathcote to narrow the gap and half time arrived with Quins leading 21 – 10  with the crowd left breathless at what they had been watching.

Almost immediately from the resumption Quins went offside in front of their post giving Heathcote a simple opportunity to take another three points. But Quins were soon on the attack as they looked for opportunities to break through the defence.  Then almost unexpectedly Wall pirouetted through and with a fabulous offload out of the back if his hand, put Tom Williams along the wing to score his superb second try. When Botica added the conversion, the score became 28 – 13.

Then a yellow card for Sam Smith, for repeated offsides, reduced Quins to fourteen men with twenty-three minutes remaining. With Bath immediately on the attack and exerting great pressure on the Quins’ line it was inevitable that they would find tghe gap. Inevitably. Too, it was Abendanon that went through it for the try. Heathcote converted and the gap narrowed to 28 – 20. It narrowed still further when a penalty gifted Bath another three points and they were within a single score.

Then a yellow card for a Bath prop for deliberately stopping a quickly taken penalty reduced Bath to fourteen just as Smith returned to te field.  Botica duly kicked the penalty to extend the lead. His subsequent failure at long range did not matter.  The game was won with Quins attacking to the last.

After the match Conor O’Shea was clearly delighted  "I love seeing rugby played like that, but if we don't do a job next week it counts for nothing," he said.  "But you have days like this that you remember as a group of players and this will stand a lot of young guys in massive stead when they look down in future years of where they had to go.

"My God, they were hurting out there but they just kept coming. If you play rugby like that, I don't really care if you win or lose. That's the type of energy and the type of ambition we want at this club.

"The guys have done nothing yet in terms of this competition - they're only in the final. But they've worked too hard not to put a similar performance out there next week.We'll really go for it and it's exciting to be part of a group of young guys who are there to put a marker down on their more experienced colleagues.”