LV= Cup: Harlequins 28-20 Newcastle Falcons

With virtually the usual A League side, Harlequins recorded their second successive victory in the LV= Cup by defeating Newcastle Falcons by 28 – 20 at The Stoop. However they made heavy weather of a match that ought to have been won much more easily given the dominance of their scrum and the three yellow cards that reduced the visitors to fourteen men for thirty minutes of the match.

Only in the second minute of the match Newcastle collected the first of their yellow cards as Mickey Young was penalised for a professional foul close to the visitors’ line. It took only five minutes for Quins to open the scoring as Clegg spread the ball wide to his right and a chip ahead found Chisholm and Sam Smith in pursuit for the latter to streer the ball over the line with his boot and touch down for the try which Clegg converted.

A fine break form Brooker took play back into the Newcastle twenty-two and increased pressure on the defence.  Clegg attempted to chip through and follow his kick but he was blocked and the ball went dead.  Eventually back to full strength Newcastle began to respond and after seventeen minutes a penalty chance was awarded on half way but Manning’s kick failed.

Newcastle immediately attacked from the restart and another penalty saw the ball kicked to touch deep in Quins’ twenty-two. A series of rucks on the Quins’ line were resisted but inevitably a try was to follow as Pennycook, the Falcons’ flanker, barrelled over.  Manning duly converted and the scores were level.

In the last of the rucks before the score Clegg went down injured and a lengthy delay ensued while he was eventually stretchered from the pitch.  He was replaced by Urdapiletta. 

Quins went back on the attack as a penalty and a good touch took play back into Falcons’ territory.  An attempted catch and drive was pulled down by Newcastle. Quins opted for a scrum and then another offence by the visitors produced their second yellow card as Pennycook was banished.  From the penalty that followed Urdapiletta put Quins back in the lead 10 – 7.

As Quins sought to attack from the restart, a wild pass from York allowed Newcastle to attack until they went offside at a ruck and a penalty allowed Quins to clear the danger. With Urdapiletta showing that he had an excellent kick from hand, play again was back in the Newcastle twenty-two and a series of picks and drives from the forwards resulted in a try for Chris York. The conversion attempt failed.

In the remaining ten minutes of the half Manning scored with two penalties and at half-time Quins’ lead was 15 -13.

The second half was only three minutes old when Quins opted for a scrum on being awarded a penalty. Newcastle knocked on as the ball came into play and, with Ceri Jones replacing a limping Joe Marler, the Quins forwards began to demonstrate their power.  At the next scrum another penalty allowed Quins to opt to repeat the ploy and this time they pushed Newcastle back many metres to produce a very kickable penalty.  Urdapiletta duly obliged from 40 metres.

A fine Quins’ attack was unsuccessful as Luke Wallace was held up over the line. But the scrum was Newcastle’s undoing as penalties conceded at successive scrums to the dominant Quins’ pack exhausted the referee’s patience and he awarded a penalty try.  Urdapiletta added the conversion to increase the lead to 25 – 13.

Then an excellent break by Young found Amesbury in support and the winger duly touched down behind the posts.  Manning added the conversion and Falcons were back in the game. But as the game moved into its final quarter, the thied yellow card saw Pennycook banished to the sin bin and Newcastle again reduced in numbers. Urdapiletta duly kicked the penalty to open the gap to 28 -20 depriving the visitors of a bonus point and that proved to be the eventual final score.

With the Quins’ pack dominating, scrums were called for at every opportunity and every scrum produced another penalty.  With that domination and the monopoly of possession Quins should have increased their score.

After the match Conor O’Shea was full of praise for his young side. “We had eight 20-year-olds out there and played some tremendous rugby. Our forwards were magnificent, but we never really put them away," he said. "Newcastle will always give you a very hard game, and they didn't disappoint, but despite all our possession, it would be arrogant to suggest we should have won by more.

"We are two from two in the LV= Cup, and while we were a bit tense at the break, we knew we were up against a side who will always keep coming at you so it's a good day for the club. This is the competition that allows you to test your squad for real. We sat down and selected two teams for the first and second rounds, and we were adamant that win, lose or draw at Leicester we would stick with those line-ups.”

Another plus is that Rory Clegg is up and about, feeling fine," he added. "It looks worrying when a lad is carried off by stretcher with the neck-brace in place, but the medics always do that as a precaution."

Falcons coach Alan Tait thought they were treated harshly by the referee. "It's a hard enough game as it is without having to play for 30 minutes with 14 men. We're just not getting any luck at the moment, decisions are not going our way, but we don't give up."

Harlequins: R Chisholm, S Smith, O Smith, T Casson (captain), G Lowe (O Lindsay-Hague, 54), R Clegg (B Urdapiletta, 21), D Moore (K Dickson, 55); J Marler (C Jones, 21), C Brooker (J Gray, 54), M Lambert (J Johnston, 43), O Kohn, P Browne, M Fa’asavalu, L Wallace, C York.

Newcastle Falcons: A Tait (T Catterick, 14), M Tait, G Bobo, A Henderson (J Fitzpatrick, 50), C Amesbury, J Manning, M Young; G Shiells (M Ward, 46), J Graham (S Crombie 46), K Brookes (J Hall, 55), T Swinson (captain), G Townson ( H Charlton, 73), W Welch (B Wilson, 60), R Pennycook, M Wilson (A Hogg, 50).

Referee: David Rose

Attendance: 9,415