Report: Harlequins 42-6 Gloucester Rugby

"Here comes the rain again, falling on my head like a memory, falling on my head like a new emotion" - The Eurythmics.

On an unseasonably changeable afternoon, Quins showed their newfound consistency, and brought with it both happy memories of the last time these two sides met, and the new emotion of watching a Harlequins victory untempered by the pain of fingernails bitten to the quick. In tough conditions, a Quins side packed with young talent took control of the game and did not let go. Their reward was the season's first bonus point win, taking Quins clear at the top of the embryonic Premiership table.

Before the match, the teams looked evenly matched on paper, with most fans declaring it too close to call and therefore a narrow win to their favoured side. As the rain began to fall, the game began with an inconclusive first few minutes. With neither side able to make much headway, kicking came to the fore, with Gloucester twice using a long grubber to put pressure on the defence. The second of these resulted in a scrappy lineout, from which Quins gave away a penalty and Freddie Burns converted. 0-3.

Quins responded with a period of pressure in the Gloucester half, with Sam Smith looking threatening. However, Gloucester forced play back to near half way, where Quins were awarded the first scrum of the game. Joe Marler, in the first week of his three week ban for punching, had been ahead of me in the Jolly Hog queue, and the temptation to call him a silly sausage had been strong, but I resisted. In Joe's absence, the fans had worried about Mark Lambert's ability to cope in the scrum, but he proved to be very solid, albeit against inexperienced opposition. From the scrum, Quins broke into Gloucester territory and NEv put a clever grubber through for Brown to chase. Reaching it first, he hacked on and sprinted for the south east corner. It looked from my seat in the north east as if he had been tackled without the ball, but Tim Wigglesworth did not hesitate in awarding a Glos penalty for a knock-on, followed by a free kick for an infringement at "pause". Wigglesworth had a very good game in general, communicative and decisive without being intrusive. Encouragingly, Quins adapted well to his style. Bryan Redpath's comments after the game suggested that Gloucester hadn't - though I didn't think they could feel hard done by.

Quins were now camped in Gloucester's half, with a real need to convert pressure into points. A one-handed lineout take by Robson was spun wide, and found Sam Smith, who extended his fine scoring record.  Last season, there might have been instead a heartbreaking drive for the line, ending in a knock on. Although it's early to make a definitive call, this season's Quins have a ruthlessness we've rarely seen before. Combined with the ability to draw fine performances from almost unknown young players, there is a Tigerishness about them that has real promise for the future. NEv added the extras, as usual.

A great break from Jordan Turner-Hall, influential and impressive throughout the early season, took Quins to half way from the restart. Karl Dickson kicked through and chased well to pin Gloucester into their 22. The pressure resulted in a penalty. NEv converted: 10-3. A rare handling error saw Quins drop the kick off, but it went backwards and Brown was able to clear. Tennis and mistakes ensued, until Gloucester tried to clear and kicked straight out. From the resulting pressure, Quins won a penalty, boldly called for a lineout and rumbled their rolling maul over the line for a try that was awarded to Luke Wallace. NEv missed narrowly to the left of the sticks, leaving the score at 15-3.

Quins gave away a penalty at a scrum from the restart, which Burns converted. 15-6. As half-time approached, the rain was coming down hard and Gloucester gave away a scrum from the next restart. Quins resumed solid service and from the ensuing play forced another penalty, which NEv converted. 18-6 at the break.

Quins picked up as they'd left off, with mounting pressure and a nice break from Robson leading to a chip into the goal area with three Quins chasing. Ugo was deemed to have knocked on, and Gloucester won a penalty from the resulting scrum, this time for a wheel. However, they threw skew at the lineout, and Quins took the game back into their 22, where Hazell conceded one penalty too many and was shown the yellow. NEv's kick went off both posts and back into play, but Quins maintained the pressure and were rewarded when Robshaw claimed the lineout from a penalty, Dickson released NEv on a break and George Lowe sent it wide for Ugo to go in at the corner. NEv's kicking radar was back online, and he converted to make it 25-6.

At the equivalent point last week, Quins allowed Saints back into the game and had to throw all their effort into defence for the last 20 minutes. Over the intervening week, Conor had worked with the squad on avoiding this. His new mantra is "we want to win every minute we play" - a continuous focus from each individual on doing whatever they can to win the next minute of play. As he said afterwards, "you can't win them all, but win enough and that's how you win matches." The new attitude paid dividends today. From the kick-off, Brown broke to halfway and after an exchange of kicks Quins broke into the 22. Gloucester continued to infringe, and a second 5m lineout led to a second rolling maul going over for a try that Max, somewhat arbitrarily, awarded to Wallace. NEv, with his last kick of the game, converted. 32-6. Two Quins tries from rolling mauls? Have we swapped our mojo with Leicester's in the off-season?

With the game and bonus point secured, and Gloucester having already used most of their replacements, Quins began to ring the changes. Clegg came on, immediately getting stuck in and orchestrating a move that led to a Quins penalty from the scrum that he coolly slotted from halfway. Bolt and Brooker followed. Sharples then broke and kicked on. Ugo failed to clear, but fortunately for Quins Sharples knocked on. Gloucester won two penalties from the resulting scrum, each time opting to scrum again. On the third attempt, the penalty went the other way. Trayfoot and Walker now replaced Robshaw and Robson. A few phases later, Walker claimed a lineout, Trayfoot broke through and released Brooker to score. Clegg was not troubled by the conversion. 42-6.

It proved to be the last score of the match. Gloucester attacked into the Quins 22, but knocked on. Quins brought Marfo and Sinckler on for Fairbrother and Lambert. As Conor pointed out later, Marfo's return to action was the result of months of hard work following a "terrible" back injury last year, and the squad were collectively delighted for him, especially as Quins won their scrum. However, Clegg's clearance didn't find touch, and Gloucester attacked again, winning a quickly-tapped penalty and then a scrum. With 40 seconds left, they went wide to the south west corner, where only a huge last ditch effort from Ugo prevented a try. Conor was delighted that the "old man" of the team was fighting so hard at the death to stop the opposition from crossing our line.

He was also delighted that, with 18 players out to RWC, injury or suspension, the squad had stepped up to produce a game of such intensity. While insisting that no-one was getting carried away with our best start to the season for many a year, and that the real test would come at Sixways next week, he was clearly delighted with the results so far. But the focus remains on the future: "we know that we'll be blasted if we don't approach each game with the intensity and physicality that we have [so far], but it's not going to happen."

For his part, Bryan Redpath refused to blame his absent players for the result, saying he was "disappointed with the dullness of the performance" and with Gloucester's collective inability to adapt to the referee. Despite his obvious frustration, he said he was amused that the team's weaknesses always seem to come out against Quins, and joked that they might "just stay at home next year."

Overall, this was a fine performance by Quins, in which Gloucester were simply not allowed to play. All the best elements from last season were there, but added to a clear desire to "play rugby as it should be played," as COS puts it, we now have sharper handling, more sustained focus and a killer instinct that was often AWOL before. Even more encouraging, we are seeing youngsters step up and perform at a level that suggests squad rotation is becoming a genuine option - essential for a long Premiership campaign. The only thing missing so far is proven away form. Next week's game against Worcester will tell us a lot about what to expect from the rest of the year. But we could not have asked for much more from the first three games, and I for one have never been more excited to see what Quins' future holds.