Harlequins 28-25 Gloucester

So the Premiership’s form team visit the defending champions. Despite injuries and international call-ups, both sides had named exciting back divisions allied to powerful packs. Light the blue touchpaper and stand back...

And there were fireworks, on a crisp but dry autumn evening at the Stoop, but only in short bursts. A few real fireworks from early bonfire parties enlivened the night sky over the Stoop, but too often promising play fizzled out to the whizz of Wayne Barnes’ whistle rather than the bang of a completed try.

The early exchanges held plenty of promise as both teams looked to run. Gloucester made good ground in midfield, but Quins were consistently able to tighten their defence inside the 22 and force a turnover or an error. Quins, for their part, looked to run the ball from wherever they received it, but were frequently undone by loose handling. It set the pattern for much of the first half; it was breathlessly pacy and enjoyable to watch, but also inconclusive. According to Sky’s stats, 54% of the half was played between half way and the Quins 22.

Quins drew first blood after about 5 minutes, with Nick Evans celebrating his return from injury and new contract with a coolly slotted penalty from the 10m line. As Quins tried to run the restart back, Gloucester won a scrum, and then an equalising penalty. Freddie Burns kicked superbly all night, both from hand and from the tee in a mature performance that I hope Stuart Lancaster was watching.

Evans then became the third Quins fly half this season to overcook a quick kick-off and award the opposition a scrum on half way. Cries of “Evans must go!” were conspicuous by their absence, nonetheless. The scrum was something of a lottery all evening. On the rare occasions when the engagement was clean, Quins looked to me to have an advantage in power, but both front rows were up to the full range of tricks and there were missed binds and props boring in all night. From the replays, it looked as if Mr Barnes was technically sound in his calls, but not very consistent in what he picked up or sympathetic to which side was on top. Penalties flowed freely and on the message boards fans from both sides are claiming to have had the edge. On this occasion, Quins pressured Gloucester enough that Burns made a rare tactical error and kicked the ball to a fired up Mike Brown. Although Quins couldn’t keep the resulting move flowing, they won a penalty that led to a lineout on the Gloucester 22.

Joe Gray, another welcome returnee, struggled with his range and overthrew Luke Wallace. Fortunately, Big Mo thrives on this sort of thing. He caught the ball, stepped inside Qera (drifting wide towards the 10 channel) and burst deep into the 22. Dickson and Evans got the ball to Tom Williams, who found Mike Brown with a perfectly timed pass. Brown, fired up after being released from the England squad, forced his way over in the corner. 10-3.

There followed a period in which smart kicking from Burns and a strong kick chase kept Quins pinned back in their own half, exacerbated by some poor handling. I felt that Tom Casson was playing well, but several times had to spin to retrieve a pass that had gone behind him. You felt that the other players were playing to where they assumed JTH would be, and not to where Casson actually was. The net result was three successive penalties kicked by Burns, and Gloucester edged ahead 10-12.

Then the fireworks. Karl Dickson took a quick tap from a penalty on halfway and unleashed Tom Williams, who sold an outrageous one-handed dummy that drew in three defenders and gave Hopper a clear run for the line. Hopper, who had a strong game in both attack and defence with several critical tackles, chose to swan dive for his try rather than turning in to reduce the angle. NEv missed the conversion – something that nearly cost Quins dearly at the death. 15-12.

Gloucester remained determined to play, and had a great opportunity spoiled moments later when their hooker, Edmonds, chipped on into space only to be nudged out of the way by Wallace. Stuart Barnes and Nigel Davies clearly felt it was a penalty, but the assistant referee kept his flag down. Although Wallace ran into Edmonds’ channel, he was continuing his own line – albeit slowly and with full knowledge of the likely impact. There followed an exchange of kicks, and then Gloucester telegraphed a short pass near the 10m line and Sam Smith picked it off to score. Thoughtfully, Smith narrowed the angle for NEv. 22-12, on the stroke of half time.

The second half began with Botica replacing Casson (“It was just a head knock,” said Conor O’Shea after the game, “But he didn’t know whether we were winning or losing, so we replaced him.”), and Quins began again with renewed determination and some fancy backs moves, only to be pinged for crossing. Burns exacted due punishment. 22-15.

Shortly after, Monahan received a very harsh yellow card for taking Mike Brown out in the air. At the time it didn’t look bad, and the replay on Sky showed him trying to lower Brown safely, but Quins were unable to capitalise. By this point, it felt as if Quins were consistently getting the upper hand in most areas, but several nice breaks into the Gloucester 22 ended with no reward. In the end, Evans and Burns exchanged penalties. 25-18.

As the clock ticked towards full time, the pressure from Quins intensified. A nicely delayed pass from Evans sent Lambert through to the 5m line. Quins couldn’t quite squirm over from the ruck, so Evans through a long pass wide that unfortunately found Luke Wallace rather than a back, and skittered through his hands and into touch. Moments later, following an exchange of lineouts, the ball fell loose, and NEv hacked on for Tom Williams to gather. Williams tried to return the favour with an offload, but NEv couldn’t take it. Quins won a penalty from the ensuing scrum (28-18) and were soon back in an attacking position through clever work by Smith, Botica and Hopper that forced a penalty and yellow card from Ben Morgan, who otherwise had a largely anonymous game. Quins naturally opted for the scrum, repeatedly as Mr Barnes awarded resets, free kicks, warnings and eventually a penalty in Quins’ direction. And then, finally, a penalty to Gloucester. I think it was for Gray standing up, but even on replay I couldn’t be sure. Quins had driven forward, Gloucester had stayed put but also stayed down. I suppose on balance it was probably technically correct, but it wasn’t in tune with the way the scrum was going.

Anyway, Gloucester took the quick tap, worked the ball downfield and cleverly used the full width of the pitch to make an overlap. Williams went for an interception, but the ball reached Twelvetrees safely and he stepped around to go in under the posts. Gloucester declined the conversion in the hope of having the chance to score again, but the clock ticked down and Botica ended the game. 28-25.

In the press room afterwards, Nigel Davies was phlegmatic about the result. He felt that Gloucester had not played well, and the penalty count had been skewed against them, but “the team spirit was fantastic” and felt they had “put a marker down”. Conor was in good spirits but felt the last scrum penalty was “flabbergasting” and that Quins deserved a bonus point for the opportunities they created. But on the other hand, as he pointed out “they are celebrating the bonus point, and we’re disappointed at the win, and that’s a good place to be”. He resolutely defended Quins’ desire to tap and go, and to play from their own 22.

So, another win from Quins, without ever really catching fire. Without being really convincing this season (except at Welford Road), Quins are top of the table and have 28 points from the first 8 matches – one point ahead of the target for 1^st place. A pretty good place to be, as Conor says, for a team with so much room for improvement.