Harlequins 16-27 Exeter, 2nd March 2013

I think, on balance, I preferred it the other way. Over the last few games we have become used to Quins leaking early tries only to get stronger as the game wore on. It was a worrying trend and looked like the sort of defensive frailty that could cost us dear.

Not this time, it seemed. After an early period in which Exeter had the ball and Quins defended strongly in midfield, Quins had their own chance to attack. An offload from Monye didn’t go to hand, but the Quins pack, up against an Exeter front row sporting debutant Brown at tighthead, won a penalty from the scrum on Exeter’s put in. Easter took the lineout cleanly, and fast hands from Dickson to Evans to JTH stretched the Exeter defence to breaking point. Ugo exploited the gap and ran in to score, leaving Evans an easy conversion. 7-0, and only 8 minutes gone.

Quins cleared the restart, but Exeter took a quick lineout and attacked from near half way. It was fast and skilful stuff from both sides. With hindsight, there were worrying signs even at this early stage. Exeter repeatedly drove over the 22, only to be driven back as Quins’ line speed closed down their space, but the ferocity of Exeter’s attacks through the middle were drawing men in. Dickson was penalised for not rolling away and Steenson converted comfortably. 7-3 at 12 minutes.

Quins kicked to the 22, and contained Exeter for a few phases, but the impact of the visitors’ tactics was beginning to tell. They broke towards the East touchline and Williams and Robson were faced by a four on two overlap. Fortunately for Quins, this time the Exeter backs gave a forward pass – though not before Naqelevuki gave a statement of intent by barging casually through Fa’asavalu. At the scrum, it was Exeter’s turn to win a penalty against the put in. This was something I found genuinely perplexing. Quins seemed to have a clear edge in the scrum all afternoon, and yet penalties went against them as frequently as in their favour.

Steenson for some reason chose to kick the penalty infield to Dickson, and ping-pong ensued from Lindsay-Hague’s clearance, ending with a tapped 22 dropout that nearly sent Evans through but then saw the ball bounce loose off Hopper’s legs. Dickson recovered it, but was adjudged offside and Steenson took the points. 7-6 with 17 minutes gone.

Lindsay-Hague, looking very sharp, made a couple of decent breaks in the next passage of play before being forced into touch. In the process he injured an ankle, and was forced to come off, leaving NEv to drop to full back and Ben Botica to play fly half. With hindsight, this may have been a turning point. Quins never looked settled from hereon in.

The lineout resulted in Quins recovering the ball, and shortly after Mr Rose awarded a penalty. Evans’s kick was on target but fell short. Exeter cleared, Quins attacked, an attempted offload from Easter was knocked on, Exeter cleared the ball straight to touch from their struggling scrum but Mr Rose had been playing advantage. Exeter then went offside from their lineout on the 22, and Quins cleared to their 10m line, despite Exeter’s best efforts to knock the ball back into play.

And so on. There were some nice touches from both sides, but nothing decisive and most passages of play ended in an error of some sort. On 31 minutes, Mr Rose awarded a penalty to Exeter and they went ahead for the first time. 7-9.

breaking through to score. A poor pass to Hopper was knocked on, but Quins won a penalty from Exeter’s scrum and Evans restored the lead. 10-9 with 7 minutes left in the half.

Quins remained on the attack but time and again a bright move would be snuffed out by imprecision. The half drew to a close with Fa’asavalu ripping the ball off Naqelevuki in midfield and Quins winning a penalty from the resulting attack, which Evans missed.

The lead continued to change hands at the start of the second half. A poor clearance from Evans gave Exeter a lineout in Quins’ half and, when they won a penalty for not releasing, Steenson made no mistake. 10-12 on 44 minutes. But Guest charged down an Exeter kick, and although they recovered it the clearance was again poor and this time it was Quins’ turn to win a penalty. 13-12 in the 47^th minute.

Quins were now achieving some dominance up front; a scrum penalty was followed by a rolling maul and a penalty against Exeter for collapsing it. Botica took over the kicking duties and at 16-12 on 50 minutes Quins were beginning to look in control. It turned out to be their last points of the match.

Exeter recovered their kick-off and Quins collapsed the resulting maul. Steenson was on target: 16-15. A string of strong setpieces from Quins took them to Exeter’s 22, but a knock-on in the lineot resulted in a relieving penalty to Exeter from the scrum. Exeter rolled a maul downfield and made a superb break that should have resulted in a try, but tried a reverse-pass-and-chip move that was just a little too clever. Quins were unable to put the ball back into Exeter’s half, and when Steenson slipped a tackle near the 22 the scramble defence brought him down but was too stretched to prevent Welch claiming the try. At least he missed the conversion – 16-20, on 70 minutes.

At this stage, the game was still in touch but Quins’ play was becoming a bit ragged. Unable to make headway in attack, Quins were turning the ball over and Steenson was repeatedly kicking it back into Quins’ 22. It was beginning to remind me of the game against Sarries at Vicarage Road two seasons ago where a teenaged Owen Farrell gave Nick Evans a lesson in tactical kicking. With Botica and Steenson playing the game, the age difference was the other way round but in other respects it was much the same. The absence of Mike Brown’s howitzer boot was starting to tell.

The dam could not hold indefinitely, and another well-worked Exeter attack created a hole that Arscott shot through to score. Man of the Match Steenson did not miss the extras. 16-27. And there, but for a couple more faltering attacks, it ended.

I couldn’t bring myself to go to the press conference, I’m afraid, but judging by the quotes in the press Conor was as scathing as he gets. He highlighted a lack of intensity and a tendency to cough up both the ball and kickable penalties immediately after a score. I’d add to that an unusual slackness in support play and a vicious circle of slow ball at the breakdown enticing the players to try offloads that weren’t really on.

This result makes our next Premiership game – away to new league leaders Saracens – an even bigger one. Both sides will have their England contingent back by that point, and it’s quite possible that one side or the other may have the boost of being LV= Cup champions by then. For that side to be Quins, they will have to up their game quite a bit – but as Conor pointed out: “When we lost at Exeter in October we went on a winning run of 10 games so we learn our lessons well.”