Harlequins give Care a winning send-off

MATCH REPORT: Harlequins marked Danny Care’s final appearance at The Stoop with a hard-fought 24-22 victory over struggling Exeter.

Earlier in the week, the 38-year-old scrumhalf announced his retirement after a record 395 appearances for the club to add to his 101 England caps, and he came off the bench in the 64th minute to see his side regain the lead and ensure a fairytale ending.

Cadan Murley, Will Porter and Marcus Smith scored Harlequins’ tries, with Smith converting all three and adding a penalty.

Tommy Wyatt, Rus Tuima and Stu Townsend scored Exeter’s tries, with Henry Slade adding two conversions and a penalty.

It took Quins less than three minutes to open the scoring when a pre-planned three-quarter move was perfectly executed to present Murley with a 25-metre run to the line.

Exeter soon suffered two further setbacks when first centre Tamati Tua was yellow-carded for a high challenge on home skipper Alex Dombrandt before Porter capitalised by forcing his way over from close range.

The first quarter ended without a single attack from the Chiefs, but in their first they made it count when Josh Hodge made a clean break to set up the opportunity for Tuima.

Tua returned from the sin-bin and in time to see his side score a second try through Wyatt but Slade missed the conversion to leave Exeter trailing 14-12 at the interval.

Three minutes after the restart, Exeter took the lead for the first time when Townsend crossed the line to reward strong runs from Tuima and Wyatt and that was the only score of the third quarter.

It was one-way traffic during that period as Harlequins penned their opponents in their half, but a lack of passing accuracy and spirited defence from the Chiefs prevented the home side from benefiting.

However, from nowhere, Smith produced a moment of magic by wriggling past two defenders for an excellent solo try but Slade responded with a 30-metre penalty.

That made the score 22-21 in Exeter’s favour, whereupon Care was immediately introduced and six minutes later, Smith knocked over a simple penalty to set up a tense finish.

With two minutes remaining, Wyatt was yellow-carded for a deliberate offside but Quins were unable to secure a fourth try, which would have kept alive their slim hopes of a play-off spot.

Exeter fought to the very end and were unlucky losers but ultimately the day belonged to Care.

The scorers

For Harlequins
Tries: Murley, Porter, Smith
Cons: Smith 3
Pen: Smith

For Exeter Chiefs
Tries: Tuima, Wyatt, Townsend
Cons: Slade 2
Pen: Slade

Yellow cards: Tamati Tua (Exeter Chiefs, 13), Tommy Wyatt (Exeter Chiefs, 78)

Teams

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Ben Waghorn, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 21 Will Porter, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Will Evans, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 George Hammond, 4 Jonny Green, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter.
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Ollie Streeter, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Tom Lawday, 9 Danny Care, 22 Sean Kerr, 23 Nick David.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Tommy Wyatt, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Tamati Tua, 11 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stu Townsend, 8 Ethan Roots, 7 Richard Capstick, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 4 Rusi Tuima, 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Billy Keast, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Christ Tshiunza, 20 Martin Moloney, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Nick Lilley.

Referee: Joe James
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Dean Richards