Gloucester steal a march on Quins
Two tries from fullback Ross Chisholm were not enough to help stuttering Harlequins as the Premiership leaders slumped to a 29-23 defeat at Gloucester on Saturday.
Quins will be kicking themselves back down the motorway after they had Gloucester in trouble a few times in the second half but could not get the tries to recover from an early setback.
Wing Charlie Sharples, full-back Jonny May and flank Akapusi Qera grabbed Gloucester’s tries, with flyhalf Freddie Burns booting four penalties and a conversion. As well as Chisholm’s tries, Quins’ other points came from flyhalf Nick Evans’ boot with three penalties and two conversions.
After Saracens’ surprise loss to Worcester on Friday night, Harlequins were left kicking themselves with the knowledge before kick-off that victory at Kingsholm would open up a nine-point gap on their London rivals. But they started the match in the worst possible way to go 10 points down after as many minutes.
It was James Simpson-Daniel who became a real thorn in the Quins’ side during those early stages. Just moments after Burns had booted a monster 49-metre penalty to give the home team the lead, Simpson-Daniel almost got a try when he dashed downfield only for an excellent tackle to bring him down just short.
However, set free on the right, the flyer superbly dummied the Quins defence to put Sharples in for a converted try. Evans added to the 159 points he has scored this season with two penalties that brought Quins back to within four points.
It was turning into a lively, free-flowing game, with both teams trying to play open rugby. But Quins’ midfield defence, mainly responsible for the opening try, let them down again when May squeezed through some weak tackling and dashed 45 metres to score unopposed on the left.
Burns added a second penalty to make it 18-6 but Quins could have gone into the break just five points down when Evans put in a delicate grubber kick 10 metres from the line that Chisholm grasped for a converted score. However, they committed an error and Burns booted his third penalty of the half with the last play.
Burns and Evans swapped penalties and the hosts they went well into the lead when big flank Qera finished off a move across the backs in the 58th minutes. But Quins’ pack, led well at No.8 by skipper Nick Easter, tried their hardest to grab a second try they deserved.
Their golden opportunity turned to dust, though, when, piling the pressure on the Gloucester line and just two metres away from that elusive try, the Cherry and Whites turned the ball over, hoofed downfield and threatened to get their fourth bonus-point score.
With the game gone, Quins didn’t have a sniff of victory again and the only disappointment for the home side was that they did not get the try bonus point they were close to on a couple of occasions and that they let Chisholm in for his second score, a length-of-the-field effort from his own 22, in the last movement of the match.
That allowed Evans to convert from the touchline and gain the losing bonus point, which was the only crumb of comfort for the frustrated Londoners.
*In other matches on Sunday Leicester Tigers ran in six tries as they put the struggling Newcastle Falcons to the sword at Welford Road.
Thomas Waldrom grabbed a brace as the home side cut loose, leaving the relegation-threatened Falcons scrambling to keep up.
Bath battled their way to a hard-fought 12-9 victory over the Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park. Flyhalf Tom Heathcote kicked all of the points for the visitors who showed plenty of heart.
The scorers:
For Gloucester:
Tries: Sharples, May, Qera
Con: Burns
Pen: Burns 4
For Harlequins:
Tries: Chisholm 2
Con: Evans 2
Pen: Evans 3
Gloucester: 15 Jonny May, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Matt Cox 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Tom Savage (captain), 5 Alex Brown, 4 Will James, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Matias Cortese, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Peter Buxton, 20 Brett Deacon, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Ryan Mills, 23 Tom Voyce
Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Tom Williams, 13 George Lowe, 12Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Karl Dickson, 8 Nick Easter (captain), 7 Will Skinner, 6 Tom Guest, 5 Tomas Vallejos, 4 Ollie Kohn, 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Tim Fairbrother, 19 Pete Browne, 20 Luke Wallace, 21 Danny Care, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Matt Hopper.
Referee: David Pearson
Assistant referees: Nigel Carrick, Andrew Watson
TMO: Trevor Fisher
Bath 12-9 Exeter Chiefs
The scorers:
For Exeter:
Pens: Mieres 3
For Bath:
Pens: Heathcote 4
Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Nic Sestaret, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 Richard Baxter, 7 James Scaysbrook, 6 Tom Johnson, 5 Peter Short, 4 Tom Hayes (captain), 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Chris Whitehead, 1 Hoani Tui.
Replacements: 16 Neil Clark, 17 Chris Budgen, 18 John Andress, 19 Aly Muldowney, 20 James Phillips, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Bryan Rennie.
Bath: 15 Sam Vesty, 14 Matt Banahan, 13 Matt Carraro, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Francois Louw (captain), 6 Ben Skirving, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Nathan Catt.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Charlie Beech, 18 Duncan Bell, 19 Guy Mercer, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Olly Woodburn, 23 Jack Cuthbert.
Referee: David Rose
Assistant referees: Peter Huckle, Paul Dix
Leicester Tigers 42-15 Newcastle Falcons
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Tries: Salvi, Twelvetrees, Agulla, Waldrom 2, Morris
Cons: Ford 3
Pen: Ford
For Newcastle:
Tries: Golding, Mayhew
Con: Gopperth
Pen: Gopperth
Yellow card: Fitzpatrick (Newcastle – 9th minute); Tu’ifua (Newcastle – 63rd minute)
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (captain), 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Scott Hamilton, 10 George Ford, 9 James Grindal, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 George Skivington, 4 Ed Slater, 3 Logoviii Mulipola, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Julian White, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Craig Newby, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Niall Morris.
Newcastle: 15 Greg Goosen, 14 Tom Bedford, 13 Jamie Helleur, 12 James Fitzpatrick, 11 Jeremy Manning, 10 Jimmy Gopperth (captain), 9 Chris Pilgrim, 8 Mark Wilson, 7 Will Welch, 6 Ally Hogg, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 Andrew van der Heijden, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Rob Vickers, 1 Grant Shiells.
Replacements: 16 Michael Mayhew, 17 Jonny Golding, 18 Ashley Wells, 19 Taiasina Tu’ifua, 20 Richard Mayhew, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Rikki Sheriffe, 23 Joel Hodgson.
Referee: Greg Garner
Assistant referees: Don Helme, Rhys Davies
