Quins shock Falcons
MATCH REPORT: Mike Brown enjoyed a day to remember as Harlequins claimed a 38-17 bonus-point win on the road at Newcastle Falcons and the fullback broke the club’s all-time appearance record.
Quins – who had only won once on the road this Premiership Rugby season coming into the clash – came storming out of the blocks and had the bonus point wrapped up by half time as they climb to third in the table.
As they had done a week ago at Twickenham against Wasps, Paul Gustard’s men used a clever lineout move at the front early on and in-form Alex Dombrandt put Max Crumpton over.
Hosts Falcons struck back with a Brett Connon penalty but Nathan Earle’s interception then put the visitors 14-3 to the good.
And Quins were not done there in the first half, Gabriel Ibitoye the next to go over with a searing break through the middle after a clever Brown kick.
And the fourth try came on the stroke of the interval, waves of pressure repelled by the Falcons before Ibitoye and Marcus Smith – who kicked flawlessly from the tee – put Jack Clifford over.
After the break Quins’ dominant scrum made a score for Dombrandt from the base and the game was done and dusted.
Late consolations for Vereniki Goneva and Callum Chick did little to lift the mood at Kingston Park while Smith turned the screw with a late penalty as Quins won in Newcastle for the first time in five attempts.
The scorers:
For Newcastle Falcons:
Tries: Goneva, Chick
Cons: Connon 2
Pen: Connon
For Harlequins:
Tries: Crumpton, Earle, Ibitoye, Clifford, Dombrandt
Cons: Smith 5
Pen: Smith
Teams:
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Tom Arscott, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Michael Young, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Gary Graham, 6 Will Welch (captain), 5 Will Witty, 4 Calum Green, 3 Logovi’i Mulipola, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Trevor Davison.
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 David Wilson, 19 Andrew Davidson, 20 Ryan Burrows, 21 Sonatane Takulua, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Pedro Bettencourt.
Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Nathan Earle, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Francis Saili, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care (captain), 8 Alex Dombrandt, 7 Jack Clifford, 6 Semi Kunatani, 5 Ben Glynn, 4 Matt Symons, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Max Crumpton, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Elia Elia, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Will Collier, 19 George Merrick, 20 Renaldo Bothma, 21 Charlie Mulchrone, 22 James Lang, 23 Aaron Morris.
Referee: Thomas Foley
Assistant Referees: Tim Wigglesworth & John Meredith.
TMO: Claire Hodnett.
@PremRugby
🙌 A perfect day to celebrate for @mikebrown_15 and @Harlequins
5️⃣ tries and 5️⃣ points on the road for the London club as the No.15 becomes Quins’ all-time record appearance maker#GallagherPrem #NEWvHAR pic.twitter.com/tW6GLrsIry
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) January 5, 2019
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