Harlequins crush London Irish 28-18 at Twickenham
It was a wicked display of rugby between London Irish and Harlequins at Twickenham. London Irish lost their eighth straight match by 28-18 and are now even deeper into the crisis. The game revolved around penalties and fouls.
In an unfriendly first half, fly-halves Chris Malone and Nick Evans executed penalties, taking London Irish18-12 ahead. It was like a penalty trade-off, as contemptuous play by London Irish team saw Quins repetitively killing the ball. Exiles conceded ten
penalties to Quins’ four in the first half. Even after the first half Malone and Evans sustained on exchanging penalties, before Quins came forth with a breakthrough try. Irish improved in the second half but Quins lost their own serenity and conceded eight
penalties. Quins seemed to be in danger until George Lowe; the outside centre confirmed the victory with a try, just twelve minutes before time.
Harlequins opened their scoring five minutes later, when a simple penalty was struck by Nick Evans from under the sticks. Quins were extremely close few minutes later when an interception in deep by Tom Williams caused an outstanding break up the touch line.
Chris played a vital role in the game and performed some exceptional tackles. Malone did a heroic tackle and brought a down a try just a few yards near the touch line. In eleventh minute Malone did three apiece and struck a penalty too but his efforts were
washed away by an effortless three pointer from Evans. Malone levelled the score again on seventeenth minute by a penalty given yet again due to the clumsy game from Quins.
Evans scored to regain the rhythm of the game, but could not really stretch the lead. He missed a challenging try just 48 meters away. Irish continued to violate the rules and were penalized yet again 25 minutes into the game. Evans executed the penalty
perfectly taking the score to 12-6. On the other hand, four minutes later Malone took another penalty to shorten the Quins’ lead. Five minutes prior to the interval Mapusa was caught offside and Evans came back with another penalty and this time the score
was 15-9. It was pretty much predictable by then that what is next. Malone kept Irish in touch with his boot.
The whole match was a tough call for the referee. Referee had the most hectic day of the season. He at last lost his tolerance and sin-binned the lock Bob Casey for not rolling away. Evans yet again took the penalty to increase the gap and took the score
to 18-12. Harlequins made full use of the man advantage on Irish, due to Casey’s sin-binning and thoroughly enjoyed the first ten minutes of the second interval.
But Irish were the first one to score in second half and Malone struck another penalty to shorten the lead to 18-15. As expected, Harlequins were awarded with another penalty. Nick Kennedy, the 6ft 8in lock was penalized for high tackle and Evans restored
the lead eight minutes later by kicking the ball in between the posts. This time Malone missed the chance and was not able to give enough air to the ball.
However, the London Irish kept on building the pressure on Harlequins and this was when the game had some soul to it. The Exiles kept on attacking deep into Quins’ territory and soon enough Quins were shielding their line recklessly. Few minutes later Care
was penalized for killing the ball and Malone brought the score to 21-18 by slotting another penalty. England’s scrum-half Care was off to bin. Irish maintained the deadlock, but in 68 minutes Jordan Turner crushed through Irish defense with a weighted chip
through. The loose ball was collected by Lowe and he raced down the line for the try. Evans then slotted another penalty to increase the lead to 28-18 and confirm Quins victory. After this Irish tried to breakthrough and turned down three penalties in favour
of the lineout. Soon enough it was all over for London Irish.
Tags: