Implosion as Quins defy red card to hold off Gloucester
GLOUCESTER Rugby imploded in the second half at Kingsholm to conspire to lose 34-24 against Harlequins who played for the final 35 minutes at least a man down, two down for 10 minutes.
Harlequins’ star South African centre Andre Esterhuizen was red carded in the 45th minute after appearing to elbow Lloyd Evans in the face on the ground after the fly-half had tackled him.
However it was the damage done to Evans, who left the field for a HIA with a blooded nose and never returned, which proved to be more costly outcome. The in-form half back had been a big influence before departing.
Scrum half Joe Simpson was also replaced at half time after suffering a head knock, and kicking centre Billy Twelvetrees had gone earlier still with an ankle injury.
Without that spine of key players in the backline, and no Danny Cipriani on the bench, the hosts lacked the structure to punish Quins effectively, with the visitors going down to 13 men at one point when Glen Young was shown yellow for pulling down a Gloucester maul which looked to be rumbling over the try line.
In contrast, Quins scrum-half Danny Care and fly-half Marcus Smith managed the game magnificently, with the latter’s long-range drop goal 10 minutes from time summing up his mature performance as he pulled the strings.
Gloucester did cross the line twice in the second half, with replacement hooker James Hanson powering over for a brace of catch and drive line outs.
But by that point his side had a mountain to climb after Alex Dombrandt scored his second try of the game and Nathan Earle touched down after the break.
In the first half Harlequins wasted no time at all in releasing their captain and talisman Dombrandt down the blindside channel and the big number eight dummied Joe Simpson before brushing off the attempted tackle of the more sturdy Jordy Reid to touch down in just the fourth minute.
That risked silencing the 2,000 strong Gloucester crowd which encouragingly have been allowed into Kingsholm for the first time in months, but the stadium came to life when Chris Ashton and Tom Seabrook came together off the ball to spark a 30 man pushing contest.
The result was yellow cards for Quins prop Santiago Garcia Botta who was holding the leg of Jamal Ford-robinson, who also got 10 minutes for kick
ing out in the incident which seemingly instigated the incident.
Gloucester came to life and played their best rugby of the match in the following 20 minutes, scoring a superb try in the corner through Ed Slater.
But a late score from Quins flanker James Chisholm, who bounced out of a tackle and then powered over the line three minutes after the clock went red, switched the momentum back into the visitors’ favour and they never looked back despite the challenges thrown at them.
Gloucester, who were so depleted by injuries they finished playing flanker Jamie Gibson in the back line, now need to see how many players they can scrabble together for the trip to Lyon in the Heineken Champions Cup on Sunday, albeit bolstered by their returning internationals.