Quins are given the Kiss off

Harlequins London Irish

LONDON IRISH head coach Les Kiss watched his side topple the reigning champs and admitted the upset came from the heart.

This was only the Exiles’ second win of the season – the other was away at Leicester – and they have had three draws, and this shot them up from 10th in the table to seventh.

The victory against Quins was built on muscle-man defence from the midfield of South African Bernhard van Rensburg and Aussie Curtis Rona marshalled by fly-half Paddy Jackson.

Irish went for the throat when they had the chance with hooker Agustin Creevy, lock Rob Simmons (above) and replacement scrum-half Ben White going over.

But it was manning the barricades that won the game with the midfield duo bashing Harlequins before they got momentum.

Kiss said: “It was an emotional game for us. Emotion is a massive part of the game and that came through tonight and defence is all emotion. Our defensive line just kept turning up.

“They were great. And to get another win ratifies the work the boys are doing.”

Quins, who led 14-10 at half-time, managed three tries of their own but if they had converted all their possession and territory into points would have racked up a cricket score.

Boss Tabai Matson moaned: “Any time you lose at home it’s frustrating. When we got up in the first half we had opportunities to keep moving the scoreboard but we didn’t exit well and had a high penalty count.”

Quins rested Marcus Smith and saw his understudy Tommy Allan go off injured just before the break.

In the dying minutes Quins had a sniff of a chance with wing Cadan Murley busting through the Irish defence. But somehow Irish clung on to claim bragging rights over their neighbours.