Smith makes his Marc again
Quins 14 12
Exeter Adam Hathaway
MARCUS SMITH pulled another rabbit out of the hat to down 14-man Exeter – but his Harlequins boss reckons the fly-half will be kicking himself.
Chiefs had prop Alec Hepburn sent off on the stroke of half-time for a tip tackle on Joe Marler, but Quins could not put them away after the break.
The visitors led 12-7 with a minute left when Smith’s cross-kick found centre Andre Esterhuizen on the wing to level the scores.
Then England star Smith won the game with his conversion from the lefthand side which hit the post before limping over.
But Quins senior coach Tabai Matson insisted the game should have been dead and buried by then and his side left far too many points on the pitch.
Referring to Smith, he said: “That shows a topclass player, to kick from the sideline with the game on the line. You don’t coach that, that’s locked in.
“But a player with his expectations will go through his performance and go ‘nah.’”
Exeter manned the barricades for the first-half of the second period as Quins threw everything at them – Tyrone Green fluffed two tries – and then hit back with a sucker punch.
A driving lineout led to a try by replacement hooker Jack Innard and Quins, with a man extra, were staring down the barrel.
Enter Smith, the superb Esterhuizen, and Smith again to finish it off.
Chiefs boss Rob Baxter said: “Red cards, yellow cards and losing men has a huge effect. We weathered that pretty well and got the losing bonus point from a very difficult situation.
“We’re disappointed not to get more, but we’ve done a lot of good things.”