Quins courage earns praise from Gustard
PAUL Gustard praised his side’s character as they closed the gap on the top four with a hard-fought victory over bottom side Newcastle.
Tries from Alex Dombrandt and Francis Saili secured the spoils for Quins who got revenge for their Cup defeat a fortnight ago. Andrew Davidson replied with a consolation try in the closing stages as Newcastle suffered their sixth league defeat of the season.
“I enjoyed the fact that we won as we were the dominant team by a long way,” said Quins head of rugby Gustard. “We were courageous and we kept the ball moving in wet conditions. I thought the first half was a very good performance.
“We couldn’t break Newcastle down as much as we wanted, which was partly down to our errors and partly because they wouldn’t roll away from the breakdown.”
Quins were missing England pair Danny Care and Kyle Sinckler, while Newcastle back row Mark Wilson was also with Eddie Jones’ squad for yesterday’s Test match against Japan.
The Falcons were not helped by the late withdrawal of Johnny Williams through injury, while Joel Hodgson sustained a suspected broken leg seven minutes into the contest.
Marcus Smith registered the first points of the evening on 22 minutes with a penalty from close range, before former Wales U20 back row Dombrandt intercepted a loose pass to race 30m and dot down under the posts.
The former Cardiff University student profited from a wayward pass on the back of a Falcons lineout as the visitors looked to get predatory winger Sinoti Sinoti into the game. Smith added the extras to make it 10-0.
Quins prop Lewis Boyce was yellow carded four minutes into the second half for infringing at the ruck. However, this did not stop the home side from adding to their lead, with Smith kicking his second penalty on 51 minutes to extend Quins’ advantage to 13-0.
Fifteen minutes later former All Blacks centre Saili got himself on the scoresheet, capping off an impressive Quins attack involving Nathan Earle and Joe Marchant.
The duo were at the heart of the move, with Marchant offloading off the ground to the supporting Saili who slid over in the corner. Replacement fly-half James Lang took over the kicking duties to extend his side’s lead to 20-0.
Not deterred by the score line, the Tyneside outfit continued to press forward with the Falcons heavies edging their way up field and on 69 minutes second row Davidson skirted around a ruck unchallenged to cross under the posts.
Flood’s simple conversion reduced the deficit to 20-7, but the night belonged to Quins who now gear-up for next Friday’s trip to Worcester Warriors.
Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards lamented his side’s growing number of handling errors.
“We lacked a lot of accuracy,” said Richards. “It came back to haunt us – I thought it was a poor game overall.
“I don’t think Quins were much better than us, but having said that, they got their act together more than we did.”