Gustard praises England trio as Harlequins move back to third
Paul Gustard picked out three experienced England men for special praise as Quins wiped off the rust and furthered their claims for a play-off spot.
The director of rugby saw his side run in seven of the 12 tries which thrilled the Twickenham Stoop crowd, and was delighted with the performances of Chris Robshaw, Danny Care and Mike Brown.
The London club bounced back up into third place above Gloucester and Wasps, who had usurped them with victories on Friday night.
Gustard said: “All three of them were superb. Robshaw was outstanding. His work effort and commitment is unsurpassed. Danny was inspired. He assisted in two and scored one himself. He’s a tremendous player. They tried to single him out and be physical with him but he was excellent throughout.
“In Care we have the most capped No9 in England history. In Robshaw we also have the most capped No6 in history. They do that every week whether it’s for the club or country. Browny also showed just what a worldclass full-back he is. He took his try superbly and did not put a foot wrong. He loves playing well for Quins and he keeps knocking on that England door.
“We scored seven tries. We scored tries going through them, over them and with our forward brutality. So it was a good all-round effort from everyone. It’s a month since we last played and we looked a bit rusty and the guys a bit tired but we got the job done.”
Quins hardly looked rusty when they were celebrating four tries in what seemed no time at all. Warriors scrum- half Francois Hougaard wished he could replay the opening minute. His handling error gifted the opening try for Joe Marchant after just 40 seconds following a superb Care chip through.
Marcus Smith converted, and was soon doing the same when wing Gabriel Ibitoye burst over the line. Then it was time for Brown to cunningly grab the ball from a ruck and dart up the left side for a fine try.
The visitors regrouped and a strong maul took them over the Quins line, with hooker Jack Singleton rising from a heap of bodies to claim his side’s opening try, converted by Duncan Weir. Quins, however, were always a major threat when they marched into the Warriors 22, and another fine training ground move left Clifford the simple task of catching Care’s high cross-field punt and touching the ball down for the bonus-point try. Smith made it four from four with his conversion to round off a one-sided first-half.
The second turned into a try freefor-all, with end-to-end rugby. Quins shrugged off losing Brown to the sin bin for 10 minutes for killing the ball to maintain their advantage.
Wing Bryce Heem touched down and then came a flurry of tries which saw Quins complete the win and Warriors walk away with a try bonus point.
Care, Ben Tapuai and James Lang crossed for the London club while Josh Adams, Michael Heaney and Tom Howe raced over for Warriors in an entertaining and frantic final 20 minutes.
Scores 5-0 Merchant try; 7-0 Smith con; 12-0 Ibitoye try; 14-0 Smith con; 19-0 Brown try; 21-0 Smith con; 21-5 Singleton try; 21-7 Weir con; 26-7 Clifford try; 28-7 Smith con; 28-12 Heem try; 33-12 Care try; 35-12 Lang con; 35-17 Adamstry; 35-19 Pennell con; 40-19 Tapuai try; 42-19 Lang con; 42-24 Heaney try; 42-26 Pennell con; 47-26 Lang try; 47-31 Howe try; 47-33 Pennell con. Harlequins M Brown; G Ibitoye, J Marchant (A Alofa, 70), BTapuai, N Earle; M Smith (J Lang, 51), D Care (D Lewis, 70); J Marler (L Boyce, 51), M Crumpton (D Ward, 51), W Collier (J Ibuanokpe 76), M Symons, J Horwill (B Glynn, 70); J Clifford, C Robshaw, A Dombrandt (R Chisholm, 51). Worcester C Pennell; B Heem, F Venter, R Mills, J Adams (T Howe, 76), D Weir (O Lawrence, 62), F Hougaard; C Black (E Waller, 52), J Singleton (I Miller, 77), N Schonert (G Milasinovich, 56), A Bresler (D Barry, 66), M Fatialofa; M Mama, S Lewis, G van Velze (T Hill, 56). Referee Luke Pearce (RFU).