Quins show grit of champions in storming start
The adage about success having many fathers holds true, but it was still a surprise to hear quite so many London voices cheering on Harlequins at Kingston Park. The sizeable travelling support had much to laud as the champions picked up where they left off last year, with a bonuspoint win that fused grit and ambition in equal measure.
Newcastle is not an easy place to come to and Dean Richards’s side made the visitors fight for every point. Only in the last quarter did Quins pull away, and even then Falcons fought back to win a last-minute bonus point that was just reward for their resilience throughout this entertainingly robust encounter.
While Richards, the director of rugby, was left to rue missed opportunities,
Tabai Matson, his
Quins counterpart, eulogised over his side, especially double try-scorer Louis Lynagh, “world-class” Danny Care and man-of-the-match Tommy Allan.
“It’s such a good start to our campaign,” Matson said. “They’ve started the campaign where they left off. This is a tough place to play and to come up here and get a result for only the second time since 2012 is a massive step forward. A bonus point was more than we could have hoped for up here.” The match sparked into life early, with Newcastle forcing their way over from a line-out drive but failing to ground the ball. Quins lock Dino Lamb then butchered a simple try-scoring opportunity with a forward pass after Care had intercepted on halfway before being hauled down just short. Little wonder the scrum-half took matters into his own hands moments later when Quins chose a scrum under the Falcons posts rather than three easy points. That spirit of adventure worked as Care broke from the scrum and threw a looping pass to wing Lynagh. Tom Penny, the Falcons full-back, got fingers to the ball, but succeeded only in tipping it into the wing’s hands. Allan added the extras from the touchline with less than 10 minutes on the clock. Standing in for Marcus Smith, the Italian stand-off became an increasingly powerful influence. He created the visitors’ second try halfway through the first period, ghosting through a dogleg in the Falcons defences and putting away Joe Marchant, the centre going over untouched. Allan’s hooked conversion went over via the upright. Newcastle were in danger of being overwhelmed, but they also have a match-winner in Adam Radwan. Immediately from the restart,
the wing scored a classic finisher’s try after centre Ben Stevenson rose to claim the restart. When the ball reached Radwan on the right wing, he appeared to be hemmed in with little chance of making the corner, but with his remarkable speed he made it with something to spare.
If that was good, better was to come when the 23-year-old broke from his own half and, with an audacious Obolensky-like mixture of raw pace and old-school sidesteps, carved past half a dozen flailing tacklers before drawing the final defender and feeding debutant leftwing Iwan Stephens for the former Leeds Rhino to touch down under the posts. Brett Connon’s conversion brought Falcons back to within two points, a scoreline that had looked inconceivable moments earlier.
The second half started with
Radwan to the fore, the wing intercepting Alex Dombrandt’s inviting miss-pass and going over, only to be brought back for a knock-on. Quins heeded the warning and, with fullback Tyrone Green making good ground, registered the first try of the half. Once again, it was Allan who did the damage, breaking the line and putting Lynagh over.
By now, the match was really warming up with a succession of big hits, the most wince-inducing of
which was Pete Lucock’s thunderous rib-tickler on Quins blindside Tom Lawday. The scoreboard was also ticking over nicely, and Newcastle registered another try after second-row Sean Robinson intercepted a pass on halfway and put scrum-half Louis Schreuder away to put Falcons within two points.
Quins did not let their hosts stay in touch for long, though, Care coming around the side of a ruck under Newcastle’s posts with a trademark score to give them a nine-point final-quarter lead. Not that Newcastle accepted their fate: indeed, the impressive Stephens almost went over after a mazy run before being tackled into touch.
The final stages were frantic and, while Falcons never looked like overhauling Quins, the penalty point they earned with the last kick of the match was well deserved.