Quins stay unbeaten after clinical display
HARLEQUINS overpowered a spirited Darlington Mowden Park Sharks to continue their unbeaten run at the summit of the Tyrrells Premier 15s.
The home side proved too strong for their opposition, with five first-half tries enough to secure victory in a clinical display.
However, Sharks notched two second-half tries as they mounted a comeback, but they were second best on the day to an impressive Quins outfit.
Karen Findlay, joint head coach of Quins, said: “We were out in the first half to say we were going to start the game fast and really put a focused effort in because we’ve not achieved that in the past few weeks and we did, securing our bonus try.
“The platform was key today. Our scrum and lineout were absolutely dominant, so that was another big tick in the box for the front eight. The challenge is to try and build on last year’s success but you only get that when you focus on the detail and the marginal gains.”
Jessica Wooden got the hosts off to a flyer, capitalising on her side’s early pressure to go over in the third minute, before Victoria Cornborough scored a converted try under the posts. Sharks were made to pay for a succession of handling errors by Wooden, who scored her second try of the afternoon.
Things got even worse for the visitors and, following a fantastic breakaway try by Jessica Breach and a penalty try shortly after, they went into the break 31 points down. However, Sharks scored their first points straight from kick off through substitute Elle Bloor. And skipper Katherine Dobson broke the line 20 minutes later, taking the score to 31-10.
It was the home side, however, who had the final say in the game through substitute Laura Dowsett, whose 80th minute try capped off her side’s 36-10 win. DMP Sharks’ head of programme Justin Loveridge lamented his side’s lacklustre firsthalf showing, but was pleased with the manner in which they fought back.
“It mirrored the game against Wasps last week where we didn’t really turn up until half time but in the second half the girls dug in and played some good rugby,” he said.
“The positives are that we feel like when we get momentum we can turn a game and our backline showed that today.”