Gloucester fail to fire in front of the fans

HARLEQUINS booked their place in next season’s Champions Cup as a 1,000strong crowd were unable to lift Gloucester who failed to take several chances.

The second crowd pilot match in England following Quins’ game against Bath at the Stoop earlier this month provided a chance for a select group of Gloucester fans to return to Kingsholm.

But it wasn’t pleasant viewing in the first half as Cadan Murley and captain Stephan Lewies scored as Quins built a 21-3 lead.

Gloucester replied through impressive back row Jake Polledri but a Scott Steele try on the counter proved decisive despite Matias Alemanno adding a second for the hosts.

Harlequins boss Paul Gustard said: “I felt we had absolute clarity about what we wanted to achieve. We got off to a great start, our kicking game was excellent and our kick-chase game was excellent.

“A lot of people played well, and I thought Joe Marchant was incredible. His energy in defence was exceptional. For me, he’s the best defensive 13 in the league, and that’s without talking about his attacking skill-set.”

Employing an aggressive kick-chase game allied with the relentless Will Evans hunting down turnovers, the visitors’ early pressure paid off with Marcus Smith kicking three penalties inside the first ten minutes.

Murley outpaced Gloucester scrum-half Stephen Varney for Quins’ first try, while Gloucester failed to take their chances.

First Ollie Thorley dropped the ball when set clear by Louis Rees-Zammit and then Danny Cipriani threw a forward pass to Jonny May when the England wing was in the clear.

Hooker Joe Gray was sinbinned on 22 minutes as the offences against Quins mounted but Gloucester failed to take advantage when Varney had a pass intercepted on halfway by Lewies, who sprinted home. Polledri fended off Alex Dombrandt to score after half-time but again Gloucester made a crucial error in Quins’ 22. Marchant, below, intercepted a Cipriani pass on the hour and despite being hauled down five metres out by Rees-Zammit, he popped the ball up for Steele to score. Argentina lock Alemanno went over on his Gloucester debut to reduce the deficit but Ed Slater had a try disallowed as Steele managed to dislodge the ball from his hands inches before the line. Gloucester head coach George Skivington said: “It was definitely our worst performance since I’ve arrived at the club. “We set ourselves up so many times to score points, but we just failed at the last hurdle with the execution.”