Quins ride out double yellow for bonus win
MIKE Brown endured a miserable return to The Stoop as Newcastle were dismantled by his former club’s ruthless attack.
It wasn’t a vintage performance from Harlequins, who had two men sent to the sin bin in the second half and they will have to perform better against their play-off rivals.
But tries from Louis Lynagh, Huw Jones, and a brace from Caden Murley secured the bonus point win and moved them up to second in the table – for 24 hours until Saracens’ win over Leicester.
Newcastle will rue their missed opportunities as both George McGuigan and Will Haydon-Wood knocked the ball on inches from the try line.
Tabai Matson’s men took a major step towards the play-offs with their third consecutive win after their mid-season wobble.
Player of the match Murley said: “It was a pretty tough start to the second half. Newcastle were chucking it about and we were flat out trying to defend their phases, but the boys dug in well, put a real shift in and stopped their momentum up front.
“At half time we spoke about us getting out worked, they were getting stuck into us, and we had to work harder and smarter. We know we need to get into that top four and if we get there, we give ourselves a chance. The next block of games are massive.”
Quins took the lead through a converted try by Jones, who was assisted by Tommy Allan’s emphatic line break.
Newcastle then dominated possession camped inside the Quins half and were eventually rewarded with a Haydon-Wood penalty to reduce the deficit.
Quins won a kickable penalty but with their confidence high decided to go to the corner and that decision paid off when Danny Care picked out Murley who went over for a try.
Lynagh increased the home side’s lead with a converted try in the corner after neat hands from the Harlequins backline.
Newcastle responded as Haydon-Wood’s clever line break was finished by a converted close range try by No.8 Tom Marshall just before half-time.
Newcastle started the better of the two sides in the second half and were given a hefty numerical advantage when both Luke Northmore and Danny Care were yellow carded for back-to-back deliberate knock ons. The visitors looked to have gone over through the impressive Goodrick-Clarke, but the TMO ruled the fly-half knocked the ball on inches from the line.
Despite their two-man advantage, Newcastle failed to capitalise and turned down kickable penalties in favour of an unsuccessful driving maul.
In contrast, the champions were ruthless in attack and Murley went over in the corner to secure his brace and the bonus point off a lineout move. Particularly impressive was Andre Esterhuizen who produced his usual big hits, carries, and neat offloads.
On numerous occasions Harlequins capitalised on Newcastle’s slow ball at ruck time, creating turnovers with quick counter rucks and played with superior physicality throughout.