England handed fresh concern as Leicester punish lacklustre Quins

Jack van Poortvliet gave Steve Borthwick a timely Six Nations nudge as he inspired Leicester to a 36-7 win over a suffering Harlequins side.

The scrum-half was on his electrifying, dynamic best form, constantly driving his side forward and involved in most of their decisive attacks in a one-sided affair at Twickenham Stoop, before hobbling from the field with 10 minutes remaining.

Van Poortvliet – named in the England training squad 24 hours earlier – would love to be thrown the number nine jersey ahead of close rival Ben Spencer for the opening Championship clash with Wales in 13 days’ time.

He could come up against club-mate Gabe Hamer-Webb, who celebrated his call-up to the Wales squad with the opening try of this contest which saw Tigers bare their teeth and build more momentum in the second half of the campaign.

Leicester moved up to fourth in the table, inflicting a fifth successive Premiership defeat on a Quins side who may have enjoyed some recent European success but are stuck in a domestic rut with just two wins from 10 games.

It was total Tigers domination of the ball in the opening 15 minutes as they camped on the home line. Quins’ resistance finally came up short with Van Poortvliet’s long pass out wide right giving Hamer-Webb the chance to pounce.

The former England U20 star – who qualifies to play for Wales through his mother – merely had to stroll over unchallenged and Billy Searle added the extras.

Tigers struck a second blow in the 26th minute when Charlie Clare and Hanro Liebenberg exchanged passes. Clare fed Van Poortvliet who showed his class and skill. The scrum-half chipped towards the line and took the bouncing ball in his stride to saunter across – just the kind of moment which will have caught the eye of England coach Borthwick.

Searle added three more points when Chandler Cunningham-South was penalised. Quins’ Marcus Smith – fairly anonymous for most of the first half – finally managed to use his speed and skill in some space to almost create a try-scoring chance but the Tigers defence regrouped and snuffed out the threat.

Flanker Tommy Reffell’s important turnover denied Quins another potential opportunity as the hosts enjoyed some much-needed time near the Tigers’ line. But it failed to produce the response they badly required.

Nick David was shown a yellow card on the stroke of half-time for a high tackle on Will Wand, not helping Quins when they needed to strike first in the second half.

And their defence was poor on the hour when Freddie Steward took Van Poortvliet’s pass at pace and far too easily crashed through two attempted tacklers and cantered across for the third try.

Tigers were not finished, with replacement hooker Jamie Blamire adding the bonus-point try. Another replacement, Izaia Perese, dashed clear and over in the right corner for the fifth.

England flanker Cunningham-South reached out to ground the ball in the dying moments to give Quins their only try of a miserable afternoon. Smith converted but Tigers were the ones celebrating.