What Jason Gilmore says Harlequins 'can’t tolerate' as winless run continues

Harlequins head coach Jason Gilmore claimed his side restored pride despite a third successive loss of the Gallagher Prem campaign against Sale at CorpAcq Stadium in Salford.

The Sharks snatched a 28-24 win with a 73rd-minute penalty try after they had been outplayed for long periods by a Quins side smarting from last weekend’s 48-0 humiliation against Gloucester.

“It’s disappointing. We probably created three chances in the first half which we didn’t take which came back to bite us,” said Harlequins head coach Jason Gilmore.

“Fair play to Sale. They got themselves back into the game with their set-piece but I’m really proud of the boys’ efforts up here.

“Two bonus points on the road up here is, I wouldn’t say pleasing, but I’m just happy for the boys that they got some reward out of their work.

Gallagher Premiership

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Gloucester

3

2

1

0

12

2

Northampton

3

2

1

0

11

3

Saracens

3

2

1

0

11

4

Leicester

3

2

1

0

11

5

Bath

3

2

1

0

11

6

Bristol

3

2

1

0

10

7

Sale

3

2

1

0

9

8

Exeter Chiefs

3

1

2

0

8

9

Newcastle

3

0

3

0

4

10

Harlequins

3

0

3

0

2

“If you’re prepared to go to dark places for us and win those collisions, then you’re going to get selected. If you’re dipping your toe in one week and then not the next, then we can’t tolerate that.

“You can’t be up one week and then down the next week like we had last week. Performance will dictate the shirts.”

Marcus Smith impressed with two tries on his return after injury and Harlequins hooker Sam Riley also touched down twice.

But Sale, who trailed 17-14 at the break, fought back with Ben Bamber adding to first-half tries from Elia Canakaivata and Gus Warr before the decisive late penalty try.

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson admitted he was a relieved man after the late score awarded by referee Christophe Ridley after a maul, which had travelled 30 metres, had been pulled down illegally by the sin-binned Riley.

“We were looking down the barrel at 60 minutes. We were chasing the game all day,” said Sanderson. “We weren’t at the races but the fight’s in them clearly and it’s the second week they’ve found a way to win.

“They’ve had to manage the way through games…and come up with solutions and that’s really rewarding.

“I’m really, really proud of that but we’re still not where we want to be in terms of performance because that won’t be good enough against Glasgow next week. We know that but we’ll take the win.

“If you can win playing badly, then that’s a good sign. It’s up to us to step up but it’s all within our hands and our capabilities. That’s the exciting bit, isn’t it?”