Sensational Harlequins turn season around with underdog victory in Premiership final
Harlequins won their first Gallagher Premiership title for nine years after Louis Lynagh’s two late tries saw them overcome defending champions Exeter 40-38 after a remarkable Twickenham final.
Quins wing Lynagh, whose father Michael helped Australia win the World Cup with victory over England 30 years ago at the same venue, struck twice during the closing eight minutes of an epic encounter.
It means Quins became the first team since Saracens six years ago to finish fourth after the regular season and be crowned champions.
For a club whose head of rugby Paul Gustard departed his job in January, it is an astonishing turnaround as they triumphed following arguably English rugby’s greatest final.
Quins matched Exeter blow for blow during an unforgettable game, scoring four tries and leading by 12 points early in the second half.
But Exeter rapidly wiped out that deficit before Quins staged a majestic finale.
Jonny Gray, Alec Hepburn, Sam Simmonds, Ollie Devoto and Stuart Hogg scored tries for Exeter, while Joe Simmonds kicked five conversions and a penalty.
Quins, though, would not go away, as an early penalty try was followed by Lynagh’s double and scores for Wilco Louw, Alex Dombrandt and Andre Esterhuizen, with fly-half Marcus Smith, who was also sin-binned, landing four conversions on a day when Quins prop Joe Marler was named man-of-the-match.
There was an injury scare for Exeter and the British and Irish Lions, meanwhile, when hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie went off after making a second-half tackle.
A stretcher was called for, but Cowan-Dickie was able to return to his feet and walk off the pitch, being replaced by Jack Yeandle.
Scotland captain Hogg had to be content with a replacements’ bench role for Exeter, with Jack Nowell retained at full-back, but Hogg’s Lions colleagues Cowan-Dickie, Jonny Hill and Sam Simmonds all started.
Quins showed three changes following last weekend’s dramatic play-off victory over Bristol as Esterhuizen, wing Cadan Murley and flanker James Chisholm were all called up.
A 10,000 crowd created a carnival atmosphere ahead of kick-off, and Quins flew out of the blocks.
They monopolised possession, and after Smith rifled a penalty into touch just short of Exeter’s line, Chiefs collapsed the resulting maul and referee Matthew Carley awarded Quins a penalty try.
And as they moved seven points ahead, Quins also enjoyed a temporary one-man advantage after Carley sin-binned Hill for pulling down the maul.
Exeter were rocked by the ferocity of Quins’ opening, yet they gradually put some threatening passes of play together and Hill returned without any further scoreboard damage.
And Hill had barely reappeared before Exeter drew level, with the England international’s second-row partner Gray crashing over from close range for a try that Simmonds converted.
It was a fast and furious final, and another lengthy Smith penalty into touvh put Exeter under renewed pressure, but they managed to clear the danger and keep things tied at 7-7 early in the second quarter.
Exeter’s forwards began to assert a degree of control, and Chiefs went ahead 11 minutes before half-time when Hepburn dived over for a try, with Simmonds again converting.
Carley looked at several replays before the score was awarded, and Quins also collected a yellow card for their pains as Smith was sin-binned for deliberate offside.
It was an impressive response by the champions, yet Quins rallied while Smith looked on, setting up an attacking platform just five metres from Exeter’s line as half-time approached.
Exeter initially held Quins out, but it could not last, and Louw notched his team’s second try, before Smith’s goalkicking deputy – centre Joe Marchant – saw his conversion attempt hit the post.
Smith rejoined the action as Quins produced some impressive Louw and Joe Marler-inspired scrum power, and they stole an interval lead when Smith sent Dombrandt over for a try following an exquisite pass, and the fly-half’s conversion made it 19-14 at half-time.
Quins began the second half exactly as they ended the first – in try-scoring mode.
Brilliant handling between backs and forwards produced a flowing move that ended when Marchant sent his midfield partner Esterhuizen over for Quins’ fourth try, with Smith’s touchline conversion opening up a 12-point gap.
Hogg had joined the action by this stage, replacing an injured Alex Cuthbert and a pulsating final continued at an extraordinary pace as Chiefs number eight Sam Simmonds claimed his 21st Premiership try of the season, with his brother’s conversion making it 26-21 after 50 minutes.
Exeter took a total of five minutes to wipe out a worrying deficit, with Joe Simmonds slicing open Quins’ defence and sending centre Ollie Devoto over for a try.
The Chiefs then sensed a fifth touchdown as Quins showed signs of tiring, but it was a Joe Simmonds penalty that took them past 30 points with 14 minutes left, before the late Lynagh-inspired drama.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments