Six-try Harlequins top Premiership after brushing aside Newcastle
Louis Lynagh capped his 50th club appearance with a try as Harlequins put Newcastle Falcons to the sword in a six-try, 40-12 Gallagher Premiership victory.
Winless Falcons dominated the early stages but trailed 21-0 at half-time after tries from Sam Riley, Dino Lamb, Nick David, and a perfect kicking display from Jarrod Evans.
Captain Alex Dombrandt and wings Lynagh and Tyrone Green then crossed to secure the bonus point and lift Quins to the top of the table, while a penalty try and a Jamie Blamire score gave the Falcons something to show for their efforts.
Falcons had earlier made a very promising start, nearly scoring off the first 22 entry of the match before the returning Matias Moroni was bundled into touch.
Fly-half Rory Jennings then had a golden chance to open the scoring with a penalty from in front of the posts but he fired wide much to the amusement of a sold-out Twickenham Stoop.
28 seconds of pure beauty ?
Tyrone Green, take a bow for this finish ? #GallagherPrempic.twitter.com/VoGo5ZXUWJ
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) November 4, 2023
He then compounded a poor start by kicking dead with Falcons again in possession deep inside the Quins half, as the visitors’ strong opening amounted to nothing.
They were punished for their profligacy when hooker Bryan Byrne was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on just 16 minutes into his first league start for the Falcons. From the resulting lineout, a catch-and-drive set up hooker Riley for his first league try since March.
It was another unlikely scorer who grabbed Quins’ second, as a succession of offloads allowed flanker Lamb to slide in between the posts on 25 minutes.
Newcastle kept threatening and a break from Mateo Carreras nearly led to their first try but he was thwarted by the recovering David before Lennox Anyanwu made a vital turnover.
Quins’ offload game was a strength all afternoon and carved Falcons open for a third try on the stroke of half time, as Dombrandt popped onto David, who arrived like a steam train to muscle his way over.
Quins signalled their intention of putting the game to bed early in the second half, opting for a scrum after winning a penalty in front of the sticks.
The bonus-point try followed just a few phases later, as Dombrandt gathered an offload from two metres out to touch down.
A fifth Quins try arrived four minutes later, as Lynagh, who had earlier led the team onto the pitch, dived acrobatically into the left corner after some quick hands.
Welcome back, lads ??@MarcuSmith10 ? @JoeMarler #COYQ #HARvNEW pic.twitter.com/FfuAr3Q1P8
— Harlequins ? (@Harlequins) November 4, 2023
Falcons pulled one back through a penalty try but Quins came again, with a sublime diving finish from Green after an inch-perfect cross-kick from replacement Marcus Smith on his return from international duty.
Hooker Blamire crossed for the final score of the game, but the Falcons stayed rooted to the bottom of the table after a fourth defeat.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Dickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to comments