London Irish gained revenge for their pre-season eviction from The Stoop by
storming to a Chris Sheaby-inspired victory.
Quins chose to terminate their contract with Irish a year early and force them
out of The Stoop but they were made to pay for that decision.
Both sides paraded several new recruits, indeed 12 of the 30 players who
started the match were making their competitive club debuts.
Perhaps because of the re-shuffled squads the game at times failed to spring
to life became scrappy with schoolboy errors halting some promising moves.
London Irish were left to rue a number of missed opportunities in the first
half as they failed to cross the Quins line.
The normally reliable Gerrod Cunningham looked uncomfortable in his new
fly-half role following Stephen Bachop move to Leeds and the New Zealander
conspired to mess up a number of overlaps the exiles created.
His misery was compounded in the 10th minute when instead of releasing new-boy
Nmandi Ezulike he went alone, but as he crossed the line a covering tackle by
Ryan O'Neill knocked the ball from his grasp.
Quins, solid up front, created few clear cut chances and had to rely on Irish
stand-off Paul Burke to keep them in the hunt.
Burke matched his opposite number Cunningham strike for strike as the pair
amassed nine points apiece.
Burke, signed after an impressive season with Cardiff, slotted home a drop
goal two minutes into injury time which brought the scores level at the break.
After short pre-season campaigns both sides looked decidedly rusty and the
mistakes began to creep in.
After three minutes of the restart Quins piled over the top and presented
Cunningham with a chance to give Irish the lead.
The Irish stand-off had sliced a similar chance in the first half but did not
make the same mistake again and converted the chance with the help of an
upright.
As the half wore on Quins were forced to defend bravely. Scrum-half Peter
Richard made a try-saving tackle when Jason Wright appeared to have set captain
Connor O'Shea clear but in the 60th minute after sustained pressure by the Irish
Richard Kirke dived over.
It was no more than they deserved after the territorial advantage they had
exercised in the second period and Cunningham added the conversion to make the
score 19-9.
The inconsistent form shown by Cunningham in the first period disappeared in
the closing stages as he slotted home a penalty in the 77th minute to make the
game safe for the away side.
An injury time try however from former England centre Will Greenwood saved the
blushes of Harlequins as he danced over a line from close range to set up a
pulsating final few moments.
Irish hung on for a deserved victory despite a late surge from the home side.
Harlequins: O'Neill, O'Leary, Greenwood, Greenstock, Daniel,
Burke, Richards, Sanderson, Jenkins, White-Cooper, Jones,
Morgan, Dawson, Wood, Leonard.
Replacements: Mapletoft for O'Neill (39),
Powell for Richards (68), Dawling for Jenkins (61),
Codling for Morgan (61).
Not Used: Burrows, M. Williams.
Sin Bin: Morgan (6).
Tries: Greenwood.
Cons: Burke.
Pens: Burke 2.
Drop Goals: Burke.
London Irish: O'Shea, Ezulike, Matson, Wright, Bishop,
Cunningham, Campbell, Sheasby, Dawson, Halvey, Strudwick,
Williams, Halford, Kirke, Worsley.
Replacements: Ashforth for Cunningham (79),
Ellis for Campbell (72), Hardwick for Halford (56),
Hatley for Kirke (62).
Not Used: Alexopoulous, Danagher, Delaney.
Tries: Dawson.
Cons: Cunningham.
Pens: Cunningham 5.
Att: 5,093
Ref: Nigel Yates (RFU).
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