A penalty two minutes into stoppage time gave Newcastle the spoils at the
expense of Harlequins.
Quins will be kicking themselves for the second successive week when they
review the match video and analyse what went wrong.
An absolutely appalling first half which had got off to a good start when
England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson landed a 42-yard penalty after only three
minutes. But the rest of the first half had very little to write about as the
handling from both sides, bordered on the ridiculous for long periods.
Apart from a missed penalty from Wilkinson, with just over a quarter of an
hour gone, from a slightly further distance there was very little to enthuse
about until two minutes before the break, when from a rare free-flowing move
Mike Stephenson dived over for the first try of the game. Wilkinson did
exceptionally well to convert from right on the touchline.
The home side were in desperate need of a score somehow before the break and
when they were awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time at the end of the half
Irish international fly-half Paul Burke landed the home side's first point.
It seemed the tonic that Harlequins badly needed and within the first four
minutes of the second half they had scored their first try.
Ireland hooker Keith Wood made the initial surge before offloading to Ben
Gollings who took the ball up a few yards before offloading to the impressive
Steve White-Cooper who forced his way over.
The home team appeared to be in the ascendancy at this point but after turning
the ball over inside the visitors 22, Newcastle hit them with a sucker punch.
Hall Charlton sprinted off from the back of a scrum and evading two desperate
challenges ran 60 yards up the field, and when he looked for support it was his
full-back Mike Stephenson who was on his shoulder to take the pass and run 40
yards under the posts to score. And with Wilkinson's conversion the visitors had
a useful nine-point cushion.
Burke pulled back a penalty for the home side to cut the deficit to only six
points but there were few opportunities from either side until four minutes from
the end when the home side took a dramatic lead.
Fly-half Burke started a move and with Will Greenwood up in support he was
able to link with Ryan O'Neil who touched down. Burke's conversion attempt
wasn't easy but he landed it to give his side a narrow one-point advantage. But
unfortunately they could not hold on and a bad mistake was punished by Wilkinson
to give the points to the visitors.
Teams
Harlequins:
Tries: White-Cooper, O'Neill.
Cons: Burke.
Pens: Burke 2.
Harlequins: O'Neill, J. Williams, Greenwood, Greenstock,
Gollings, Burke, Richards, Leonard, Wood, Starr, Morgan, Jones,
White-Cooper, Wilson, Winters.
Replacements: Powell for Richards (40), Fuga for Wood (70),
Jenkins for Jones (70).
Not Used: Jennings, O'Leary, Mathieson, Dawling.
Newcastle:
Tries: Stephenson 2.
Cons: Wilkinson 2.
Pens: Wilkinson 2. Newcastle: Stephenson, Botham, Leslie, Noon, Tuigamala,
Wilkinson, Armstrong, Graham, Nesdale, Peel, Grimes, Weir,Arnold, Mower, Jenner.
Replacements: Charlton for Armstrong (26), Vyvyan for Weir (65).
Not Used: May, Walder, Cartmell, Howe, Ward.
Att: 6,000
Ref: Chris White (RFU).
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