Harlequins secured a vital Premiership lifeline as they ground out a
thrilling draw at the Madejski Stadium and crucially secured two league points
which lift them off the relegation trapdoor.
But the draw did not come easy and Quins were in fact lucky not to go home
defeated after leaking a last-gasp try eight minutes into injury time.
Full-back Michael Horak was the scorer for London Irish after a scrum saw the
ball cleverly switched to the left wing.
Barry Everitt, the Zurich Premiership's leading points-scorer, however failed
at the final hurdle.
He took too long in taking the conversion letting England winger Dan Luger
charge down his kick. The result was a draw with both teams sharing the prize of
two points each.
Leeds now slump to the bottom of the League table with Quins up to 11th but
Harlequins are still not out of danger as the Tykes still have a game in hand.
The Exiles meanwhile leapfrog Gloucester to move up to second at the other end
of the table.
It was a result Harlequins deserved. The visitors were in better shape to
start with and benefited from two early penalties from the consistent boot of
Irish fly-half Paul Burke.
London Irish, on the other hand, were clearly missing the likes of Chris
Sheasby, Everitt and Paul Sakey - all rested ahead of next weekend's Powergen
Cup Final.
Harlequins dominated territory for the first quarter of the match while
Everett's replacement at fly-half, James Brown, could not consistently slot the
points at goal away.
Brown missed one penalty and a drop goal before making amends with a
successful penalty after 26 minutes.
Having finally got to grips with the game London Irish battled their way over
the try-line in the first half of injury time.
Winger Nnamdi Ezulike was the scorer but he had to thank Brown, who took a
high ball well in the midfield to gain the advantage.
Brown offloaded to centre Geoff Appleford, who made the ground on the left
wing. Quins slipped up on a crucial mistackle on Horak who set up Ezulike -
Brown converting to give the home side a 10-6 advantage at the break.
But London Irish, who have only lose twice at home this term, did not run away
with the game in the second half.
Quins were even missing the influential Burke who was replaced at half-time by
David Slemen because of an injury.
Slemen instead added a penalty to reduce the deficit to just one point and
after substitute Everitt's 56th-minute penalty he landed an impressive drop goal
to make the score 13-12.
Slemen then looked like he had done enough for the relegation-threatened side
with a second drop-goal after 74 minutes.
Victory almost seemed a certainty when full-back Ben Gollings added the third
drop goal of the afternoon.
But it was not to be as the Exiles were duly rewarded with the injury-time
Horak try.
Teams: Horak, Ezulike, Appleford, Venter, Bishop, Brown, Edwards, Hatley, Kirke, Halford, Delaney, Williams, Gustard, Danaher, Strudwick.
Replacements: Everitt for Brown (56), Fahrensohn for Hatley (64), Wheatley for Kirke (47), Cockle for Gustard (67).
Not Used: Martens, Hoadley, Drotske.
Sin Bin: Gustard (45).
London Irish:
Tries: Ezulike, Horak.
Cons: Brown.
Pens: Brown, Everitt.
Harlequins:
Pens: Burke 2, D. Slemen.
Drop Goals: D. Slemen 2, Gollings.
Harlequins: Gollings, Jewell, Greenwood, Bell, Luger, Burke, M. Powell, Leonard, Wood, Olver, Morgan, Codling, White-Cooper, Tiatia, Winters.
Replacements: Greenstock for Bell (58),
D. Slemen for Burke (40), Davison for Morgan (64),
Sheriff for Winters (75).
Not Used: Starr, Duncombe, Moore.
Att: 6,803
Ref: Tony Spreadbury (RFU).
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