England centre Will Greenwood spoilt the pre-St Patrick's Day party as he
plunged London Irish deeper into Zurich Premiership relegation trouble as Harlequins recorded a 16-6 victory.
Greenwood scored the only try of the match when he spun through a tackle by
Irish fly-half Barry Everitt to touch down between the posts in the 27th minute
and leave Paul Burke an easy conversion and Harlequins celebrating.
The contribution of Greenwood, Burke and full-back Nathan Williams, with three
second-half penalties, enabled Harlequins to end their long run of away failure
the day before the second anniversary of their last victory on the road - at
Rotherham on March 17 2001.
With Newcastle securing a home victory over champions Leicester Tigers, Irish
were left bottom of the table facing a grim battle to avoid the drop.
Ironically, it happened on the day when they attracted a club record crowd of
18,585 - more than 4,700 than the previous best in last season's St Patrick's
Day fixture and the biggest crowd in the Premiership this season - in Reading's
Madejski Stadium.
Irish laid on music, bands and an ample supply of Guinness but the scrappy
match failed to mark the occasion.
The desperation of two sides haunted by the fear of relegation was all too
evident.
Harlequins surrendered possession at four of their line-outs in the early
stages, while the Irish pack was pushed around in the scrums and mauls.
Irish failed to capitalise on their early attacking opportunities with
Everitt's ninth-minute penalty all they had to show for their first-half
efforts.
The league's leading points scorer then squandered an early second-half chance
to cut the deficit to a single point when he uncharacteristically missed a
simple penalty shot.
Irish sent on newly-capped England prop Mike Worsley to try to shore up their
pack in the 45th minute but they never looked like turning the match around.
Quins went further ahead in the 60th minute when, with Burke limping,
full-back Williams took over to land his first penalty.
Everitt's unhappy afternoon ended at the same time when he was replaced by
Mike Horak.
Williams, hit the post with his second penalty attempt but made amends by
landing his next in the 74th minute and then, after Mark Mapletoft kicked a
consolation penalty in the 80th minute, Williams had the final say with his
third in injury-time.
And, even though the Guinness flowed as the Irish fans partied on long into
the evening in the station car park to celebrate their patron saint, it was
simply a case of drowning their sorrows.
end
Teams:
London Irish: Mapletoft, Sackey, Burrows, Venter, Bishop,
Everitt, Edwards, Hatley, Flavin, Halford, Casey, Kennedy,
Gustard, Danaher, Sheasby.
Not Used: Barrett, Horak, Dawson, Wheatley, Roche, Worsley,
Durant.
Pens: Everitt, Mapletoft.
Harlequins: N. Williams, Luger, Greenwood, Deane, Gollings,
Burke, Fulton, Jones, Fuga, Dawson, Davison, Miall, Tiatia,
Vos, Winters.
Not Used: Cardinalli, Rudzki, Sheriff, Diprose, Bemand, Satala,
Monye.
Tries: Greenwood.
Cons: Burke.
Pens: N. Williams 3.
Att: 18,585
Ref: Steve Leyshon (RFU).
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