Aviva Premiership: Harlequins fly-half Tim Swiel kicks his team to victory over Newcastle
Last Updated: 21/12/14 8:48am
Harlequins returned to winning ways in the Aviva Premiership thanks to a hard-fought victory over Newcastle Falcons with the boot of fly-half Tim Swiel proving crucial.
The Falcons had their noses in front going into the final quarter at the Stoop, but poor discipline towards the end of the match gave Swiel the chance to kick his team to victory which he dutifully took, ending in a 15-7 success for the London side.
Newcastle troubled the Harlequins defence in the first half, but did not come close to scoring in the second half, though their defence did prevent Harlequins from registering a try on the day.
The visitors started well with Sinoti Sinoti fielding a clearance kick before beating three defenders to take his team to the opposition 22. Newcastle recylced the ball and it went to Alesana Tuilagi who blocked Marland Yarde's attempted tackle before being bundled into touch just short of the try-line.
Harlequins went on to open the scoring with a Swiel penalty to take a 3-0 lead late into a scrappy first half.
At the stroke of half-time Newcastle took the lead after Tuilagi powered over from close range. The referee thought Tuilagi may have dropped the ball in the act of scoring but the TMO advised him to award the score and Juan Pablo Socino added the conversion.
Newcastle took that 7-3 lead into the break and held onto it with 60 minutes played, but four penalties from Swiel turned the game in Harlequins' favour as Newcastle failed to score in the second half.
The win takes Harlequins up to seventh pace in the Aviva Premiership standings, seven points adrift of a play-off spot, while Falcons occupy 10th place following the loss.
The Falcons suffered two injury setbacks with full-back Simon Hammersley and lock Dom Barrow both being forced to leave the field during the game.
