Harlequins leave it late to defeat Gloucester at the Stoop
Last Updated: 11/04/15 6:58pm
Harlequins snatched an unlikely 29-26 Premiership victory over a Gloucester side that departed The Stoop wondering just how they had managed to lose.
Quins spent most of an uninspiring mid-table clash feeding off scraps due to the overwhelming superiority of the visiting scrum, only to produce the key drive in the 70th minute that was finished by Marland Yarde.
As half-time drew close, referee Luke Pearce had finally lost patience with Harlequins' set-piece frailty and pointed the finger at Joe Marler by sending the club captain to the sin-bin.
Gloucester only entered the interval 13-11 ahead but moved seven points clear through a Charlie Sharples try with half an hour remaining - suggesting an eighth win of the season was imminent.
The kicking of Nick Evans kept Quins in touch as the Kiwi fly-half contributed 14 points before an eventful final quarter produced a flurry of yellow cards and three tries.
Yarde seized the initiative for the London club and full-back Ollie Lindsay-Hague ultimately sealed the victory, although Dan Robson's try with a minute left gave Gloucester a faint glimmer of hope before they aimlessly kicked possession away.
Dominated
The opening 10 minutes were dominated by Gloucester's scrum, yet it was Quins who opened the scoring when outside centre Asaeli Tikoirotuma jinked into space and sent Charlie Walker over.
Walker's try was the result of a clinical counter attack but Quins were immediately back under pressure once play resumed with their set-piece targeted once more, conceding a penalty that Greig Laidlaw sent between the uprights.
Laidlaw and Evans exchanged penalties and just as Quins began to attack with greater frequency, yet another retreating scrum gave Gloucester the platform to race into a 31st minute lead.
Hook broke the gain line with a dummy and found Bill Meakes, who forced his way over from 10 yards out.
Gloucester's set-piece dominance was again rewarded when Pearce sent Marler to the sin bin, but they were unable to turn a push late in the first half into points.
Having dropped a try-scoring pass moments earlier, Sharples redeemed himself on 47 minutes by diving over after Meakes had spotted the overlap.
Evans' boot whittled down the deficit to one point but as the match entered the final quarter Jack Clifford was shown a yellow card for a shoulder challenge on Sharples, with Laidlaw rifling over the resulting penalty.
Despite being a man down, Quins almost scored with two successive rolling mauls and on both occasions Gloucester saw a player sin-binned - replacement lock Ross Moriarty for bringing down the first drive and Sharples for a deliberate knock-on.
On the third line-out catch and drive they succeeded, with Yarde touching down as the game entered the final 10 minutes.
Lindsay-Hague and replacement scrum-half Robson then swapped late tries to bring the game to a dramatic if scrappy conclusion.