Sinbad plunders Quins
Gloucester winger James Simpson-Daniel grabbed a hat-trick to give Sir Ian McGeechan a winning start to his Kingsholm career.
Last Updated: 13/02/10 7:39pm
Gloucester winger James Simpson-Daniel grabbed a hat-trick to give Sir Ian McGeechan a winning start to his Kingsholm career.
The Lions legend has been helping Gloucester coach Bryan Redpath at training this week and some of his magic rubbed off on the Cherry and Whites as they went over for six tries.
Gloucester led 18-6 at the break, as Welsh fly-half Nicky Robinson booted two penalties against two from Quins' Nick Evans, but the difference was two well-worked tries.
The home side took plenty of advantage from their edge in the set-pieces, with the Quins scrum struggling on the tight-head where James Johnston found Nick Wood a difficult opponent.
The opening touchdown came from one of those set pieces as the hosts won a scrum just inside the Quins half for Robinson to feed captain Gareth Delve bursting forward on his shoulder and through a gap in the Londoners' midfield.
Drove over
Centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu took it on before powerful winger Lesley Vainikolo drove over from 15 metres out.
The former League powerhouse was involved in the other try after Robinson chipped into the corner. Quins winger David Strettle and Vainikolo fought for possession before it fell to centre Tim Molenaar to grab the ball and dive over.
Free-flowing passing and running, with far less aimless kicking than has been the curse of the Premiership this season, made it a good spectacle but Quins knew it was virtually over on the hour.
By then, 'Sinbad' Simpson-Daniel had finished off a well-executed team try which saw the home side stretch Quins out wide.
And, when number eight Delve charged down an attempted clearance by Strettle 30 metres out from the Quins line, the ball found its way to replacement wing Tom Voyce to sprint over and secure the bonus point.
Simpson-Daniel then got two more tries in the last three minutes as Quins' heads dropped.