Quins banish Exiles

Tom Williams: Inspired Harlequins to victory at The Stoop

Resurgent Harlequins went seven points clear at the top of the Aviva Premiership with a 30-23 victory over London Irish.

The hosts went into the clash at The Stoop having lost four of their last five games in all competitions and were left trailing in the first half after Tom Homer scored all of London Irish's points to give them a 13-10 interval lead.

But winger Tom Williams, who assisted with Tom Casson's first-half try, won a race to a loose ball to touch down after the restart before also having a hand in full-back Ross Chisholm's score that killed off the Exiles.

Quins fell behind inside the first four minutes as Homer broke through the Harlequins line in the 22 and dived over before converting his own try.

Fly-half Nick Evans responded with a penalty four minutes later but Homer thought he had cancelled that score out, only to see his kick from just inside the Quins half drop under the bar.

Evans' radar was also slightly off as he missed two relatively simple penalty chances that would have put Quins on top.

But an excellent line-break from Williams after 22 minutes put Quins on the front foot, and some neat interplay tight on the right eventually led to Luke Wallace feeding Casson to dive over, putting Quins in front for the first time.

After some solid yard making from the London Irish backs, Homer drew the scores level with a 40-yard penalty before sending Irish in three points ahead with the last kick of the half.

Hash

Irish, though, made a hash of the restart as Dan Bowden's kick was charged down by lock George Robson. Williams showed the most pace to just reach the bouncing ball to score within 30 seconds and put Quins back in front.

A huge Quins maul then pushed into the Irish 22 before Danny Care kicked an unorthodox drop goal from the ruck to send the hosts 20-13 ahead.

The visitors hit back when, after 51 minutes, centre Jonathan Joseph broke free from three separate tackles and burst over the line, with Homer's conversion levelling the scores again.

Another Evans penalty six minutes later edged Quins back in front and then they pulled away from their opponents when Williams sent a grubber through for Chisholm to collect and hand off Homer expertly, allowing himself a clear run to the whitewash.

Adrian Jarvis's 75th-minute penalty gave Irish hope but they could not find another score as they slipped to a fourth straight away defeat, while Quins are now well clear of nearest rivals Sarries, who face Wasps on Sunday.