Quins rely on star Guest

A late try from Tom Guest clinched a 23-12 victory for Harlequins over a stubborn Newcastle side at a rain-soaked Twickenham Stoop.

The winger's score with four minutes to play finally saw off the brave Falcons, who had relied on fly-half Jimmy Gopperth to kick all their points.

Nick Evans contributed three penalties, all in the first half, and also converted both scores from the home side, the other coming courtesy of a penalty try.

Quins had led just 9-6 at the break despite stretching their opponents on plenty of occasions with their expansive style of play.

Pressure

Evans booted the hosts ahead after just five minutes when he calmly stroked over the game's first penalty following an early spell of pressure.

However they gifted the three points back 10 minutes later when referee Chris White spotted an infringement at the breakdown, Gopperth knocking over the penalty opportunity from 40 metres out despite slipping during his run-up.

Boosted by getting on the scoreboard, Newcastle looked set to score the opening try of the afternoon but Jeremy Manning hesitated when he could have stretched out an arm and touched down.

Gopperth also missed the chance to give Newcastle the lead on 20 minutes, his penalty from the left wing missing the far post.

Quins, who had emphatically beaten top-flight new boys Exeter on home soil seven days ago, edged 6-3 in front when Evans drilled over his second penalty.

The number 10 then looked to have set up a try for George Lowe with a superb cross-chip but his team-mate was unable to hang on to the ball.

Gopperth levelled matters with a huge kick from close to halfway but Evans responded with three points right before the break, the penalty coming after Chris Pilgrim had pounced on Danny Care before the ball came out of a ruck.

Sin-binning

Quins came out all guns blazing at the start of the second half, pressing Newcastle so hard that three successive penalties at the scrum led to Falcons prop Jon Golding being sent to the sin-bin.

When a fourth scrum collapsed referee White punished Newcastle even further, awarding a penalty try underneath the posts that Evans converted.

Gopperth's long-range penalty on 49 minutes cut the deficit, though, and they were right in the contest when the New Zealander punished Quins prop Joe Marler for slapping the ball out of Pilgrim's hand by booting three more points.

However that was as close as they came to registering an away victory in the capital. Having defended well when under pressure, Quins finally put some daylight between themselves and their rivals through sub Guest's try.