Quins hunt down Falcons

Harlequins battled their way to a 28-20 LV= Cup victory over a poorly-disciplined Newcastle side at the Stoop on Sunday.

The Falcons played a total of 30 of the 80 minutes with a one-man disadvantage after having three players sent to the sin-bin in the space of an hour.

Quins capitalised to make it two wins from two in the competition, although they were still made to work hard for their success.

Referee David Rose was quick to stamp his authority on the contest by showing Newcastle scrum-half Micky Young a yellow card for hands in a ruck in only the second minute.

Quins went on the offensive, with winger Sam Smith steering the ball over the try-line with a neat kick before pouncing on it himself for the opening try, which was converted by Rory Clegg.

Lead

Quins almost extended the lead but Clegg chipped over the Newcastle defence and tried to score himself when he had support out wide.

The visitors did not pose any sort of threat until 18 minutes in, but even then Jeremy Manning fired wide after Newcastle were awarded their first penalty.

But they were to level the scores shortly afterwards as flanker Redford Pennycook spun off the back of a ruck and broke two tackles on the way to ploughing over the line.

Clegg was stretchered off in a neck brace on 20 minutes with Ben Urdapiletta replacing him, but Quins continued to attack unfazed.

Rose was flashing his yellow card again after 26 minutes as Pennycook was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball.

Penalty

Urdapiletta stepped up to slot the subsequent penalty through the posts and the lead was stretched further on the half-hour mark when No. 8 Chris York was driven over on the left.

Manning then reduced the deficit with a penalty before making further inroads with another three-pointer on the stroke of half-time.

After the interval, Quins were back on the front foot Urdapiletta, having made a mess of an earlier penalty, made amends by slotting another kick through the posts.

Newcastle then came under heavy pressure and, after awarding two infringements at the scrum, the visitors conceded a penalty try when penalised for a third time.

But Newcastle then hit back as Young broke free through the heart of the home defence before playing in Charlie Amesbury to score behind the posts.

Falcons skipper Tim Swinson became the third player to be sin-binned when he tackled a player who was airborne at the lineout and Urdapiletta made no mistake with the penalty to complete the scoring.