Evans downs Falcons

Nick Evans proved the Harlequins hero as he scored every point in his side's 23-14 win over relegation-threatened Newcastle.

The fly-half notched two tries, two conversions and three penalties to end any relegation fears the Quins had.

While Alex Walker climbed off the bench to score Newcastle's only try and Jimmy Gopperth added three penalties, the fourth-from-bottom Falcons remain deep in relegation trouble.

On a heavy pitch following days of rain, the home side shaded the exchanges in a scrappy opening 10 minutes.

England scrum-half Danny Care worked hard to get his backs in action and pressure built on Newcastle's defence, but the home side made mistakes to let the visitors off the hook more than once.

But the Flacons then caused the hosts to hang on against sustained pressure as captain Carl Hayman led a number of driving mauls at the home defence.

Gopperth then kicked the visitors ahead on 19 minutes after Tom Guest was penalised for diving into the side of a ruck when Quins thought they had turned the ball over.

Sustained assault

But the home side then produced a sustained assault on the Newcastle defence, comprising 14 phases only for Mike Brown to waste it all with an off-target drop-goal attempt.

But Quins were back within seconds and Newcastle had to kill the ball to prevent Care from breaching their defences, with Evans levelling the score with the penalty on 25 minutes and Gopperth sin-binned.

This decision came back to haunt Newcastle soon afterwards when Quins were ruled offside but - with their goal ace in the bin - full-back Charlie Amesbury hooked the resulting penalty horribly wide.

Former All Black fly-half Evans then delivered the game's first try in the 32nd minute with a magnificent solo effort.

After snatching up a loose pass from Care, he span clear of an incoming tackler from behind, side-stepped another and accelerated clear of the cover to touch down between the posts before adding the conversion.

But the visitors rallied and earned a penalty for offside shortly before the break, with Gopperth sending the kick over with ease having returned to the field after serving his 10 minutes bin-time.

Second period

After the re-start, Newcastle launched a strong offensive and it was Quins' turn to struggle to get out of their 22.

When the home side did eventually break out with a fly kick by Jordan Turner-Hall, the Flacons flew straight back with devastating effect for Walker to touch down in the 47th minute.

He outpaced the covering defenders to score after an exchange of passes with Amesbury, who had produced a searing run up the right, although Gopperth missed the conversion.

But Evans edged the home side back in front with a penalty after 51 minutes and notched another four minutes later after Newcastle pulled down a maul.

But Newcastle reduced the arrears on 64 minutes with another Gopperth penalty, which inspired the Falcons to up their tempo and it needed a fine tackle by Brown to stopped a dangerous break on the left by Tom Biggs.

Quins could have wrapped up the points with six minutes to go but Williams knocked on a long flat pass.

But he made amends two minutes later when he fielded a clearance and began an attack involving five players which was finished by the outstanding Evans, who completed the scoring with the conversion.