Quins escape at the death

Morgan Stoddart will be wringing his hands after his knock-on denied Scarlets victory over Harlequins in the dying seconds of a tremendous battle at the Twickenham Stoop.

With the scores tied at 15 apiece after 75 pulsating minutes of rugby, both sides threatened to break the deadlock as the minutes ticked down in their LV= clash.

But, with the clock reading zero, Quins were let of the hook in the very last play of the game when a loose ball was hacked towards their line.

Virtually unopposed, Stoddart only needed only to collect and touch down but the full-back was all fingers as he fumbled the ball forward to bring an end to a thrilling encounter.

Scarlets however, who fielded a largely experimental side, will return to Wales encouraged by the huge potential their inexperienced youngsters showed.

Quins, on the other hand, will be asking themselves one or two questions after the Welsh upstarts came so close to roughing them up in their own back yard.

Quins blasted out of the blocks, immediately putting their opponents under pressure and almost scoring twice within the first 90 seconds.

Terrific pace

Winger Josh Drauanui could not quite hold on to an expertly placed cross-field kick to the try line wide on the left by fly half Rory Clegg after just 30 seconds.

And less than a minute later David Strettle scored in the opposite corner but was bundled into touch as he dived across the Scarlets line.

With such terrific pace from Quins in the opening minutes it didn't take long for the try to come, though, with Strettle breaking the deadlock.

Drauanui's neat offload in the tackle to the winger who crossed in the corner, Clegg adding the extras with a fantastic touchline conversion to propel the hosts into a 7-0 lead.

Clegg and opposite number Rhys Priestland both missed penalty opportunities before the Scarlets stand-off pulled three back in the 13th minute.

But Priestland could not get his side any closer from a huge long range effort from just inside his own half soon after.

He missed another from 32 metres on the 20-minute mark but five minutes later the Welshmen bounced back with a well-worked try finished by Gareth Maule.

Priestland pushed the ball wide to outside centre Maule who spotted a gap in the Quins defence and darted through to score.

This time Priestland was on target to make it 10-7 for the Scarlets and take his side into the lead for the first time.

Intense

Quins lost back-row Tom Guest to the sin bin with three minutes remaining in the first half, but the visitors were unable to make the advantage pay before the break.

Five minutes after the restart though Andrew Fenby extended their lead with a breakaway try from inside his own half, the winger pouncing when the ball was hacked on following a fumble by the Harlequins forwards.

Collecting the loose ball Fenby powered away to the line to stretch the Scarlets lead to 15-7. Priestland missed the conversion.

Clegg closed the gap to five points on the 50-minute mark with an easy penalty in front of the sticks to set up an intense final half hour.

Five minutes later Quins drew level after a high kick from Clegg and a brilliant take by Guest gave the forwards a perfect platform to mount an all-out assault on the Scarlets line.

After battering the visitors with three phases of pick-up and drive, big lock George Robson switched to the blind side and bulldozed past winger Fenby for the try. Clegg missed the kick leaving the scores level at 15 each.

The Quins forwards began to assert their authority in the final quarter but were unable to break the Scarlets defence as the game moved towards its nailbiting finale.

However it was the hosts who ended up breathing a collective sigh of relief after Stoddard's fumble at the death saved them from a home defeat.