Harlequins 40 vs Newcastle Falcons 12
Gallagher Premiership Saturday 4th November 2023
Peter Moore at The Stoop
Harlequins moved to the top of the Gallagher Premiership with victory against Newcastle Falcons at the Stoop on Saturday.
The home side made it three wins in a row by running in six tries to maintain their impressive start to the season.
With the match starting in unexpected sunshine, an immaculately observed two minutes silence for the people who have lost there lives in battle was witnessed by another large crowd at the Stoop.
With Falcons first foray into Quins twenty two, following a host of phases, resulting in the visitors almost opening their account, but Matias Moroni was tackled into touch a metre out.
Shortly afterwards Quins were penalised for straying offside. Rory Jennings called for the tee, but his effort fell wide of the sticks.
Flacons quickly found themselves down to fourteen players for ten minutes when front rower Bryan Byrne was sent to the bin for a deliberate knock on.
Seconds later from a resulting line out, the hosts put the first points on the board from a catch and drive with Sam Riley burrowing over. Jarrod Evans knocked over the conversion to give Harlequins a 7-0 lead.
In the 26th minute, the home side had scored their second try of the afternoon following a lovely move involving Quins front line with excellent handling saw Dino Lamb dive over under the posts. Evans had the simple task of adding the extras to give Quins a 14-0 lead, all points scored with Byrne in the bin.
With half time approaching, full back Nick David stretched over to touch down to give the home side a considerable advantage at the break, leading the visitors from the North East 21-0.
The home side certainly were in no mood to take their foot of the pedal and within nine minutes of the restart the try bonus point was secured following good work from the backs with Captain Alex Dombrandt going over.
Harlequins wanted more and it wasn’t long before another try was added when Louis Lynagh dived over in the corner on his 50th appearance in a Harlequins shirt following a sublime pass from Dombrandt.
In the 55th minute returning England internationals Joe Marler and Marcus Smith entered the fray and received a standing ovation from the Stoop.
It took Newcastle 64 minutes until they put their first points on the board. With Dino Lamb in the bin a driving maul a few metres out saw referee Jake Makepeace award a penalty try.
The home side hit back and it was Smith quickly back in the action in a Quins shit. His vision with a cross field kick to spot a flying Tyrone Green was immense. Quiet how Green managed to pluck the ball out of thin air and touch down was astonishing.
There was still time for the visitors to get scant reward for their long journey down South when Jamie Blamire went over in the dying embers of the game. But in truth, Newcastle were a well beaten side on the day.