Harlequins secure bonus-point win over Newcastle
Leigh Halfpenny scored his first try for Harlequins against Newcastle at the Stoop
- Published
Gallagher Premiership
Harlequins (21) 28
Tries: Jibulu, W Evans, Halfpenny, Porter Cons: Smith 4
Newcastle (7) 14
Tries: Hawkins, Redshaw Cons: Grayson 2
Sin bin: Obatoyinbo (46)
Harlequins ran in four tries to secure a convincing bonus-point victory over Newcastle Falcons and claim their first Premiership win of the season.
John Hawkins gave the visitors an early advantage at the Stoop before tries from Nathan Jibulu, Will Evans and Leigh Halfpenny gave Quins a 21-7 lead at the break.
Will Porter finished a lovely move to secure the bonus point soon after half-time before impact player Ben Redshaw replied for the Falcons.
Newcastle have lost their first two games of the new Premiership season, having tasted defeat in every match last term.
Will Porter ran in Harlequins' fourth try to secure the bonus point
Newcastle made the perfect start when Hawkins opened the scoring inside five minutes but their job was made harder when Sammy Arnold and Adam Ragwan went off for early head injury assessments.
Jibulu and Evans’ tries both came from lineouts and once the home side took the lead they never looked back.
Winger Cassius Cleaves impressed on his first start for Harlequins, darting through and setting up Halfpenny for their third try and combining with Oscar Beard to set up Porter for the fourth.
Newcastle were reduced to 14 when full-back Elliott Obatoyinbo was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Halfpenny, but Quins were unable to add to their try count.
Redshaw's touchdown reduced the deficit for the away side, while Quins lost Luke Northmore and Cleaves to injury before the end of the game.
Harlequins director of rugby Danny Wilson told BBC Radio London:
"First 20 minutes we weren't good, we didn't get out of the blocks and they brought the game to us, scoring first [and] maybe shell-shocking us a little bit, maybe that was what we needed.
"The second 20 we really came alive, our ruck speed went up dramatically and we scored a couple of nice tries.
"At half-time it was 'how fast can we start the second half?', and we did, we went out and scored straight away and then dropped off a little bit.
"A gritty Newcastle side stayed in it and our [lack of] accuracy perhaps helped them stay in it as well."
Newcastle Falcons consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond told PA Media:
"It could have been a cricket score at one stage and the lads did really well to keep it tight and almost get right back into things.
"At least we put up a good performance and we will get that win which is being elusive up to now.
"Quins are a good side and they were better than us on the day, but the spirit is strong amongst the lads."
Harlequins: Halfpenny; David, Northmore, Anyanwu, Cleaves; Smith, Porter; Baxter, Jibulu, Lamositele; Launchbury, Lewies; Kenningham, W Evans, Cunningham-South
Replacements: Walker, Jones, Kerrod, Herbst, Lamb, Care, J Evans, Beard
Newcastle: Obatoyinbo; Radwan, Doherty, Arnold, Stevenson; Grayson, Stuart; Brocklebank, Blamire, Palframan; Hawkins, McDonald; Van der Walt, Gordon, Chick
Replacements: Fletcher, De Bruin, McCallum, Lockwood, Scott, Davis, Redshaw, Brown
Referee: Luke Pearce