Gloucester fail to retain lead

ALTHOUGH this game was far looser than anything Gloucester have been involved in so far this season, it followed the same pattern of late, the Leicester win aside, as Harlequins had to come from behind to secure their bonus point win in a seven-try thriller at the Stoop.

Gloucester were in front early, going up 8-0 and 13-7 through tries from Gareth Delve and Charlie Sharples, but then made too many mistakes which allowed Harlequins, led by Danny Care and Nick Evans, to move through the gears.

The most important score of the game was Evans' try just before half-time, when he stepped and sliced through the visitors' defensive line and beat the covering Olly Morgan and Freddie Burns to go over.

It was the last act of the half and it changed the shape of the game but it could have been avoided, Tom Voyce slicing a kick straight into touch when had he simply lumped it downfield, Gloucester would have surely gone in leading at the break.

Quins went on to score twice in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, which killed the game. After sending a kickable penalty to the corner, Chris Robshaw made some ground off the line-out before Care, who was given too much time to change his mind twice at the base of the ruck, popped to Nick Easter to find a huge gap on the fringe in the 47th minute.

Three minutes later it was Care again who broke, full-back Mike Brown who took the ball on and young centre George Lowe who went over for his second, adding to a first-half score also the result of a sniping break from deep by the returning England scrum-half.

Harlequins had a greater ambition to run the ball from deep throughout, and it was their loose running game rather than Gloucester's tighter kicking to the corners which came to the fore. Both Burns and Nicky Robinson, a 50th-minute replacement, were guilty of making life easy for home back three Brown, David Strettle and Ugo Monye with some poor kicking out of hand.

When Gloucester did get within range, they found a Quins defence with holes which they were able to exploit. Delve went over in the 15th minute, showing good strength and pace down the right flank after a Burns high ball chased by Morgan and James Simpson-Daniel had set up the opportunity.

The first Lowe try came on 19 minutes, before a piece of Sharples opportunism, chasing his own grubber through for what looked like a lost cause until Brown dithered and the young winger touched down.

Both difficult conversions were missed by Burns, who also thumped a post with an early penalty, meaning seven points had gone begging before the break. Evans by contrast landed a conversion and two penalties, and then scored the try which gave Quins the lead.

Burns also missed a penalty with his last act of the game before he was replaced by Robinson, bringing the number of missed points to 10. The Welshman kicked three from three much easier opportunities when he was on the field.

But once Gloucester were 32-16 down there seemed no way back until home lock James Percival was yellow carded for killing the ball.

A Robinson penalty followed before Sharples' second in the 56th minute, from a backs move involving the replacement fly-half hitting a looping Simpson-Daniel, gave them hope. A 76th-minute penalty gave them a losing bonus point and meant a try would win it, but Delve squandered an overlap and that proved to be the last chance.

This was not the type of crisis-causing defeat of previous weeks, however.

Gloucester clearly could and should have come away with more than a losing bonus point and going to the Stoop has always been a difficult prospect, regardless of how Harlequins have done so far this season.

Tom Voyce had another poor game, lacking confidence whichever position he plays in, and why Lesley Vainikolo was never brought on is a mystery, Bryan Redpath saying afterwards it was to give the league convert a rest after playing every game of late.

Morgan looked solid if unspectacular on his return and Simpson-Daniel looked as dangerous as he has done all season.

● Just as Gloucester's injury problems were seemingly easing, Will James went down in the fifth minute with suspected medial ligament damage in his right knee. The lock had to be carried off but was hobbling around after the game.

Gloucester: O Morgan; C Sharples, J Simpson-Daniel, T Molenaar, T Voyce; F Burns, D Lewis; N Wood, D Dawiduik, G Somerville; W James, D Attwood; P Buxton, J Boer, G Delve (capt). Reps: S Lawson (Dawiduik 50), P Doran-Jones (Wood 50), P Capdevielle (Somerville 70), A Eustace (James 5), A Qera (Boer 59), N Robinson (Burns 50), Unused: J Pasqualin, L Vainikolo.

Harlequins: M Brown; D Strettle, G Lowe, N Mordt, U Monye; N Evans, D Care; C Jones, T Fuga, J Andress; J Percival (yellow card 55/65), G Robson; T Guest, C Robshaw, N Easter (capt). Reps: C Brooker (Fuga 59), M Lambert (Andress 59), N McMillan (Guest 69), T Williams (Mordt 31). Unused: A Croall, L Stevenson, K Dickson, R Clegg.

Referee: T Wigglesworth

Attendance: 11,854