by Harlequins 19 Leicester Tigers 20
Jarrod Evans missed a last-gasp conversion to breathe life into Leicester Tigers’ home season as Ollie Hassell-Collins offered a reminder of his class as the visitors faced a walking crisis.
In the stadium where there is a bar that bears his name, Mike Brown upset the former club with a decisive effort. The 38-year-old collected a diving offload from Hassell-Collins, who showed the form that earned him two England caps a year ago.
Dan Richardson also deserves a headline, as Tigers were in a very solid position with their headline props. Dan Cole and Joe Heyes, their first-choice pair, are with England in Girona. Will Hurd would have been available despite being called up by Gregor Townsend, but pulled out of the Scotland squad due to a foot injury.
In the absence of those three, Richardson lasted the full 80 minutes as part of a passionate and committed performance from the Leicester starters. The Jasper Wiese was going great.
Such a grip was almost spoiled, however, by Tyrone Green’s score in the 79th minute. But Evans deflected the kick wide. The Premier League table compresses again and Tigers, up to fifth, remain in contention for the top four. Harlequins, without their influential back line of Alex Dombrandt, Danny Care and Marcus Smith as well as Joe Marler, Oscar Beard and Chandler Cunningham-South, have been in second place for some time.
Dan McKellar, Leicester’s head coach, openly admitted that it would “hurt” to lose. At the end of what he described as a “crawling” block of games since the start of the season last autumn, with La Rochelle and Leinster their latest upsets, Tigers arrived with the aim of “boring them to death “.
On a cold and clear night under a full moon, with an eight-week break from league games coming, the first 10 minutes were very forgettable. Harlequins went behind after Handre Pollard kicked three points from just over 40 metres.
Although Will Collier missed a league offense from James Cronin, Leicester’s kicking game controlled proceedings. At the back of a strong ball, Hassell-Collins swept around from the left wing to slide through midfield. Harlequins came out on top, Tigers went to the corner and Wiese went after each other with a skin around the front. Pollard’s touch conversion was excellent.
For a few weeks, Leicester were finding space on the flank beyond Harlequins’ blitz, Jamie Shillcock flicking a beautiful offload to Hassell-Collins.
Finally, three minutes before the break, after trailing the entire half, Harlequins fired a shot. Green scurrying Leicester and Nick David fed with a simple pass.
Tigers rallied and had the first chance in the second period, Brown rolling a kick-pass across the opposition 22 to Hassell-Collins. Harlequins went wide, Andre Esterhuizen tearing into a ruck to earn the turnover.
Esterhuizen seemed quick to put the hosts ahead with an extraordinary solo effort, rising from around 50 meters straight from a scrum. Replays showed he was on the edge of the perimeter before catching the pass, however.
Leicester were flagging and surrendered the lead thanks to a lifted Harlequins boot. Jack Walker was on the tail and Evans converted his try. Weeks would respond quickly.
Pollard’s cut pass came across Brown to Dan Kelly, who released Hassell-Collins. Two defenders covered across, but Hassell-Collins cut against the grain and offloaded to Brown, who could carve under the posts and celebrate with bristling gusto.
Harlequins finished stronger, and managed to knock Leicester out of the last game of the game. Will Edwards put Green clear, but Evans’ strike sailed wide right and Tigers forced a turnover from the ensuing restart.
Scoring sequence
Scoring: 0-3 Pollard penalty, 0-8 Wiese try, 0-10 Pollard conversion, 5-10 David try, 7-10 Evans try, 12-10 Walker try, 14-10 Evans conversion, 14-15 Brown try, 14- 17 Pollard conversions, 14-20 Pollard penalties, 19-20 Green tries
Harlequins: T Green; N David, W Joseph (W Edwards, 71), A Esterhuizen, L Lynagh (C Murley, 51); J Evans, M Green (L Gjaltema, 78); F Baxter, J Walker (S Riley, 71), W Collier (D Lewis, 65), J Launchbury, I Herbst (A Clark, 60), G Hammond, W Evans, J Chisholm.
Unused replacements: S Garcia Botta, A White.
Leicester Tigers: J Shillcock; M Brown, D Kelly, S Kata (M Scott, 65), O Hassell-Collins; H Pollard, T Whiteley (B Youngs, 56); J Cronin (J Whitcombe, 53), J Montoya (F Theobold-Thomas, 78), D Richardson, H Wells (Carter, 76), K Hatherell (F Carnduff, 65), H Liebenberg, O Cracknell (M Rogerson, 53 ), J Wiese.
Unused replacement: T Hoyt.
Referee: Mr T Foley (RFU).
