Harlequins 24 Newcastle Falcons 10

This was a comfortable victory at the Stoop in the Premiership against a foe who Quins customarily beat.

The worry that the absence of internationals like Marcus Smith, Alex Dombrandt and Joe Marchant was dispelled by the presence of Joe Marler and more importantly Louis Lynagh and Cadan Murley (with two tries) stepping up to the plate.

Quins at one stage went down to 13 men on the field but always remained in control.

Thomas Allan who let us not forget has played 51 internationals for Italy, made a thrilling break in true Quins style and fed in Huw Jones for a  try.

Andre Esterhuizen was back to his dynamic best.

Far from moving down the table in the absence of their England call-ups Quins are, now in second place and -with Smith, Dombrandt and Marchant retuning for the run-in  – must be very confident of the play-offs.