London Irish 14 Harlequins 41

This was another bravura performance by Quins.

Typically they fell seven points behind to a Paddy Jackson try from London Irish.

Quins rallied with 4 tries to get bonus point.

In the second half they added a fifth, sixth and seventh try. It seems churlish to criticise the performance but these points are worth making:-

Whilst Marcus Smith made two superb passes, left and right, his conversion kicking was wayward and eventually Huw Jones took over.

Secondly Danny Care got his fourth successive yellow card by ”taking one for the team” with an intentional knock on.

In a one-off play-off game it could be disastrous to lose Care albeit for just 10 minutes.

The BT Sport pundits commented that only Andre Dupont betters him as a scrum half.

There is a further point of how Quins approach the game this Sunday in the Heineken Cup against Montpellier. Quins still have to  play Leicester, Saracens, Northampton and do not really need a European campaign.

However it is against the Quins spirit to concede a game and with the likes of Joe Marler, Graham Collier and Stephan Leuwis over 30 they would relish any competition.

At the other end of the age spectrum is 19 year old Hugh Tizard, the lock forward chosen as BT Sport’s Man of the Match.

He is a big unit that has above average handling skills and mobility.

He is going to Saracens at the end of the season and one wonders – given the scandal over that club infringing the wage cap rules – how he was enticed.