On a less than memorable weekend for England’s clubs in Europe at least one of them was guaranteed a morale-boosting win. For Harlequins, however, this all-Premiership domestic dispute could yet help secure a priceless passport to the last eight, a second successive victory in the tournament having kept them firmly in contention to qualify from Pool 2.
With Leinster also unbeaten the stage is set for two stirring home-and-away Anglo-Irish fixtures between the sides in December, Quins’ season having finally gained momentum after a sluggish start. Their big second-row Charlie Matthews was a deserved man of the match, showing up well against England’s Joe Launchbury, and Nick Evans’s five successful kicks from seven attempts did the rest.
There were certainly no arguments from the beaten home director of rugby, Dai Young, who felt his side were under par after a bruising few weeks. “We were never in control of that game from the word go. I thought we looked a very flat, tired team. Quins were by far the better side ... we lacked energy and a spring in our step. If you lose your first two games it’s certainly an uphill task [to qualify]. It’s no longer in our hands.”
Quins were significantly happier, although Marland Yarde can only hope neither Stuart Lancaster nor the All Black management were watching the first 40 minutes. Four times the ball was hoisted into the night sky in his vicinity and he never looked like catching three of them. In a week when the national coaches are looking for wingers with an all-round game and a low error count, it was unfortunate timing.
Lancaster will at least be relieved that none of his England men suffered serious injury, the Quins’ captain, Joe Marler, having pulled out before the game with a thigh problem. Yarde required treatment to both his ankle and right arm and Matt Mullan departed early, while James Haskell, Wasps’ club captain, is also up and about again having been in hospital for much of the week with a virus. The England flanker was again unavailable for this contest, denying the crowd a potentially tasty match-up with the incumbent England No7, Chris Robshaw. The latter had another productive evening, having regained the captaincy in Marler’s absence. Giving everything for Harlequins, even with the All Blacks looming, remains his default setting.
It is the reason his club hold him in such high esteem and they looked the likelier winners for much of the match, even after Joe Simpson had ripped the ball off an unsuspecting Luke Wallace and scooted over for an opportunist try that put the home side ahead 10-6 nine minutes before half-time.
Quins, however, still led at the interval thanks to the cultured boot of Evans and a try a minute before the break from the galloping Matthews. There will not be a more relieved try-scorer all season, the big man having previously been held up by Alapati Leuia at the posts after ignoring at least three men outside him. When the chance for redemption came, though, Matthews grabbed it spectacularly, striding over to complete a flowing Quins move that began at a lineout 60 metres back upfield.
In his younger days it was Matthews who was retained in Quins’ academy when the club let a certain Launchbury go. The latter has swiftly become an athletic cog in England’s pack but his lanky rival could yet have an international future as well if he keeps playing with the same skill, strength, mobility and perseverance he showed here. “His best is four or five years down the road … he’s still growing into his body,” said Conor O’Shea, Quins’ happy director of rugby. “I’m delighted with that team performance in so many ways. Winning in the style we did will make us even stronger. You don’t do that to Wasps here. It’ll give us that feelgood factor that makes you a better side.”
Rugby, he might have added, remains a game of collective effort and, ultimately, it was a concerted shove by the Quins’ pack that forced the crucial 63rd-minute penalty try after two penalties from Goode, the first of them from 55 metres, had tied up the ball game at 16-16 just before the hour. Could Wasps do what they were unable to do against Leinster and stage a major last-quarter rally? Then, as now, the spirit was willing but, one desperate surge from Nathan Hughes apart, they could not muster the necessary oomph.
There was, at least, a better mood around the stadium than there had been a couple of weeks ago. Some may still not be joining the exodus from Wycombe to Coventry but a fine win over Bath and Launchbury’s decision to sign a new contract with the club have all helped to boost morale.
Wasps: Masi; Wade, Daly, Leuia (Bell, 72), Varndell; Goode (Miller, 67), Simpson; Mullan (capt; McIntyre, 64), Festuccia (Lindsay, 62), Cittadini (Swainston, 64), Launchbury, B Davies (Gaskell, 57), Johnson (Young, 64), Jones, Hughes.
Try Simpson. Con Goode. Pens Goode 3.
Harlequins: Brown; Yarde, Hopper, Lowe, Tikoirotuma; Evans, Care; Marler (Lambert, 73), Ward (Buchanan, 73), Sinckler (Collier, 56), Matthews, Robson, Wallace, Robshaw (capt), Easter.
Tries Matthews, pen try. Cons Evans 2. Pens Evans 3.
Referee M Mitrea (Italy). Att 6,739.
