There were no blood capsules this time, just pure, undiluted heart and soul. Harlequins have long since learned to live with the stain on the club’s reputation left by the Bloodgate saga but, if ever there was a result to heal old wounds, this was it. When Leinster were last here back in 2009 they left cheated but victorious; on this occasion they were beaten fair and square.
Even an early injury to the Quins’ fly-half, Nick Evans – a flashback to the precise event which precipitated the joke-shop-themed skulduggery five years ago and cost the club so much financially and emotionally – could not divert the home team from an act of significant redemption. Not only are they still unbeaten at the top of Pool Two of the European Champions Cup but their forwards’ collective resurrection following last week’s grim Premiership defeat at Bath was a wonder to behold.
It helps, of course, to have been re-united with their returning England contingent and Joe Marler, in particular, bolstered their set piece in all the right places against a pack containing four-fifths of the current Ireland tight five. With the 36-year-old Nick Easter continuing to belie his advancingyears with another storming all-round display and Quins’ collective defence holding firm against increasingly urgent opponents, it was a psychologically priceless win for a side in a lowly ninth position in the domestic league.
Easter, for one, is keenly aware the return fixture in Dublin this Saturday will be an even trickier assignment – “It’s only half-time … It’s going to be another war next week with the quality they’ve got” – but Conor O’Shea, Harlequins’ director of rugby, is hopeful a week of rest will be enough to allow Marler’s sore shoulder time to recover prior to the all-important Aviva Stadium encounter.
Evans, who tweaked an adductor muscle in open play and is also suffering from a sore back, is rather more of a doubt which may well ensure another leading role for Tim Swiel, a 21-year-old English-born South African who has only recently arrived on loan from the Natal Sharks. Swiel looks to be more of a running fly-half than a consummate kicker but, on this occasion, any shortcomings in that respect were more than outweighed by the defensive work-rate of those around him.
What had initially been a messy contest, more spills than thrills, certainly took on an extra edge after the sides had turned round for the second half at 9-9. Quins had struggled with their restarts – both their own and Leinster’s – but just when their Test contingent might have been forgiven for feeling slightly weary, they rustled up a second wind.
Chris Robshaw, playing his 200th game for the club, was relentlessly involved throughout and Marler’s choice to kick for the corner rather than for the posts was also rewarded when Easter twisted athletically to score the game’s opening try after 53 minutes.
Even then Leinster, despite the former Quin Mike Ross’s issues in the scrum opposite Marler, were looking the more ominous team when an attempted short pass from Rob Kearney to the Springbok international Zane Kirchner was snaffled by the Fijian wing Aseli Tikoirotuma, who duly returned it 80 metres back upfield. An element of luck was involved, maybe, but on such tiny margins do the majority of big games now hang.
An opportunistic left-foot drop goal from Danny Care duly completed the job although Ian Madigan’s six penalties did earn Leinster a bonus point which may yet prove helpful when the final pool-topping arithmetic is done. Quins, even so, will hope this outcome represents a turning point in a season which has not gone as swimmingly to date as they might have wished.
O’Shea already reckons this brush with adversity – as well as a bonding Sunday lunch to reintegrate their England men last weekend – has helped fuel the “real steel and resolve” his team displayed here. “We’ve had a tough couple of weeks but things don’t always go smoothly. Sometimes you have to show some fight and we did that … some of it was unbelievable.”
Whatever happens in Dublin, Quins can finally consign the dark memory of Bloodgate to the history books.
Harlequins Brown; Yarde, Hopper (Casson, 70), Lowe, Tikoirotuma; Evans (Swiel, 13) Care; Marler (capt; Marfo, 74), Ward (Gray, 67), Collier (Sinckler, 67), Matthews, Robson, Wallace (Clifford, 63), Robshaw, Easter.
Tries Easter, Tikoirotuma. Con Swiel. Pens Evans, Swiel 2. Drop goal Care.
Leinster R Kearney; Fanning, D’Arcy (Kirchner, 56), Madigan, Fitzgerald; Gopperth, Reddan (Boss, 61); McGrath, Cronin, Ross, Toner, M McCarthy (Douglas, 61), Ruddock, J Murphy (Conan, 61), Heaslip (capt).
Pens Madigan 6.
Referee J Garces (Fr),
Att 14,800.
