He is finally here. Eddie Jones’s visa issues have cleared up. It should come as no surprise that he chose to keep further travel to a minimum, beginning his trawl of the English game just across the road from his new headquarters. Typical, then, that a winger who plays for the first opponents of his tenure, Scotland, stole the show. Tim Visser scored a hat-trick as Quins registered a bonus-point win.
England’s new head coach will have noted that, but he had plenty more to consider. His captain incumbent, Chris Robshaw, was playing (in a No6 shirt) here, alongside Harlequins’ healthy stock of England internationals. Alongside Jones in one of the corporate boxes sat his new boss, the RFU’s chief executive, Ian Ritchie, who likes a return on his investments.
Jones headed across the road afterwards for the first of the many chats that have been building up on his to-do list. Robshaw may well be gaining some idea of his immediate prospects. “I think they might be meeting for a coffee this evening,” said Conor O’Shea, Quins’ director of rugby, “so Robbo probably won’t be joining the crew for a while. We met before the game at the hotel across the road and Eddie happened to be there. We had a good chat.”
Robshaw played his part in a comfortable win against limited opposition, but it was the Quins captain rather than the international one who will have caught Jones’s eye the most. Danny Care cut through the swirling wind with a performance of typical pace and adventure. He scored the try just after the break that ended any fond notion of a contest – and a beauty it was too – and sent Visser through for the third just shy of the hour.
The Quins set piece was dominant, with Joe Marler thriving against Ben Franks, a World Cup-winning All Black, no less. Jones will have smiled, too, at the rugged showing of his old mucker James Horwill in the engine room. Quins seem to be building on solid foundations once more.
They have always been good behind. Mike Brown made some telling interventions, but one man Jones may not have been so aware of is George Lowe. His promising career has stalled in recent seasons because of injury, but he has lost none of his dazzling footwork and he was a constant threat in wider channels. His break set up that fine try for Care.
London Irish, meanwhile, lost their captain, Matt Symons, on the day to illness and barely fired a shot all afternoon. It was creditable that they held Quins tryless till just past the half-hour, but that is as much as can be said. Visser scored that first try, scything through the Exiles’ midfield off Nick Evans’s inside ball to set up a 10-0 half-time lead.
Then came the try of the match. Lowe escaped down the right and off-loaded to Ross Chisholm, who sent Care streaking clear. Quins were in the mood now. One area that was not so impressive for them was the driven lineout, but Care sent Visser smashing through two more defenders for his second try when the latest maul had been stopped.
Alex Lewington was heroic, not for the first time, in denying Visser what would have been his third in the corner – but the big winger was through another pair of defenders anyway for his hat‑trick two minutes later, after some dazzling buildup play featuring Nick Easter, Dave Ward and Lowe.
Robshaw has nothing to prove at Quins, such has been his form over so many years, and he was happy to let others revel in the limelight. It was his turn, though, in the last five minutes, when he galloped through the lackadaisical defence to coax the refereeing into showing a yellow card to the raucously welcomed Irish replacement hooker, one Tom Cruse.
From the penalty kick to the corner, Jack Clifford was over from a driven lineout that finally yielded a try.
Halani Aulika’s last-minute score for Irish was academic. By then the new England coach had plenty to chat about over that coffee.
Harlequins
Brown; Lindsay-Hague (Chisholm 24), Lowe, Sloan, Visser; Evans (Botica 74), Care (capt; Dickson 74); Marler (Lambert 74), Ward (Buchanan 71), Jones (Collier 62), Horwill, Twomey (Matthews 10), Robshaw, Wallace (Clifford 74), Easter
Tries Visser 3, Care, Clifford Cons Evans 4, Botica Pen Evans
London Irish
Ojo; Lewington, Hearn, Griffin (Maitland 23), Tikoirotuma; Noakes (Brophy-Clews 74), Allinson (McKibbin 54); Court (Smallbone 51), Ellis (Cruse 49), Franks (Aulika 64), Sheriff, Sinclair (Curry 74), Sisi (Treviranus 49), Cowan, Narraway (capt)
Sin-bin Cruse
Try Aulika Con Brophy-Clews
The Stoop 14,800
Game rating 7/10
Referee Luke Pearce
