Harlequins vs Gloucester match report: Cherry & Whites indiscipline allows Quins to turn tide

Harlequins 29 Gloucester 26

Charlie Walker scores for Harlequins (Getty Images)

Gloucester led for half of this match and must have hoped for a happy trip back to the West Country. Then a somewhat humdrum Aviva Premiership match erupted into life when Gloucester were reduced to 13 men and Harlequins came up on the rails.

Two tries within five minutes gave the London club an outside chance of challenging for a European play-off place, though their next opponents are Sale Sharks, who have a significant points advantage. More importantly, it terminated a string of misfortune which Conor O’Shea, the director of rugby, described as unparallelled in his five years at the club.

“We have to win our next three games to push for the play-off place but Gloucester might win the Challenge Cup and there might be no European place to play for,” O’Shea said. Gloucester play Exeter Chiefs next Saturday in the European Challenge Cup semi-finals and will hope for a greater show of discipline.

A try by Charlie Sharples gave them a seven-point lead just after the interval and, when Jack Clifford was sent to the sin-bin for a short-arm charge on Sharples, the odds were in their favour. But Gloucester’s inability to close out games has become a recurring nightmare, and now Sharples found himself one of the villains.

With Clifford off the field, Harlequins removed Charlie Walker from the wing and introduced lock Charlie Matthews. It was a shrewd move, with Matthews taking over the line-out as Quins launched a prolonged assault on the Gloucester line; Ross Moriarty, himself a replacement, was sent to the sin-bin for pulling down a Harlequins drive and, a minute later, Sharples followed.

Harlequins promptly drove Marland Yarde over from a line-out, then Asaeli Tikoirotuma, whose break made the first try for Walker, and Ugo Monye sent Ollie Lindsay-Hague scurrying over. Nick Evans, whose goalkicking had kept his side in the match, converted and suddenly Harlequins were looking at a bonus point.

Instead Gloucester, forced to remove experienced prop John Afoa at half-time because of illness, created a try for Dan Robson which at least gave them a losing bonus point and they will retain a sense of grievance to take into next weekend’s semi-final.

Line-ups:

Harlequins: O Lindsay-Hague; M Yarde, A Tikoirotuma, H Sloan, C Walker (C Matthews, 64-72; U Monye 72); N Evans, D Care; J Marler (captain; sin-bin 36-47; M Lambert 72), D Ward, M Shields, N Easter, G Robson, L Wallace (Lambert, 38-46), C Robshaw, J Clifford (sin-bin 61-72).

Gloucester: S McColl (H Purdy, 55); C Sharples (sin-bin 69-80), B Meakes, B Twelvetrees (captain; B Burns, 76), J May; J Hook, G Laidlaw (D Robson, 62); N Wood (D Murphy, 55), R Hibbard (D Dawidiuk, 62), J Afoa (S Puafisi 41), T Savage, J Hudson (M Galarza, 53), S Kalamofoni, J Rowan, G Evans (R Moriarty 62; sin-bin 68-78).

Referee: PL Pearce (Devon).