Harlequins vs Gloucester match report: Nick Evans evens things out for Quins after Matt Kvesic cuts dash amid mayhem

Harlequins 39 Gloucester 39: Knockabout match produces only possible fair result at Twickenham

Chris Robshaw, left, of Harlequins, cannot stop Rob Cook scoring for Gloucester (Reuters)

The trouble with attacking rugby that lets the devil take the hindmost is when the little blighter sinks his horns in and will not let go. Harlequins and Gloucester scored five tries each, in the third highest-scoring draw in Premiership history, and both teams could point with justification to moments when they thought they had the match won. There were crass errors and searing counter-attack mingled with cutting-edge work by Gloucester’s Matt Kvesic at the breakdown, and at the last knockings a touchline conversion by Harlequins’ fly-half Nick Evans, followed by a near miss of a dropped-goal attempt by the same player, produced the only possibly fair result.

Harlequins’ London rivals Saracens have taken the water-tight approach to topping the league, and to say there will be a clash of styles when they meet over the road at the Stoop on Saturday week is as gross an understatement as saying this “Big Game 8” was fast and loose. Quins secured their seventh successive try-scoring bonus point in all competitions when the replacement wing Ross Chisholm finished a clattering raid led by Jamie Roberts and Mike Brown in the 54th minute. At that stage the hosts led 29-24 and Roberts, the illustrious Welsh centre making his Premiership debut at the age of 29, might have been thinking all his years spent in the Pro 12 and, latterly, the French league were dull and lacklustre by comparison.

In the knockabout nature of things, though, Gloucester replied within three minutes, and scored their own fourth try, as Henry Trinder picked off a pass by Quins’ scrum-half and captain Danny Care. In other ways, Care was magnificent, and he, Marland Yarde and Nick Easter were among Quins’ try-scorers. The shame for Trinder, who had already run in from 80 metres when a Quins pass was fumbled, was that he pulled a hamstring in collecting his second.

Danny Care of Harlequins goes to score his team's second try (Getty)

Kvesic was in his pomp, picking up the gauntlet laid down by Quins’ flankers Chris Robshaw, Jack Clifford and Luke Wallace, and slapping them round the face with it. “I have no doubt Matt Kvesic is the England No 7-in-waiting,” said David Humphreys, the Gloucester director of rugby. One very odd but legal post-tackle position taken by Kvesic with half an hour gone had led to a turnover and a scoring gallop down the touchline by James Hook, who eventually formed a quartet of sometime fly-halves operating in the Gloucester back line, with Billy Burns on for the injured Trinder.

That kind of playmaking potency might have cautioned Harlequins to be tighter. Some chance. Their non-existent kick-chase on 68 minutes was the cue for the Gloucester full-back Rob Cook to run and weave through almost the entire Quins XV for a thrilling try.

Greig Laidlaw’s conversion added to his previous penalty put Gloucester 39-29 up, with 11 minutes left. Evans got a penalty back, then Richard Hibbard was sent to the sin bin for pulling a Quins maul down, and there was an echo of more recent, unhappier England exploits when Robshaw called a line-out to himself at the front, at the opposite end of the East Stand touchline to where he suffered his World Cup agonies against Wales in September. This time Quins moved menacingly infield through Kyle Sinckler, before reverting sharply to the corner for Chisholm to score and Evans to convert, brilliantly. When Hibbard’s stand-in Darren Dawidiuk found his first task was a daunting line-out five metres from his side’s goal-line, with 49 seconds to play, the substitute hooker delivered more of a lob than a throw, and it was grabbed by Charlie Matthews for Quins. But Evans, in no more than a decent striking position 30 metres out, pushed the drop a couple of metres wide.

Harlequins

Tries M Yarde, Care, Easter, R Chisholm 2

Conversions N Evans 4

Penalties N Evans 2

Gloucester

Tries Thrush, Hook, Trinder 2, Cook

Conversions Laidlaw 4

Penalties Laidlaw 2

Harlequins: M Brown; M Yarde, G Lowe, J Roberts, T Visser (R Chisholm, 40); N Evans, D Care (capt); J Marler (M Lambert, 69-81), D Ward (R Buchanan, 59), W Collier (K Sinckler, 59), J Horwill, C Matthews, C Robshaw, J Clifford (L Wallace, 61), N Easter.

Gloucester: R Cook; C Sharples, H Trinder (B Burns, 58), B Twelvetrees, J May (H Purdy, 42); J Hook, G Laidlaw (capt); D Murphy (Y Thomas, 49), R Hibbard, J Afoa (N Thomas, 25); J Thrush (T Savage, 56), M Galarza; R Moriarty (J Rowan, 58; D Dawidiuk, 80), M Kvesic, S Kalamafoni.

Referee: W Barnes (London).