Woodman cuts through Quins

Harlequins 19 Gloucester 25

A fresh season and Harlequins lose their opening game at home, so nothing new there then. Well, in fact, plenty – because Quins were so committed and spirited their performance franked the effort of Gloucester who, certainly in the West Country if not further afield, are regarded as the club most likely to relieve Leicester of the Zurich Premiership.

Certainly this was a great start for Gloucester, who even at this embryonic stage of the campaign looked formidable in every quarter, and they just about deserved victory, by two goals, a try and two penalties to a goal, three penalties and a drop goal. And they have strength in depth, a key factor in a long season.

In the last serious match they played, against Bristol in the Zurich Championship final at Twickenham in June, Ludovic Mercier scored 23 points. Yesterday the Frenchman started on the bench, Gloucester preferring Henry Paul at stand-off to accommodate their new signing, the South African full-back Thinus Delport.

It was once said of Gloucester that they struggled to win away from their fortress at Kingsholm, while it might have been said of Quins that they could not play anywhere. Perhaps it is time for the old script to be torn up.

What ultimately decided this tremendous match, which had more shades than there are colours on the Quins' jersey, was a try not from some expensive, flashy import but a local boy, and a prop at that.

In the 77th minute, with Quins leading 19-18, Trevor Woodman cut inside in the home 22, beat Scott Bemand and Laurent Gomez and, showing an astonishing turn of foot, sprinted over at the posts. It was a quite extraordinary finale to an extraordinary contest.

That Gloucester, third in the Premiership last season, had travelled to The Stoop more in expectation than hope under the captaincy of Phil Vickery, was confirmed by the large contingent of cherry-and-white jerseys and the attendance of the club's owner, Tom Walkinshaw.

That they were going to meet a ferocious challenge became evident at the first scrum when the front row's collapse and both captains – Vickery and his opposite number, Jason Leonard – were given a little lecture by the referee, Steve Lander. Gloucester were soon into their stride, a combined all-out assault ending with Quins conceding a penalty a yard from their own line. The impressive Alex Codling stole the lineout and, suitably heartened, it was Quins who began to take the game to their opponents.

After 10 minutes they scored a peach of a try: Matthew Powell fed Paul Burke, Chris Bell came in on a dummy run, Burke flipping a return pass to Powell, who off-loaded one handed to Matt Moore, and he sprinted over beneath the posts. It can safely be assumed that Paul Turner, the backs coach who joined Quins from Gloucester in the close season, was responsible for that piece of wizardry.

When, seven minutes later, Mark Cornwell was shown a yellow card for stamping, Burke kicked the resultant penalty and Quins were 10-0 ahead. They should have been 13-0 in front a few minutes later but Burke missed a penalty from in front of the posts, the ball rebounding off an upright.

Gloucester began the recovery when Paul landed a penalty and they levelled the scores in the 32nd minute. Will Greenwood, going for an interception, instead knocked-on and, with advantage being played, the 19-year-old right wing Marcel Garvey took advantage. With a couple of jinks and acceleration reminiscent of, well, Woodman, Garvey flew in at the post and Paul's conversion made it 10-10.

It was Gloucester who were now looking confident and dominant and when Ben Gollings had to concede touch in the right-hand corner from an accurate kick by Terry Fanolua, Junior Paramore won the ensuing lineout and was driven over for the try. Vintage Gloucester. With the last kick of the first half, Paul banged over another penalty and Gloucester were 18-10 to the good.

Quins, though, were in no mood to lie down and a clever kick from their Australian full-back, Nathan Williams, should have resulted in a try instead of merely a penalty. But, nevertheless, Burke was on target to cut the deficit to five points. Had Olivier Azam given a pass instead of driving on, Gloucester would have been contenders, even at this early stage, for the try of the season, emanating from a sustained passage of play sparked from their own line by a weaving run from James Simpson-Daniel.

Gloucester brought on Mercier for Garvey, switched Paul to full-back and Delport to the right wing. With his first touch Mercier missed a simple drop goal.

Weathering further pressure, Quins responded with a break from Bell and although Moore was held just short, Burke kicked another penalty to make it 16-18. Quins' tenacity was personified by the outstanding ace Tiatia who, apart from giving an impression of a one-man back row, produced a try-saving tackle on Robert Todd. It was a surging run by Tiatia that resulted in a drop goal for Burke in the 74th minute which gave the London side a one point advantage but, of course, there was still time for the Woodman to swing his axe. His party piece should have members of the front-row union raising a pint in every clubhouse in the land. Life is just a bowl of Cherry and White? It could be.

Harlequins: N Williams; M Moore, W Greenwood, C Bell, B Gollings; P Burke, M Powell (S Bemand, 60); J Leonard (capt), K Wood, L Gomez, B Davison, A Codling (J Evans, 56), A Tiatia, T Diprose, P Sanderson.

Gloucester: T Delport; M Garvey (L Mercier, 48), T Fanolua, R Todd, J Simpson-Daniel; H Paul, A Gomarsall; T Woodman, O Azam (C Fortey, 65), P Vickery (capt), E Pearce (R Fidler, 72), M Cornwell, J Boer, J Paramore, A Hazell.

Referee: S Lander (Liverpool).