Mike Brown

Heineken Cup Pool 6: Harlequins 20 Gloucester 14

Mike Brown touched down a late try to ensure his team came through to beat Gloucester in the Heineken Cup at The Stoop last night.

The try came just seven minutes from time in what was a shaky match for the hosts who now travel to Connacht, who are bottom of the Pool, in their final game on Friday, their hopes of reaching the quarter finals very much alive.

Nick Evans was instrumental in the opening stages of the first half, slotting two penalties to Gloucester’s one, from Freddie Burns, before being part of a move which resulted in Matt Hopper’s opening try.

Good handling skills from the Quins fly half and Hopper himself allowed Ugo Monye to make ground down the wing, the ball recycled to Hopper whose footwork saw him cross the line untouched.

With Evans’ resulting conversion, Quins were ahead 10-3 just quarter of the match.

But a Burns penalty sparked a change Gloucester as James Simpson-Daniel made an outside break to go over for the Cherry and White’s.

Burns was unable to convert as his effort hit the posts.

Evans missed a penalty to end the first half and start the second but soon redeemed himself to put Quins back in the driving seat after being down 11-10 at the break.

But Gloucester stole the lead once more as replacement prop, Rupert Harden, caused trouble in the scrum, winning his side a penalty which Burns duly booted over from distance.

Burns was unable to give his team a four point lead with a missed penalty.

The controversial decision of Quins captain, Chris Robshaw, could have handed Gloucester the win after a Danny Care break earned them a five-metre scrum and Robshaw chose to take another scrum rather than going for a kickable penalty.

With seven minutes to go, it looked as though Gloucester had victory in the bag but Brown had other things on his mind, touching down Care’s kick ahead after an unlucky bounce outfoxed the covering Charlie Sharples.

Evans converted to the delight of a vocal Quins crowd who cheered on the Quins defence after Gloucester launched another last ditch attack.

The hard-fought win was Quins’; their European dreams intact.

Harlequins: Brown, Williams, Hopper, Turner-Hall, Monye, Evans, Care, Lambert, Gray, Johnston, Kohn, Matthews, Fa’asavalu, Robshaw, Easter

Replacements: Marler, Brooker, Vallejos, Fairbrother, Wallace, Bolt, Clegg, Casson

Gloucester: May, Sharples, Tindall, Fuimaono-Sapolu, Simpson-Daniel, Burns, R Lawson, Wood, S Lawson, Chistolini, Hamilton, Brown, Strokosch, Qera, Narraway

Replacements: Harden, Dawidiuk, James, Murphy, Lewis, Cox, Mills, Trinder