Harlequins resist Newcastle Falcons in 20-7 win at Twickenham Stoop

Harlequins 20-7 Newcastle Falcons, Twickenham Stoop
Scorecard

Newcastle Falcons' dismal start to the Gallagher Premiership continued as they were defeated 20-7 by Harlequins at Twickenham Stoop on Friday.

This is Newcastle's sixth defeat from seven games as they languish at the top of the table - a contrast to their form in the European competition where they defeated French giants Toulon and Montpellier while Harlequins move to the fifth place.

The visitors suffered a setback at the start of the game when Joel Hodgson left the field in a stretcher with Tim Swiel replacing him.

After a pointless 21 minutes, Marcus Smith kicked a penalty goal to get Harlequins off the mark and by the 37th minute they stretched their lead to 10 points after Alex Dombrandt crossed over with the fly-half kicking the conversion as the teams headed into the break with a 10-0 scoreline.

The Quins' momentum was dented a bit when Lewis Boyce was sin-binned for infringing at the scrum at the start of the second half but despite that they did not conceded any point. In-fact, Smith kicked another penalty goal in the 10-minute phase to take their tally to 13 points.

A combination of Nathan Earle and Joe Marchant set up Francis Saili over the line in the 63rd minute with a conversion from James Lang this time taking their lead to 20-0.

Lock Andrew Davidson scored a late consolation for the Falcons that reduced their defeat margin as the Quins went on to win for the third time in this season's competition.

?? Check out the stats from tonight's win #COYQ #HARvNEW pic.twitter.com/4Iw7Iic8yn

— Harlequins ?? (@Harlequins) 16 November 2018

?? "The good thing for us is that we're nowhere near our best, but it was important to get a win tonight"

?? Head of Rugby Paul Gustard following tonight's 20-7 win over Newcastle Falcons #COYQ #HARvNEW pic.twitter.com/WFVEbPOqOU

— Harlequins ?? (@Harlequins) 16 November 2018