Match Centre: Gallagher Premiership: Harlequins 32-26 Gloucester
Alex Dombrandt was one of Harlequins' try scorer
©Steve Haag
Harlequins 32-26 Gloucester Rugby, Twickenham Stadium
A late fight back from Gloucester did not prove enough as they were edged out by Harlequins with a 32-26 at Big Game 15 on Saturday.
Played in front of 76,813 spectators at Twickenham Stadium, Harlequins now recorded their sixth win in the season as they climb to the sixth place in the table while Gloucester are at ninth position after succumbing to their eighth defeat.
The Quins opened their account in the 7th minute as a slick pass from Andre Esterhuizen allowed Nick David to beat two defenders to dive in the corner for the opening try but Marcus Smith missed out on the conversion.
The response from the Cherry and Whites came in the 11th minute as Ruan Ackermann sent a chip to Louis Rees-Zammit, who in turn sent Adam Hastings over the line for a converted try making it 5-7.
The Quins dominated the remaining of the first half as Smith sent a neat pass for David to complete his second try and shortly Alex Dombrandt followed the suit for their third try. Smith missed all the three conversions in the opening half at the end of which Quins had a 15-7 lead.
The Quins extended the momentum into the second half as Dombrandt sent a pass to Dino Lamb who defeated the final defender to dive in the corner and Smith improved to make it 22-7 before George McGuigan and Danny Care traded tries to make it 29-14. Smith, who had a mixed outing kicked a drop goal in the 70th minute to extend the lead to 32-14 but Jonny May marked his presence in the game with a dive in the corner to make it 32-19.
At the stroke of half time, Harlequins' Tyrone Green was sin-binned for a tackle in the air that also resulted in a penalty try for the Cherry and Whites but it did not prove enough as the Quins completed a six point victory.
Team line up:
Harlequins: Green; David, Beard, Esterhuizen, Anderson; Smith, Care; Marler ,Walker, Collier, Launchbury, Lewies, Lamb, Evans, Dombrandt (capt).
Reserves: Riley, Baxter, Lewis, Herbst, Chisholm, Porter, Edwards, Anyanwu.
Gloucester: Carreras; Rees-Zammit, Harris, Atkinson, Thorley; Hastings, Varney; Ford-Robinson, McGuigan, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Alemanno, Ackermann, Ludlow (capt), Mercer.
Reserves: Blake, Vivas, Knight, Jordan, Clement, Englefield, Llewellyn, May.
