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Harlequins chuffed as 'real weapon' makes difference at Newcastle
By PA
Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson believes his side found a “different way” to secure a 38-14 Gallagher Premiership win over Newcastle at Kingston Park. James Chisholm and Marcus Smith both scored either side of Adam Radwan’s try to give Quins a 14-7 lead at the break.
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Smith then extended their advantage from the tee minutes into the second half before Ben Redshaw bagged a second try, providing some hope for the hosts. However, a ruthless final 10 minutes saw Jack Walker, Oscar Beard and Sam Riley all cross for Quins to cruise to victory, ending a three-game winless run in the Premiership.
Their win comes after last weekend’s Big Game fixture draw against Leicester and Wilson believes his side “professionally responded” against the Falcons on Friday night. He said: “We knew coming here after the Big Game, this has happened last year, then come to Newcastle, which is a real challenge, different type of venue and different type of game.
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“A team that is good at home, we gave a huge amount of respect this week to what they’re like at home, forget last week’s result against Northampton on the road. Steve Diamond has put a backbone into them at home, a tough team to break down.
“You probably saw that as well, it took us a while to get where we needed to get to, we had to do it a different way. I thought our driving lineout in particular was a real weapon for us tonight, it gave us a foothold in the game and eventually got us to where we needed to tonight.
“I’m most proud of the fact the players have come here tonight and professionally responded to the Big Game last week, good week’s training and come here to get the job done.”
Quins proved to be especially ruthless throughout with their driving maul, something Wilson was pleased to see. “It was a real weapon tonight, it was really pleasing,” he added. “We work hard on it, last year in particular it was a real weapon for us, maybe hasn’t has been as big a weapon this year, so to get it back on track a little bit more tonight was important and contributed to the win.”
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It was another frustrating display for Newcastle, who provided stiff competition for Quins before the visitors’ destructive 10 minute period saw them run away with the game. The Falcons remain bottom of the Premiership table and director of rugby Steve Diamond described the result as a “cricket score”.
He said: “I’m probably the most disappointed I have been since I have been here, if I’m perfectly honest. 60 minutes gone, we are 17-14 down and we have not played particularly well in certain areas.
“We couldn’t defend the maul. We carried on, for some unknown reason, kicking the ball off the field which they just got another lineout, drove it, got another penalty, kicked it in the corner and scored.
“So disappointed, it’s a lot of hard work and effort that went in out there, a lot of blood in the changing rooms if I’m honest, a lot of knocks and bruises. It looks like a cricket score, which in effect it was after the last 10 to 15 minutes.”
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