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Marcus Smith kicks Harlequins to tense victory over Bath

Mike Brown is surrounded by Anthony Watson, Semesa Rokoduguni and Jonathan Joseph at Twickenham Stoop (Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images)

Marcus Smith’s accuracy from the kicking tee proved the difference as Harlequins beat Bath 15-9 in a tense Heineken Champions Cup encounter.

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Four penalties from Smith put Harlequins 12-0 up after 50 minutes in an all-Gallagher Premiership clash at the Stoop. Freddie Burns knocked over two kicks of his own to halve the deficit as Bath threatened a comeback before a James Lang penalty made it 15-6.

Elia Elia was sent to the sin bin late on and Burns reduced the deficit to six, but it was not enough as Harlequins held on for a deserved win.

Both sides went into the match having lost their opening games and the hosts asserted their control within the first two minutes, winning a penalty from the scrum as Smith knocked over from 40 metres.

Two more kicks from Smith followed soon after as he punished Bath’s early ill-discipline to put his side 9-0 up after 15 minutes.

(Continue reading below…)

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Harlequins threatened the game’s first try after great hands from Smith and Matt Symons allowed Elia to bundle his way to the five-metre line, but the hosts fumbled the ball to waste the opportunity.

They looked comfortable with their lead though, a big hit from Semesa Rokoduguni on Mike Brown about as positive as the half got for Bath as they failed to gain any sort of possession in Harlequins territory.

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Harlequins started the half quickly again and went close to scoring through Smith and then Danny Care, who looked certain to dot down as he dived for the line but was stopped just short.

The hosts had the penalty advantage though and opted for the scrum five metres out, before deciding to take the points two minutes later from another penalty as Smith made it 12-0 after 50 minutes. Bath got themselves on the scoreboard soon after as Burns converted his first kick of the match, and the three points shifted the momentum of the match.

The visitors enjoyed their first sustained spell in the Harlequins 22, and Bath won another penalty right in front of the posts after good work from the forwards to give Burns the simplest of kicks as the lead was cut to six.

It was a tense finale but the hosts’ nerves were calmed when Bath went off their feet at the breakdown and Lang stepped up to land a penalty from near the halfway line.

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Elia was sent to the sin bin with five minutes to go for a high tackle and Burns knocked over a penalty in front of the posts to make it 15-9 but Harlequins did enough to secure a tight victory.

– Press Association 

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ChristelLoewe 3 hours ago
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JW 3 hours ago
'I feel for the players': Jamie Joseph's reflection on falling short again

Some great leadership quality from Big Jim, he facilitated for large parts then put the responsibility on himself at the end drive the team forward in the last desperate minutes. He also filled in for Withy extremely well, adding real strength to the maul.


The Force have been playing very well this year indeed, and their stars did make a couple of key players, the main factor though is definitely what I reported in the previous article “

Gotta say I’m really enjoying the Highlanders desperation in the last 10 minutes of games, maybe it’s just because theyre having to throw the kitchen sink at it again. Another massive effort to hold the opposition out just like in the Blues game. I’m sure the coach’s will be wanting a little more composure though as the play seems to far more hap hazard (really just the type of footy I like watching) than the picture they bring at the beggining of games.

Again though they don’t have the refs to thank for anything, being down a man twenty more minutes than they should have been. Most importantly they were without one of they best attackers (not counting Tangitau’s early change) for the final push, with Nareki’s bin.

Again, I can see where this team is trying to go, I hope they can get their this year as they certainly have the game to be a top four team if they click. They are munch of misfits when you look at it objectively though, they probably have the worst cohesion score of any SRP team. A few more wins, maybe a come from behind upset may be the best theey can hope to acheive this year.

“. Like Jim I thought the defence stood up strongly for large parts, but they may just have some structural issues, where it’s just not paying off. They had Lawaqa on the wing all day, allowed the Force to make a dozen linebreaks, why? Both there attack and defence look a bit too fancy for me, why? Common Joseph, the youngest team with the least cohesion/most new guys, it look overly complicated.


I hope it clicks. Manson in particular looked to be trying far too hard when he came on, what’s been said in his ear? Stick to you lane son and don’t make any mistakes, don’t lose the game for your team. Should be a comfortable win next week against Drua if they keep there heads up and come back stronger. Lasaqa might be best to come off the bench, would keep Jim at 12 but I’d like Tele’a to come back to the side, though TUJ hasn’t been bad and style might suit Drua more. Hopefully Renton or someone with some size is at 8 or 6, Lasaqa appears to be more an 8 actually, similar to Sititi and I wouldn’t mind if he was groomed behind him and Sotutu. Lennox I thought could make a good halfback but isn’t ready, I’d hope Arscott, Fakatava, or Pledger could return to the side. Other than Drua theyve got Cheifs twice, though the home game is the last of the round/season so potentially a gimme if the Chiefs repeat previous years tactics. The Crusaders and Moana at home are also very doable. Those four wins could see them crash into the top 6 still.

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