Welcome win for Quins

Harlequins escaped from their Super League woes with a welcome 23-16 victory over Wakefield to progress in the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

Tony Clubb crossed for two of the four tries Quins scored in the first half, with Ben Jones-Bishop and David Howell adding the others, before the hosts had to withstand a strong Wildcats fightback.

Damien Blanch and Danny Kirmond had already crossed the whitewash to keep Wakefield in the game, and Luke George's try early in the second half signalled the start of the visitors' push late on.

Quins opened the scoring on 10 minutes with the ball spun wide for winger Will Sharp to hare down the touchline. Although he was held, Jones-Bishop was on hand to touch down.

And it was Jones-Bishop on the charge again minutes later, bursting onto Luke Gale's pass to open up the visitor's defence, allowing Clubb to cross in the corner.

Clawed back

Wakefield clawed their way back into the contest as Paul Cooke's grubber kick confused defender Chris Melling and Blanch pounced to touch down.

And an awful error on 32 minutes allowed Wakefield to draw level, a loose pass as the hosts were camped on the Wildcats line allowing Kirmond to scamper the length of the field to score.

Stung into action, the hosts reclaimed the lead before the interval, Howell stretching to score after Quins created an overlap following Blanch's knock on. And seconds before the hooter they moved further ahead, Luke Dorn's superb pass freeing up Clubb to stroll over the line.

Wakefield again hauled themselves back into the contest shortly after the break, with George darting over in the corner after Aaron Murphy wriggled out of a tackle.

The visitors had their tails up and Dorn was soon sent to the sin-bin after illegally halting a Wildcats breakaway.

Dig in

But the 12 men dug in and held onto their advantage with some rugged defence. In fact, Quins looked the more likely to score with some intelligent kicking pinning John Kear's men in their own half.

But Wakefield still had hope and with the referee penalising the home side at every opportunity, suddenly the line was under siege.

A tremendous 40-20 kick from Randall relieved that pressure and Purdham saw his drop-goal attempt rattle the post as Quins looked to ease home.

The home side finally claimed that buffer when Gale succeeded with a drop-goal attempt of his own in the final minute.