Richards hails young bucks

Harlequins chief Dean Richards was fulsome in his praise of his young side after they fought back to beat leaders Gloucester.

Quins chief in raptures at victory over Gloucester

Harlequins chief Dean Richards was fulsome in his praise of his young side after they fought back to beat leaders Gloucester at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday. Quins emerged triumphant thanks to George Robson's first Guinness Premiership try which set up a 30-25 win. The victory was a third on the bounce for Richards' men and has fired their ambitions for a top-four finish after a dismal end to 2007. "It gives an indication of how good the side could be. There's not many people under 25 in that side," he Richards. "It's a great result in terms of setting our stall out playing against the best in England. "Gloucester play a great brand of rugby but we persevered right through to the end. It was a difficult time in November and December but we had a break and took a few things back to basics. "I have a great team here - not only on the pitch but the support team as well and the coaches never lost their confidence in the players." Richards also pressed the England claims of full-back Mike Brown who kept his side in the contest with an opportunistic try just before the interval. "I thought Browny played very well. He should be pretty close to an England spot," he said. Gloucester coach Dean Ryan refused to blame Willie Walker despite the fly-half missing five of seven attempts at goal. He insisted his side had other opportunities to close out the game and played a large part in their own downfall. "There were lots of opportunities were we should have won the game and we didn't. You can't blame the kicker," Ryan declared. "Our game management wasn't really good enough and we got pulled into a fragmented game which we didn't want. "As a group we should have done better. That was the disappointing element. "We had more control and more opportunities but we lost a little but of clarity about what it is we are trying to do." A malfunctioning line-out added to Gloucester's problem and Ryan admitted: "We are not good enough in that area. It added to the fragmented nature of the game."