Saturday 4 October 2014 18:27, UK
Harlequins put their recent bad run behind them in emphatic style as they ran out commanding 52-0 winners against London Welsh at The Stoop.
Quins ran in seven tries with Mike Brown, Danny Care, Marland Yarde (two), Matt Hopper and Karl Dickson all getting their names on the scoresheet.
There was also a penalty try for the hosts, with Nick Evans converting all seven scores as well as kicking a penalty to push Harlequins past the half-century mark.
For parts of the game, it was not a vintage performance from the home side but Chris Robshaw led from the front with an impressive display, while behind the scrum Brown and Care both sparkled.
Promoted London Welsh battled hard but once again they fell away badly in the second half. It was their fifth heavy defeat and it already appears likely that they must win next Saturday's home game against fellow strugglers Newcastle if they are to have any chance of avoiding relegation from the Premiership.
It took Quins just three minutes to take the lead with a superbly created try. From a line-out and drive, Care and Evans combined skilfully in a pre-planned move, which gave Brown an easy run for the try.
Even at that early stage, it was evident it was going to be a long afternoon for the Welsh and it came as no surprise when the home side extended their lead in the 11th minute. Robshaw drove forward to set up a ruck from which Aseli Tikoirotuma burst clear to provide Care with a simple try.
The concession of penalties at almost every scrum and frequent handling errors proved to be London Welsh’s downfall. Their effort deserved points and they would have had some had they not declined a number of kickable penalties in favour of more attacking options, which came to nothing.
After that, it was pretty much all one-way traffic as Harlequins moved up through the gears in the second half to add five more tries.
They notched their third of the afternoon within seconds of the restart when Brown evaded three defenders on a 30-metre run before providing the scoring pass for Yarde.
Evans continued his 100 percent record with the conversion and also slotted over the extras three minutes later after Hopper went over for try number four.
Skipper Joe Marler and Care were both replaced with half an hour to go as Quins temporarily relaxed with the match already won.
The game then became disjointed and was further disrupted by a lengthy delay as Welsh's replacement prop, Eddie Aholelei, was carried off on a stretcher.
Quins got the scoreboard moving again with a penalty try after replacement Dickson was high-tacked by Stegmann as the scrum-half raced for the line. Evans converted as Stegmann made his way to the sin-bin.
Dickson was not to be denied his score for long, though, as he latched on to a chip ahead from Brown to add Quins' sixth try before Yarde powered over to complete the rout. Evans again converted both for a match tally of 17 points.
