Honours even at the Stoop
Harlequins and Bath shared the Aviva Premiership points after a gruelling war of attrition at the Stoop.
Last Updated: 31/10/10 5:14pm
Harlequins and Bath shared the Aviva Premiership points after a gruelling war of attrition at the Stoop.
Neither side were able to cross the try-line, two penalties apiece from Harlequins fly-half Nick Evans and Bath centre Olly Barkley completing the scoring.
Watched from the stands by England manager Martin Johnson, Lewis Moody prepared for next Saturday's Twickenham clash with New Zealand with a useful contribution on his return from a serious eye injury.
The England captain came through largely unscathed - save for a cut to the head which required treatment after only five minutes.
In Moody's temporary absence, Barkley landed a penalty from inside his own half to give Bath the lead but it was Harlequins who had made the more enterprising start.
Evans was the outstanding attacking player on the field in the opening half and he was involved three times as Quins launched a counter-attack deep into the Bath half.
The Kiwi collected his own chip to launch Quins' first surge forward, but Tom Williams failed to hold on to the final pass - the first of many handling errors from the luckless winger.
Referee Sean Davey was playing advantage and Evans then missed a simple penalty attempt, before Moody departed the scene and Barkley landed his long-range attempt.
Limped out
Moody's return from the blood-bin coincided with the departure of number eight Luke Watson, who limped out of the action.
Williams and Chris Robshaw combined well to collect Evans' cross-field kick and Argentinian lock Tomas Vallejos surged forward after a brilliant one-handed take.
Evans cut a clever line off scrum-half Karl Dickson but he failed to hold the pass and a certain try went begging.
Barkley missed a simple penalty attempt before Sam Vesty made an individual break into the Quins 22, only to be halted and turned over in one movement by full-back Mike Brown.
Harlequins took almost an hour to get on the scoreboard but they soon drew level with two Evans penalties in the space of five minutes, as they began to crank up the pressure.
The Harlequins forwards had the edge and number eight Tom Guest was a constant threat, earning the man-of-the-match award for his driving runs.
Harlequins took advantage of Nick Abendanon's sliced clearance to apply the pressure in the Bath 22 and the visitors were eventually penalised for repeated offside to give Evans a simple kick in front of the posts.
Harlequins' pressure at the maul inside Bath's 22 earned them another penalty soon after and Evans snapped up the chance to equalise.
Moody was heavily involved in the tense closing stages, recovering a bobbling ball on halfway before helping secure lineout possession to set up Vesty for a drop-goal attempt - but the kick went wide.
