Staunton kicks Tigers to win
Leicester's Jeremy Staunton kicked his side to a 15-9 Guinness Premiership victory against Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop.
Last Updated: 12/09/09 7:20pm
Leicester's stand-in fly-half Jeremy Staunton kicked his side to a 15-9 Guinness Premiership victory against Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday.
On paper at least, the match boiled down to a battle between Staunton, in for the injured Sam Vesty, and counterpart Nick Evans, with the former kicking five penalties to the latter's three.
The defending champions were therefore able to bounce back from their unexpected defeat to Sale Sharks on the opening day of the new season.
Quins' attempts to place the so-called 'Bloodgate' scandal in the past have now resulted in two successive defeats - the poor attendance on Saturday reflecting the extent of the damage.
Harlequins chief executive Mark Evans wrote a message of apology in the match programme and vowed the club would redouble their efforts to mend a "battered reputation".
But that reputation was hardly helped last weekend when George Robson was sent off just 46 seconds into the season-opening defeat to Wasps for heat-butting.
With Robson unavailable, Harlequins started with new signing Lewis Stevenson alongside Jim Evans in the second row, while Leicester welcomed back Harry Ellis and Tom Croft.
Defences dominated the first half, with Evans putting Quins ahead with a long-range effort.
Huge pressure
However, they were then forced to soak up huge pressure from Leicester - a dreadful pass from Danny Care forcing flanker Will Skinnner to kick from deep inside his own 22 - before Staunton equalised.
The Irishman had missed one shot at goal but when Harlequins were penalised at the breakdown he drew Leicester level.
Harlequins responded positively but Ugo Monye and Jordan Turner-Hall both made inroads without an end result - the former's powerful run and offload created space for David Strettle out wide but the England winger was tackled before the line.
Staunton pushed Leicester into the lead two minutes into the second half but it was Harlequins who were playing the better rugby and who looked more like scoring at this stage.
England Under-20 winger George Lowe stretched Leicester with a strong run before Strettle was taken out in mid-air by Jordan Crane - who was sin-binned for the challenge - as he tried to claim a cross-kick from Evans.
While Staunton missed the goal again, Evans stroked over two penalties to kick Quins into the lead.
The home side appeared set for the match's first score when Monye raced past Scott Hamilton but Lowe dropped his pass with a clear run for the line.
Their chance had come and gone as Leicester began to turn the momentum.
Staunton levelled for 9-9 and, presented with a run for the line, Johne Murphy would have scored but for Ben Youngs' woeful pass.
But Leicester began to tighten their grip on proceedings as Staunton stroked over two more penalties to seal the victory.