Five tries for Quins
Harlequins ended their Guinness Premiership season by scoring five tries in a 35-20 victory against Sale Sharks on Saturday.
Last Updated: 08/05/10 6:41pm
Harlequins ended their Guinness Premiership season by scoring five tries in a 35-20 victory against Sale Sharks on Saturday.
The home side's performance ranged from the superb to the ordinary but thanks in part to some determined play late on, they deserved their win - even if it did fail to help them achieve their target of a top-six finish.
Saturday's match was also the final outing at the Twickenham Stoop for both David Strettle and Tani Fuga - the England wing moving to Saracens while Fuga has become a free agent.
The hosts suffered misfortune after just two minutes when they lost James Percival after a tackle in open play. The lock left the field on a stretcher after three minutes of treatment to be replaced by Tomas Vallejos.
The mood was soon lightened though by Quins' opening try, the score coming after Jordan Turner-Hall set up George Lowe to race clear down the left to cross in style.
Nick Evans missed the conversion but Quins were 12-0 up after just six minutes, when the fly-half's cross-kick was plucked out of the air by Strettle wide on the right to score from close range.
Evans found the target this time before the Sharks finally put their first points on the board when Charlie Hodgson kicked a penalty on 20 minutes.
Groggy
However, just two minutes later the former England fly-half left the field looking groggy and in need of treatment following a tackle.
A crucial moment in the game came in the 28th minute when Vallejos was sin-binned for a deliberate obstruction.
Sale needed just two minutes to exploit the man advantage as England centre Mathew Tait embarked on a tremendous solo run that saw him beat three opponents before touching down behind the posts.
Lee Thomas then converted to make the score 12-10 at half time.
The home side looked likely to extend their lead early in the second half but instead fell victim to a sucker punch in the 47th minute.
Although a Sale attack lost momentum, the ball was scrambled back to Thomas and the centre produced a snap drop-goal to edge the visitors in front for the first time.
Quins appeared to be losing momentum when they lost Evans to a thigh strain minutes later; however, despite immediately being faced with a penalty, replacement Rory Clegg kept his nerve and regained the lead for his side.
The hosts then stepped up a gear and scored their third try in the 59th minute. It was inspired by Strettle, who made a darting break from inside his own half. The ball was then played through six pairs of hands before Nick Easter burst through on the right to score.
Clegg missed the conversion but kicked a penalty in the 69th minute when Sale were penalised for not retreating 10 yards.
Pressure
The visitors refused to lie down, however, and were back in the hunt three minutes later when a period of sustained pressure was rewarded when the pack drove over Sisaro Koyamaibole.
Thomas converted to reduce the lead to three points but Quins' response was both swift and impressive.
They struck twice in the last six minutes, with Turner-Hall first clinching the bonus points - Clegg converting - before Tom Williams scored with their last attack of the match.
