Leicester Tigers suffered only their second Aviva Premiership defeat since October as they were beaten 32-12 by Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday afternoon.
Tigers were unable to maintain the form that had seen them to victories over Sale Sharks and Bath Rugby in recent weeks as Quins secured a bonus-point win in front of a 14,800 capacity crowd.
Owen Williams, in the week he agreed a new contract with the club, landed four penalties for Tigers.
But Quins came back from 6-0 and 9-3 down early in the game to record the bonus-point win, Danny Care, Jack Clifford, Marland Yarde and Tim Swiel in the last-minute scoring the home side’s tries.
Tom Croft returned to the starting XV alongside Julian Salvi and Jordan Crane in the back row. Jamie Gibson provided the back-row cover on the bench, where he was joined by Logovi’I Mulipola on his return from the Achilles injury he suffered in Round 3.
Nick Easter made his 250th appearance for Harlequins, who welcomed England captain Chris Robshaw back from injury to take his place in their back row.
Tigers settled into the game with an early period of possession. And they were rewarded when Crane’s short pass put Kitchener through a gap and up to the Quins 22 where the hosts infringed at the ruck. Williams landed the penalty from in front of the posts to give Tigers a 3-0 lead.
Williams collected a kick in the backfield and combined with Mathew Tait and Ben Youngs to take Tigers back up to the Quins 22. There Williams chipped for Adam Thompstone on the right wing but the ball beat him into touch.
Tigers were awarded a penalty just outside the Harlequins 22 when the hosts collapsed a scrum and Williams doubled the advantage after 10 minutes.
In blustery conditions, Ben Botica found an excellent touch with a penalty from the Tigers 10m line that gave Quins a 5m lineout. But Crane read the throw and stole possession at the front of the lneout.
However, Tigers infringed at a ruck on the 10m line and Botica landed his kick to put Quins' first points on the board.
Vereniki Goneva’s chip caused confusion in the Quins defence and when the ball spun away from Mike Brown Miles Benjamin got there first but his hack ahead was dotted down in goal by Marland Yarde.
Croft was pulled down in a lineout 35m from goal and Williams made light of the windy conditions to restore Tigers’ six-point lead midway through the first half.
Easter managed to offload out of Tom Youngs and Fraser Balmain's tackle to put Care on a line into the Tigers 22, the scrum-half rode Thompstone's tackle and his momentum took him over the line. Referee Luke Pearce confirmed with his television match official before awarding the score. Converted by Botica it gave Quins the lead at 10-9 after 25 minutes.
Williams made a lovely break into the Quins 22 and offloaded to Kitchener. He was stopped by Care before Quins made a mess of the breakdown and Brown emerged with the ball and offloaded for Care to kick deep into Leicester territory.
Tait and Salvi combined to make another line break moments later but Salvi’s offload was collected by the retreating Jack Clifford.
Clifford was at the heart of the action again just before half-time, the back-rower scoring from close range to finish Care’s quickly-taken penalty. It went unconverted as Quins held a 15-9 lead at the break.
Tigers came under pressure right at the start of the second half. Quins thrusts forced Tigers back on to their line but the defence held firm forcing Hopper in to a knock on.
However, Tigers were unable to clear their defence and Yarde took advantage, picking a line through a congested midfield to score next to the posts. Botica’s conversion gave Quins a 20-9 lead after 46 minutes.
Tigers were then pinged at a maul and Botica extended the home side’s advantage further with the penalty.
Tigers were awarded a penalty at the restart and Williams landed the kick for his side’s first points of the second period. It left Tigers 25-12 behind after 53 minutes. And it remained that way as Botica missed a penalty on either side of the posts.
Mulipola, on as a second-half replacement, had the Quins defence backpedalling and Tait made further inroads up to the 5m line. Tigers had the advantage of a penalty but were unable to force their way over. Play came back for the penalty, Tigers kicked to the corner but Harlequins wrapped up the ball and won the penalty to ease the pressure.
As Tigers hunted the try that would bring them a losing bonus point so they left themselves open at the back. England full-back Brown took full advantage, collecting Joe Trayfoot's pass off the floor and breaking hard in midfield before finding Swiel on his outside to score the bonus-point fourth try. And Swiel, the replacement fly-half, landed the conversion with the last kick of the game.
Tigers were unable to maintain the form that had seen them to victories over Sale Sharks and Bath Rugby in recent weeks as Quins secured a bonus-point win in front of a 14,800 capacity crowd.
Owen Williams, in the week he agreed a new contract with the club, landed four penalties for Tigers.
But Quins came back from 6-0 and 9-3 down early in the game to record the bonus-point win, Danny Care, Jack Clifford, Marland Yarde and Tim Swiel in the last-minute scoring the home side’s tries.
Tom Croft returned to the starting XV alongside Julian Salvi and Jordan Crane in the back row. Jamie Gibson provided the back-row cover on the bench, where he was joined by Logovi’I Mulipola on his return from the Achilles injury he suffered in Round 3.
Nick Easter made his 250th appearance for Harlequins, who welcomed England captain Chris Robshaw back from injury to take his place in their back row.
Tigers settled into the game with an early period of possession. And they were rewarded when Crane’s short pass put Kitchener through a gap and up to the Quins 22 where the hosts infringed at the ruck. Williams landed the penalty from in front of the posts to give Tigers a 3-0 lead.
Williams collected a kick in the backfield and combined with Mathew Tait and Ben Youngs to take Tigers back up to the Quins 22. There Williams chipped for Adam Thompstone on the right wing but the ball beat him into touch.
Tigers were awarded a penalty just outside the Harlequins 22 when the hosts collapsed a scrum and Williams doubled the advantage after 10 minutes.
In blustery conditions, Ben Botica found an excellent touch with a penalty from the Tigers 10m line that gave Quins a 5m lineout. But Crane read the throw and stole possession at the front of the lneout.
However, Tigers infringed at a ruck on the 10m line and Botica landed his kick to put Quins' first points on the board.
Vereniki Goneva’s chip caused confusion in the Quins defence and when the ball spun away from Mike Brown Miles Benjamin got there first but his hack ahead was dotted down in goal by Marland Yarde.
Croft was pulled down in a lineout 35m from goal and Williams made light of the windy conditions to restore Tigers’ six-point lead midway through the first half.
Easter managed to offload out of Tom Youngs and Fraser Balmain's tackle to put Care on a line into the Tigers 22, the scrum-half rode Thompstone's tackle and his momentum took him over the line. Referee Luke Pearce confirmed with his television match official before awarding the score. Converted by Botica it gave Quins the lead at 10-9 after 25 minutes.
Williams made a lovely break into the Quins 22 and offloaded to Kitchener. He was stopped by Care before Quins made a mess of the breakdown and Brown emerged with the ball and offloaded for Care to kick deep into Leicester territory.
Tait and Salvi combined to make another line break moments later but Salvi’s offload was collected by the retreating Jack Clifford.
Clifford was at the heart of the action again just before half-time, the back-rower scoring from close range to finish Care’s quickly-taken penalty. It went unconverted as Quins held a 15-9 lead at the break.
Tigers came under pressure right at the start of the second half. Quins thrusts forced Tigers back on to their line but the defence held firm forcing Hopper in to a knock on.
However, Tigers were unable to clear their defence and Yarde took advantage, picking a line through a congested midfield to score next to the posts. Botica’s conversion gave Quins a 20-9 lead after 46 minutes.
Tigers were then pinged at a maul and Botica extended the home side’s advantage further with the penalty.
Tigers were awarded a penalty at the restart and Williams landed the kick for his side’s first points of the second period. It left Tigers 25-12 behind after 53 minutes. And it remained that way as Botica missed a penalty on either side of the posts.
Mulipola, on as a second-half replacement, had the Quins defence backpedalling and Tait made further inroads up to the 5m line. Tigers had the advantage of a penalty but were unable to force their way over. Play came back for the penalty, Tigers kicked to the corner but Harlequins wrapped up the ball and won the penalty to ease the pressure.
As Tigers hunted the try that would bring them a losing bonus point so they left themselves open at the back. England full-back Brown took full advantage, collecting Joe Trayfoot's pass off the floor and breaking hard in midfield before finding Swiel on his outside to score the bonus-point fourth try. And Swiel, the replacement fly-half, landed the conversion with the last kick of the game.
