Harlequins 37-37 Leicester: Quins Player Ratings as late drama results in a draw at the Allianz

12/29/2024 12:53 PM

Harlequins fell to a 37-37 draw against Leicester Tigers at the Allianz stadium after a late Dan Cole try denied the hosts all five points and effectively ended their quest for playoff rugby.

The party atmosphere was lit early as Marcus Smith hot-stepped his way through the Tigers defence to feed Jack Walker to score before Ollie Hassell-Collins responded after a great break from Freddie Steward.

Solomone Kata extended the Tiger's lead shortly after from short range before Jack Kenningham burst out from inside his own 22 to feed Cadan Murley to score.

Kata was then sent to the bin for a high shot, a mistake that meant Luke Northmore could power through the hole left by him to score from close range.

Tigers wouldn't back down from the fight though and hit back first in the second half, Steward sliding over from close range after some bruising carries from the Leicester pack.

Murley would have his second shortly after though, slick hands from Rodrigo Isgro and Alex Dombrandt setting the winger free with ten minutes to go and up the nerves in the stadium.

Leicester embraced the pantomime villainy however and it was none other than Dan Cole who powered over with less than two minutes to go to put Tigers within two points.

Up stepped Handre Pollard who knocked over the two points with the help of the post to share the points at Big Game 16. Our reporter George Davis takes a look on how the players got on.

HARLEQUINS PLAYER RATINGS

15. Nick David 6/10

The former Worcester Warriors player was brought in after both Tyrone Green and Leigh Halfpenny were ruled out and didn't look out of place. He was solid in defence and under the high ball and provided a good link man between the outside channels. 

14. Rodrigo Isgro 6/10

The Argentine has hit the ground running at Quins but was marked well by a Tigers team who were clearly aware of his threat. Everytime he carried the ball the Tigers defence somehow got ten times more physical against him with him also struggling in the air under the high ball at times too.

13. Oscar Beard 6/10

Marking Solomone Kata and Dan Kelly is never going to be an easy job so the centre was busy all afternoon, although he won't want to see the former again anytime soon. The centre bought Freddie Steward’s dummy kick which resulted in Kata going over before getting his head almost taken off by him later in the half.

12. Luke Northmore 6/10

Trying to fill the boots of Andre Esterhuizen has been a problem all season for Quins that they haven't found a solution too. The former Cardiff Met man struggled when running into brick walls (A trait Esterhuizen was great at) but when he found space we saw glimpses of how deadly he can be, running through the Kata sized hole to score after the Tiger's player was sin-binned. It feels like it's plugging square pegs into round holes here as he is much more of a 13 than a 12. 

11. Cadan Murley 8/10

With Steve Borthwick in attendance getting player of the Match at the Allianz stadium, scoring two tries and having an all round great game won't do Murley any harm. The winger latched onto a Jack Kenningham pass and showcased a great set of wheels to get past England hopeful Freddie Steward for his first try. He then finished off some lovely hands from Isgro and Dombrandt to go over for his second, capping off a fine display both sides off the ball and in the air.

10. Marcus Smith 6/10

It looked like it was going to be one of those days for Marcus Smith early on, a brilliant break for Jack Walker’s try, bamboozling Mike Brown and Julian Montoya. He could've possibly had one himself as he looked to chase through a kick behind but was brought back for a knock on. However the fly half looked like he was maybe having to try and force things with the Tigers blitz later on, felt like the old Smith at times, but I'm sure this may be affected by the poor form the team find themselves in.

9. Danny Care 7/10

You can't help but feel this may be one of his last Big Game's and if it is walking off to a rousing applause from 82,000 is certainly some way to go out. Whenever Quins got going, this man and Smith were at the heart of it, some excellent work by the nine to keep the pace of the game up and looked to find holes where he could. His kicking game was also accurate and found himself working well in tandem with Murley in the air.

1. Fin Baxter 5/10

It wasn't Baxter's finest game, the prop didn't have the same go forward he has had at scrum time against other teams and struggled ball in hand against a physical team. Maybe he needs a break? But depth at loosehead isn't exactly a strong point for Quins with Wyn Jones the only real option to replace him. I still back the man to go and become one of England's premier props as all young prospects go through these tough periods.

2. Jack Walker 6/10

The hooker scored the first Quins try of the evening getting on the end of a Marcus Smith break and hit a 80% success rate in the lineout. Against a Leicester pack it's always going to be hard to get the physical edge but he never really gave Quins much ball in hand.  His speciality is the set piece and his handling which you could see today but needs to work on his go forward. 

3. Titi Lamositele 4/10

The tighthead looked slow and fell off tackles far too easily, and was easily found out by the Leicester pack around the park. He was one of the few Quins forwards that I thought could match the Tigers physically but the prop couldn't get any go forward. Adam Jones spoke about getting his technique right for scrums but it was his weight at scrum time that was much needed after last week. It's a shame for him as I really think he could be a good player but I don't think Quinn's recruitment has got this one right.

4. Irne Herbst 7/10

Like Lamositele he was brought in to ballast the pack a bit after last weekend and did just that. The big second row put his weight around well and found himself putting in some big hits in defence on some of the Leicester forwards and carried with an intent and vigour that was much needed. Harlequins will want more performances like this from the former Benetton man before he is rumoured to be off.

5. Dino Lamb 8/10

The man was everywhere for the full 80 minutes, chasing kicks like his life depended on it, and was full of energy. His carries weren't always powerful but he made up for it with a wonderful performance around the pitch as he just never stopped running, sometimes with a surprise turn of pace for the big man too. He took down a Tigers rolling maul with just minutes to go in what looked at the time to be a game saving intervention too. A proper performance from a man who looked like he wanted to wear the shirt, I'm a big fan of this man.

6. James Chisholm 6/10

A real livewire and was full of energy, the former England under20's international is one of the most underrated ball carries in the Premiership and he showed that today. The flanker did sometimes get a bit too excited and found himself on the wrong side of Mathew Carley's whistle and that does bring him down a bit.

7. Jack Kenningham 7/10

Well who knew he had that pace in him? What a break from the flanker from inside his own 22 after Alex Dombrandt dove on a loose ball, he sped past defenders before firing an inch perfect pass to Cadan Murley that even Danny Care would be proud of. The 25 year old was tirelessly hitting rucks all evening but didn't have the same impact slowing the Tigers advance as he would’ve liked.

8. Alex Dombrandt 7/10

It wasn't his usual Big Game performance but he did what needed to be done. He struggled to find much space to operate in but when he did he produced a slightly forward looking pass (That wasn't picked up by officials) to Murley for his try. There was a lot of work in close quarters providing the power to go forward against a big Tigers pack.

REPLACEMENTS

16. Sam Riley (N/A)

Feel bad for Riley as he has so much potential, really deserves a shot at that number 2 shirt. 

17. Wyn Jones 6/10

Struggled to match the physicality of the Tigers pack when he came on and went too high on Dan Cole for his game drawing try. The Welshman however held the scrum up well against Cole and was solid at the set piece.

18. Dillon Lewis 7/10

The prop looked lively and always offered himself to carry the ball which was needed late on, one of the few subs that came on that looked like they made a difference.

19. Joe Launchbury 7/10

A wonderful player with some soft hands in his prime but we never got to see those today. Helped keep the physicality up against the visitors and was useful in defence too but we do need to see more of what made him so good, let's just hope it hasn't left him yet.

20. Chandler Cunningham-South 7/10

Produced a barnstorming carry that went over Dan Cole before Cadan Murley's try and was back to his physical self we had missed ball in hand, just needed to back it up a bit more the other side of the ball.

21. Will Evans 7/10

Came on and secured a trademark turnover after a Ben Youngs quick tap that relieved a decent amount of pressure but couldn't work a miracle to save Quins at the death.

22. Will Porter 6/10

It was all Tigers in the latter stages so he never got the chance to pull some strings in attack, his clearances were what you would have expected with the context around the game too.

23. Jarrod Evans 6/10

Not sure if he even touched the ball, such was the onslaught of the away team late on. Defensively, he was solid in the outside channel, which may be a better place for him to defend.

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