Harlequins 28-24 Gloucester: Quins fight back to guarantee Premiership play-off place

Joe Marchant scored twice against Gloucester at Twickenham to take his Premiership season tally to six

Harlequins came from 17 points down to beat Gloucester 28-24 and secure a place in the Premiership semi-finals.

Tries from Ben Morgan, Freddie Clarke and Chris Harris helped Gloucester race to a 24-7 half-time lead, with Alex Dombrandt scoring for Quins.

A Joe Marchant double after the break brought the hosts back within three, before Cadan Murley edged them ahead 10 minutes from time.

Gloucester remain fifth, level with Northampton with one match to play.

• Premiership table as it stands

Defending champions Harlequins made the short walk to Twickenham knowing they had won their seven previous matches at England's national stadium.

They won an instant penalty from kick-off to exert early pressure, but Gloucester held firm and it was the visitors who dominated the opening 40 minutes in every area.

Forward Morgan struck first, powering over following a maul from a line-out for his 22nd Premiership try.

Dombrandt responded five minutes later when Marchant broke free after Danny Care's intercept. But the score did not stay level for long as Clarke burst through from 20 metres out after being released by Santiago Carreras.

Harlequins senior coach Tabai Matson was clearly not happy with what he saw and, having lost prop Will Collier to injury before kick-off, Joe Marler was brought on only 22 minutes in to shake up the front row. Still, the traffic continued in their direction as the Cherry and Whites grew in confidence.

Harris got Gloucester's third try as they broke over the gain-line and captain Lewis Ludlow produced a canny dummy. Adam Hastings added a drop goal to open up a 17-point advantage.

Yet it proved a tale of two halves as Harlequins came out a different side after the break, scoring 21 unanswered points as Gloucester collapsed.

They overthrew a line-out that allowed Care to dart clear and gain an attacking scrum, from which he kicked through for Marchant to touch down.

Hastings then mistakenly took the ball into touch, conceding territory and Marchant did not waste the opportunity as a long pass came out wide.

And when Louis Rees-Zammit was sent to the sin-bin for deliberately slapping the ball down, Harlequins' man advantage paid off with Murley adding the bonus point with a try in the right corner to complete Gloucester's self-destruction.

Harlequins senior coach Tabai Matson told BBC Radio London:

"I think, ultimately, the result is really critical and to do it in that manner is not the plan.

"But one of the things you just love at this time of the year is finding a gritty way. Gloucester were way too good for us. We talked about not getting ambushed, they were desperate, they're going to be really physical, they blew us out of the water in the first half.

"And then the players consolidated and they went to work in the second half and we just kind of crept the scoreline back. Phenomenal result for us."

Gloucester head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"We had good momentum in the first half, I thought the boys dealt with the occasion really well, which is the first and foremost thing that was on my mind.

"They took some really good opportunities, I actually thought we butchered quite a lot in the first half and we could have been a couple more scores ahead.

"Second half, Quins came out and were really, really good and tightened up a little bit and we gave away quite a lot of penalties in the second half, which moves us back in the field and Quins are a quality team, so that's the way it goes."

Harlequins: Jones; Lynagh, Marchant, Esterhuizen, Murley; Smith, Care; Kerrod, Walker, Louw; Symons, Tizard; Lewies (capt), Lawday, Dombrandt.

Replacements: Musk, Marler, Collier, Jurevicius, Evans, Gjaltema, Allan, David.

Gloucester: Carreras; Rees-Zammit, Harris, Kveseladze, Thorley; Hastings, Chapman; Rapava-Ruskin, Socino, Gotovtsev; Clarke, Alemanno; Ackermann, Ludlow (capt), Morgan.

Replacements: Singleton, Elrington, Balmain, Davidson, Reid, Meehan, Twelvetrees, Seabrook.

Sin-bin: Louis Rees-Zammit (64).

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys

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