Premiership: Gloucester 29-28 Harlequins - hosts snatch dramatic victory

Gloucester lock Arthur Clark dived over from close range for a try on his Premiership debut

Gloucester battled back to snatch a dramatic victory against Harlequins in a see-saw season-opener at Kingsholm.

The lead changed hands six times, with Jamal Ford-Robinson coming on to clinch it for the hosts after 80 minutes.

First-half Quins tries from Alex Dombrandt, Will Evans and Luke Northmore were in vain as Arthur Clark, George McGuigan and Lewis Ludlow scores helped secure a bonus-point win.

Gloucester had lost their final six Premiership matches last season.

With a minute to play Quins thought they had won it when Northmore broke away to score his second try and secure a bonus point.

However, with the scoreboard showing 35-24 to Quins, the TMO adjudged Welsh fly-half Jarrod Evans, who had come on and held his nerve to kick three penalties on his debut, to have made contact with the head in a tackle.

The converted Quins try was chalked off, Evans was sin-binned and Gloucester had the chance to kick a penalty to the corner in the dying seconds.

After a series of goalline stops replacement Ford-Robinson got the final touch to spark wild celebrations at Kingsholm, where Gloucester had not won since February - when they pipped Quins by two points.

Both sides were missing a host of players at the World Cup but that did not negatively impact the entertainment on show.

The visitors had broken the deadlock inside two minutes when Dombrandt picked up and drove over the line but Clark bulldozed over for a try on his Premiership debut and hooker McGuigan plunged over from close range soon after to turn the game on its head, with George Barton converting both tries.

A driving maul was finished by Will Evans but Barton slotted a penalty on the half-hour to make it 17-12 before Northmore stepped past a couple of loose tackles for a solo try, with Will Edwards' boot giving Quins a two-point lead at half-time.

Ludlow - making his 200th Gloucester appearance - powered over after a blistering break from Ollie Thorley to put the hosts back ahead, with Barton converting, but Jarrod Evans came off the bench to slot a long-range penalty to narrow the gap soon after and added two more from closer range to give Quins the lead for the third time, but he missed with a fourth attempt before the late drama ensued.

Gloucester head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucester:

"We felt we scored a good try which got chalked off, early in the second half. Whatever happened I wasn't going to moan at the end if we'd ended up losing and I am not going to jump from the rooftops now we've ended up winning.

"The game is small margins, the Premiership will be small margins all year. The positive is we were given an opportunity to win the game - and it's only an opportunity until you take it - but we had a couple of shots, we stayed on task and got there.

"I'm really pleased at the way we closed it out. It wasn't our greatest game. We have shown a lot better than that in the past five weeks [in the Premiership Cup] but Quins are very good, our games with them are always tight, end-to-end stuff."

Harlequins head coach Billy Millard:"I'm really proud of the performance we were really good in the first half, but after that we were a bit ropey. There were some big decisions and calls in that final period but I can't really comment on some of them as I'd already left the box."We'd got back in the game and were on course to win it so it's a weird feeling right now. Jarrod's penalty miss was crucial and we could have gone for a driving line-out, but we have to back our decision-making."

Gloucester: Evans, Morris, Llewellyn, Atkinson, Thorley, Barton, Chapman, Elrington, McGuigan, Balmain, Clarke, Clark, Donnell, Ludlow, Mercer.

Replacements: Blake, Ford-Robinson, Knight, Thomas, Clement, Varney, Hillman-Cooper, Reeves.

Harlequins: David, T Green, Joseph, Northmore, Lynagh, Edwards, Porter, Baxter, Riley, Collier, Launchbury, Hammond, Kenningham, W Evans, Dombrandt.

Replacements: Jibulu, Garcia Botta, Chawatama, Herbst, Chisholm, M Green, J Evans, Beard.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys

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