Quins denied as Tigers snatch draw in Twickenham thriller
Solomone Kata scored Leicester's second try of the match
- Published
Gallagher Premiership
Harlequins (21) 34
Tries: Walker, Murley 2, Northmore Cons: Smith 4 Pens: Smith 2
Leicester (20) 34
Tries: Hassell-Collins, Kata, Steward, Cole Cons: Pollard 4 Pens: Pollard 2
Handre Pollard's last-minute conversion, via the post, rescued a thrilling Premiership draw for Leicester Tigers against Harlequins at Twickenham.
Quins looked like they were on their way to a narrow victory, before Tigers substitute Dan Cole touched the ball down over the line to set up South African Pollard's game-saving kick to level the match.
The hosts had taken a narrow one-point lead into the break after a frenetic first half in which the lead changed hands four times.
Cadan Murley's 68th-minute try looked to have secured the points for Quins, but both teams left with a share of the spoils and a bonus point each for scoring four tries.
Cadan Murley scored his third and fourth Premiership tries of the season
Harlequins were hosting their 16th annual "Big Game" at neighbouring Twickenham Stadium and the first-half display on the pitch lived up to the extravagant pre-match light show and fireworks.
Both sides had the fans on their feet with some brilliant ball-carrying to find the spaces and break between the lines.
Pollard's kicking was on the mark all night right from an early penalty that gave the visitors the lead, before Harlequins hooker Jack Walker's third league try of the season gave Quins the lead.
Ollie Hassell-Collins and Solomone Kata scored to put Leicester 10 points clear, but Murley's first try of the match at the end of a trademark Quins counter-attack soon followed.
Kata was shown a yellow card shortly before half-time for a high challenge on Oscar Beard. The Tonga international was perhaps fortunate to avoid a red as Hassell-Collins was already bringing down the Quins centre when the contact was made.
Luke Northmore's drive over the line from the resulting scrum gave Harlequins the slenderest of leads at half-time and they were unable to take further advantage of the extra man after the restart.
Freddie Steward's try either side of two Marcus Smith penalties levelled the encounter at 27-27 to set up a grandstand finish.
Murley's second try of the match was dramatically cancelled out by Cole's score with just two minutes left and Pollard's calm conversion settled the outcome as a stalemate.
'Match did the occasion justice' - what the coaches said
Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson told BBC Radio London:
"Overall, we're looking more like us. Our attacking game tonight was way more like Harlequins, we scored some really good tries.
"Frustrating with the opportunities we gave them but credit to Handre Pollard, it's an unbelievable kick.
"I'm pleased we've come away with three points but I suppose I'm disappointed as I think it should have been five points.
"It made for a great game of rugby. Huge credit for selling out this place.
"We put on a show that the did the occasion justice."
Leicester Tigers head coach Michael Cheika speaking to BBC Radio Leicester:
"It was a great crowd and a great occasion. I would have liked us to have been a bit more ruthless within the occasion.
"We took home some points which I think are important given the nature of the tale. We move on to next week.
"We hadn't looked like making a break from long range all game. We didn't nail our opportunities really well in short range.
"I felt like we just got through that game on fight.
"The biggest thing about this game was the mentality. We had a poor performance last week [54-24 defeat against Bristol Bears] around physicality of the game and I still feel we can be more physical.
"I thought we hung in the game really well even though things went against us."
Harlequins: David; Isgro, Beard, Northmore, Murley; Smith, Care; Baxter, Walker, Lamositele, Herbst, Lamb, Chisholm, Kenningham, Dombrandt
Replacements: Riley, Jones, Lewis, Launchbury, Cunningham-South, W Evans, Porter, J Evans
Leicester: Steward; Brown, Kelly, Kata, Hassell-Collins; Pollard, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Montoya, Heyes, Henderson, Martin, Liebenberg, Reffell, Cracknell
Replacements: Clare, Whitcombe, Cole, Holloway, Ilione, Youngs, Shillcock, Woodward
Sin-bin: Kata [37]
Referee: Matthew Carley