Quins fans would have been encouraged by the return of Will Skinner and Gonzalo Tiesi to the 23 man squad, but there was a late change for Quins as Mike Brown had to drop out with back spasms during the warm-up, being replaced at fullback by Tom Williams. George Lowe moved to the wing and Gonzalo Tiesi joined Nils Mordt in the centres.

It took just three minutes to silence any critics who bemoan the lack of tries in the Guinness Premiership, with a try from Richard Welding, after some good work from Erik Lund and Leigh Hinton. The 19 year-old, Joe Ford added the extras. 7-0.
A penalty for offside allowed Nick Evans to claw Quins back to within 4 points 7-3.

5 minutes later and Quins had taken the lead with a Chris Robshaw try. Leeds had been penalised for going over the top and Evans was presented with a kickable three points or a kick for touch. Showing confidence in his side, he opted for the second and, after the resulting line-out, the Quins flanker drove over the line. Evans converted. 7-10.

With 19 minutes gone on the clock a penalty given against Quins for not rolling away allowed Ford to level the score. 10-10.
There was a moment’s confusion which led to Quins’ second try of the game. A ball that Leeds thought was taken into touch by George Lowe was given to Quins (as the touch judge said it was already out) for a quick lineout. Hinton misjudged Evans’ high ball and George Lowe ran in for a soft, but deserved, try. Evans converted. 10-17.

With Quins now bubbling with confidence and looking the more street wise of the two teams, it was a blow for the visitors when a lack of composure from Danny Care saw the scrum-half shown a yellow card and sidelined for 10 minutes after a late tackle on Rhys Oakley.

Leeds responded on 32 minutes with the boot of Ford after Quins were penalised for collapsing the rolling maul, but with 14 men Quins came together and continued to control the game.

With 4 minutes remaining on the clock until half time, a strong run from Nick Evans saw the fly-half stopped just short of the line. Leeds were camped on their line and clinging on in defence. Robshaw was the man to strike and bounced off a tackle, crunching over the line. Evans converted (13-24) and the visitors went in at the interval with a convincing lead.

Half time

Good running from Tom Williams just minutes into the second half helped set up Quins for their first penalty of the second half. The faultless Kiwi fly-half didn’t disappoint and Quins stretched their lead to 14 points. 13-27.

Leeds were in no mood to give up though and started to turn the control of the game towards the home side. Each Leeds player played their part and put the pressure on Quins, keeping them camped on their try line. Wave after wave of attack bombarded the Quins line before they managed to clear the ball into touch but a resulting Leeds lineout saw Leeds once again on the attack and with the ball in the hands of Kearnan Myall, the flanker was driven over the line. Ford converted to narrow the visitor’s lead to 7 points. 20-27.

A second Leeds try, this time from Tom Denton, and a successful conversion, mounted the pressure on Quins and the tension was starting to show. Although at half time it looked like Quins were going to run away with the game, in 7 minutes (with only another Evans penalty sandwiched in between) Leeds had closed the deficit to just 3 points.

With Evans on kicking form, Quins dominated the final quarter of the game but could not break through the Leeds defence for a valuable bonus point try. A surprising missed penalty kick from Evans, which hit the post, saw Quins having to grind out the last few minutes as Leeds refused to give up, keeping both sides’ fans in suspense right up until the final whistle.