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Ugly victory enough for Harlequins to remain in pole position
Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea heaped praise on his side’s ability to win ugly after the league leaders maintained their place at the summit of the Aviva Premiership with a hard-fought 16-14 win over Worcester.
Quins were up against it when a vibrant Warriors side opened up an early 8-0 lead through Miles Benjamin’s score and a Joe Gray penalty.
But a dominant display up front, culminating in a penalty try, and 11 points from the boot of Nick Evans secured the narrow win, Quins’ 13th of the league season.
“We gave Worcester an eight-point start in a game we knew was going to be attritional – we weren’t as precise as we should have been at times,” said O’Shea.
“You would be pretty arrogant to think that you are owed anything before a game – you have to earn everything in this league.
“Worcester are one of the best defensive sides in the league, but they played a lot of rugby in the first half and caused us trouble.
“We are more than happy to have won both games against them this season, but we weren’t happy with our performance”
Teenager Ryan Mills was the hero at The Rec as his penalty gave Gloucester a 14-11 victory to complete the double over local rivals Bath.
The 19-year-old England Under-20 cap, on as a replacement, calmly slotted the crucial three-pointer with 10 minutes to play of a fiercely-contested West Country derby.
Ryan Shortland’s interception try handed Newcastle a relegation lifeline as they scrambled to a 19-10 victory over London Irish at Kingston Park.
The Falcons came back from 10-6 down at half-time to win with 14 men after the sending-off of lock Adriaan Fondse in the 60th minute.
Stephen Myler kicked seven penalties as Northampton defeated Sale 24-17 in a bruising contest at Franklin’s Gardens.
Sale were the more enterprising side, scoring the only try of the game, but ill-discipline which saw them lose two players to the sin-bin costing them the match.
A late drop goal from Saints’ Ryan Lamb sealed victory.
Fly-half Ignacio Mieres kicked five penalties to give Exeter a hard-fought 15-12 win at Adams Park to pile on the misery for relegation-threatened Wasps.
Despite dominating possession for long periods of the match, the home side just could not break through the Chiefs defence as they slumped to an eighth straight league defeat.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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