Quins drop their standards and points
Harlequins Director of Conor O'Shea admits his side did not play to their standards as they fell to a disappointing Premiership defeat at home to Sale Sharks.
"It was a great vibe but now it's a terrible one and we have to get a reaction against Bath next weekend"
The 44-year-old admitted that his side were not good enough in front of their home fans at Twickenham Stoop as they were edged out in a scrappy affair thanks to a late try from Sale captain Dan Braid.
Despite leading 12-9 with 13 minutes to go, Quins couldn't build on last weekend's memorable victory away at Gloucester and fell to seventh in the Premiership table following their fourth defeat of the season and their first loss to Sale since 2010.
And former Irish international O'Shea has demanded that his side now go out and get a result against Bath next weekend.
"Credit to Sale but we're massively frustrated. We didn't play to the standards we wanted in order to get the win and Sale did," he said.
"Last week we got a brilliant win against Gloucester and this week we've had a very frustrating loss. We didn't get our first penalty in open play until the 79th minute which is pretty spectacular but that's something you have to deal with.
"There was no lack of effort or desire or anything like that, we just didn't get the scoreboard ticking at all and we didn't make the dents or hold onto the ball.
"We are incredibly disappointed, we gave ourselves a really good opportunity by going away to Gloucester and doing something we hadn't done before. It was a great vibe but now it's a terrible one and we have to get a reaction against Bath next weekend."
Sale fly-half Danny Cipriani kicked 11 points as his side secured their second win in a row on a memorable night in West London.
Nick Evans scored all 12 of Harlequins' points from the boot as the hosts looked to be heading for their second win in as many league matches.
But it wasn't to be as former New Zealand international Braid touched down to secure a hard-fought victory for the Sharks, much to the delight of Sale boss Steve Diamond.
"It's a good away win obviously, the competition is so tight these days that you rarely win away," he said. "We did well last week against London Irish and this result will give us some stability and consistency so we're delighted with that.
"It was a scrappy game, the line-out didn't function very well but we defended really well and when we got our opportunity we took it. Dan Braid scored a really good try and we're delighted.
"We want to have 25-30 points by Christmas which will give us a shot to get into the top six, which we know is going to be very difficult.
"A lot of hard work is needed next week to get the set piece sorted and hopefully we can give Newcastle a good run for their money."
* In the other Friday match Director of David Humphreys had no hesitation in pinpointing the moment Gloucester were beaten by a resurgent Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park.
Newcastle now have three wins in their last four Premiership games after Sinoti Sinoti's early second-half try proved to be a killer blow for the Cherry & Whites.
John Afoa scored his fist Premiership try inside the opening minute but five Rory Clegg penalties ensured the Falcons were often in the driving seat.
And after Gloucester made a slow start to the second half, winger Sinoti pounced to grab what proved to be the decisive score.
"At half time, 9-7 down having played under the elements, it was probably not a bad turnaround but the game was lost in the first ten minutes of the second half," said Humphreys.
"We dropped a couple of kicks and made a couple of small mistakes and credit to Newcastle, they took their opportunities.
"We got off to the perfect start playing into pretty horrible conditions and for large parts of the first half we were pretty good.
"We felt a little disappointed with the penalty count and for a team that has been hugely disciplined throughout the course of the season, that's something we have to look at now.
"In the second half there was an enormous effort from the players and I think everyone dug pretty deep but lacking a little bit of quality, a little bit of execution and a little bit of accuracy at key points.
"At the end of the game we had two 20-year-olds playing at half-back and I think they both did really well in the conditions.
"We are really testing the depth of our squad and while hugely disappointing to have lost again tonight, what we're hopefully doing is building that depth which we know we need to build if we want to be successful later on in the season."
Meanwhile, Newcastle boss Dean Richards, whose side are now just three points off Gloucester in the Premiership table, was bursting with pride after the result.
"We're delighted, the boys showed a lot of character after conceding early try," he said. "It was the kick up the bum we needed - we knew it wouldn't be easy and we had to stick to our guns.
"We came in after the first half a bit down in terms of points, but in the second half we had to go out there with our back against the wall and play hard. I was delighted for the boys.
"We played the wind and the conditions really well. We didn't flinch and played some really good stuff."
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Friday's scorers and scorers:
Harlequins 12-16 Sale Sharks
Scorers
Harlequins:
Pens: Evans 4
Sale Sharks:
Try: Braid
Cons: Cipriani
Pens: Cipriani 3
Teams:
Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Charlie Walker, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Tom Casson, 11 Ollie Lindsay-Hague, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Karl Dickson, 8 Nick Easter (captain), 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Joe Trayfoot, 5 George Robson, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Mark Lambert.
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Will Collier, 19 Sam Twomey, 20 Jack Clifford, 21 Danny Care, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Jordan Turner-Hall.
Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Mark Jennings, 12 Sammy Tuitupou, 11 Tom Arscott, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Josh Beaumont, 7 David Seymour, 6 Daniel Braid, 5 Michael Paterson, 4 Jonathan Mills, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Eifion Lewis-Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 James Flynn, 18 Ross Harrison, 19 Magnus Lund, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Nick McLeod, 23 Andy Forsyth.
Referee: Thomas Foley
Assistant referees: Andrew Pearce, Nigel Carrick
TMO: Roy Maybank
Newcastle Falcons 20-10 Gloucester
Scorers:
Newcastle Falcons:
Try: Sinoti
Penalties: Clegg 5
Gloucester:
Try: Afoa
Con: Burns
Pen: Burns
Teams:
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Sinoti Sinoti, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Ally Hogg (captain), 7 Andy Saull, 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Dom Barrow, 4 Calum Green, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Rob Vickers.
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Alex Rogers 18 Scott Wilson 19 Sean Robinson 20 Chris York 21 Warren Fury 22 Adam Powell 23 Simon Hammersley.
Gloucester: 15 Steve McColl, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Billy Meakes, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Henry Purdy, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Matt Kvesic (captain), 6 Tom Savage, 5 James Hudson, 4 Tom Palmer, 3 John Afoa, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Yann Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cole, 17 James Gibbons, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Gareth Evans, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Aled Thomas, 23 Tom Isaacs.
Referee: Tim Wigglesworth
Assistant referees: Ashley Rowden, Andy Watson
TMO: Trevor Fisher