Despite a standout performance against Newcastle Falcons, Marcus Smith’s momentary lapse led to an embarrassing mistake that allowed the visitors to score a try.
Quins kept their Premiership play-off hopes alive with an eight-try thumping of bottom side Newcastle.
Andre Esterhuizen, Louis Lynagh, Josh Bassett, Dino Lamb, Joe Marchant, Alex Dombrandt, twice, and Fin Baxter all went over to move Quins up to sixth.
Mateo Carreras scored the opening try for Newcastle and when Freddie Lockwood scored their second try, the game was in the balance at 22-20 to the hosts.
But Quins quickly regained control with four tries in the final 10 minutes.
It leaves Harlequins seven points behind Northampton in fourth with two games remaining.
“Horror draw” – England get pool of death in revised World Cup draw
The recently released World Rugby Rankings highlight the absurdity of the Pool Draw for the upcoming Rugby World Cup 2023, which was determined three years in advance and appears to be heavily skewed.
In response to criticism, World Rugby has announced that future pool draws for the Rugby World Cup will be conducted closer to the start of the tournament, as the current practice of relying on team rankings at the time of the draw is deemed unfair.
According to a report by the Mirror, World Rugby will make changes to the pool draw process for the 2027 edition.
“World Rugby said it is able to make the change because of a new ‘hosting model’ that sees the international federation create collaborations with the host union,” the report read.
“The top of the men’s Test game has never been more competitive,” the spokesperson added. “There has never been so much movement over a two-year period.
“Bearing that in mind and noting the format of four pools of five teams, there is arguably no perfect time for a draw.”
As a result, the guys over at Eggchasers Rugby put together their own drawer the 2023 tournament based on the current World Rugby rankings.
Concentrating on only the top 10 countries in the world, it looks significant.
It was very different with England handed a much sterner test in their pool. Watch the full video here.
POOL A actual draw:
- France
- New Zealand
POOL A up to date draw
- France
- Australia