Evans keeps Quins on course
Nick Evans kicked five first-half penalties for Harlequins as the Londoners held on for a 15-9 victory over Connacht in Galway.
Last Updated: 17/12/10 9:34pm
Nick Evans kicked five first-half penalties for Harlequins as the Londoners held on for a 15-9 victory over Connacht in Galway.
Following their 20-9 Pool One victory over the Irishmen at The Stoop last weekend, Quins look on course for a quarter-final berth.
The icy wind and driving snow made running rugby difficult, but the hundreds of tons of straw that had been laid on the Sportsground turf made the pitch perfectly playable.
The first half was an attritional affair but Evans gave the visitors the edge as he kicked five out of six penalties.
Miah Nikora's two penalties twice got Connacht back on level terms and Ian Keatley added another just before half-time to keep the hosts in touch, but that was it as far as scoring went.
Blizzard
The second half started in near-blizzard conditions as the home side looked to launch a fightback.
Quins went a man down, with centre Jason Turner-Hall in the sin-bin for an off-the-ball offence, but it was not long before Connacht were reduced to 14 men after replacement lock Bernie Upton was caught using his elbow illegally as he drove into a ruck on the visitors' 22.
Quins lost Tom Guest, Ceri Jones and Gonzalo Camacho to injuries in the first 50 minutes and failed to take advantage of their extra man on two occasions. Prop Jamie Hagan became the second home forward to end up in the bin 10 minutes from time when he went off his feet at a ruck.
That allowed Quins to launch a late attack but they failed to cross despite a series of pick-and-drives from the forwards, but they had already done enough.
