With the first half of the World Cup game turning out to be a surprising one with a 6-6 score at half time, things then changed dramatically in the second half with our own Will Greenwood scoring the try for England as they defeated the South Africans 25-6 in Perth.

It was not such a good day for the Quins supporters. In a tough match versus Gloucester the unbeaten home record was pushed aside as the Cherry and Whites took a 16-0 victory.

Centre Henry Paul scored 11 of Gloucester's points kicking three penalties and a conversion, with Robert Todd going over for the try, while Quins fly-half Paul Burke missed both goal attempts.

With three changes to the NEC Harlequins side mainly due to injuries from the Newcastle game last weekend, Ace Tiatia was replaced by Tani Fuga and Josh Taumalolo by Andy Reay, with Simon Keogh getting a start ahead of Rob Jewell who was on the bench.

Henry Paul had an early opportunity to put Gloucester ahead, but luckily for the home side his kick was unsuccessful. Quins started with a few promising breaks, with winger Ugo Monye getting a chance to stretch his legs early in the game, but with little space and James Simpson-Daniel defending it did not result in points.

Some strong tackling from winger Simon Keogh prevented Simpson-Daniel from attacking a few minutes later and it was not looking too bad for the home side until the 15th minute when Tani Fuga went down and was replaced by James Hayter - the first of the injury woes for the day.

With another penalty going Gloucester's way, Henry Paul had his second chance to score points, but again missed his kick. Quins captain Andre Vos went off in the 20th minute for a blood replacement with Luke Sherriff taking the field and then things went from bad to worse.

Ugo Monye took a knock on the knee and failed to get up and the concern was obvious on the captain's face when he returned to field after having stitches in his cheek. Monye was clearly in pain and in the 29th minute was taken off with Rob Jewell coming on as his replacement.
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The game was by no means an entertaining one with Quins struggling to get good set piece ball and spending a large amount of time defending. It was once again a fairly scrappy encounter with both sides failing to make a dent in each others defence.

The Gloucester backs looked dangerous and played the expansive game that was expected of them and Henry Paul eventually picked up three points for his side in the 37th minute.

With a strong wind it was a difficult half for Paul Burke and he did not have the option but to kick for touch instead of goals. The half time score was 0-3 to the visitors.

With some impressive play by Gloucester's No. 8 James Forrester and continued good form by Marcel Garvey the Cherry and Whites went into the second half without making any substitutions.

The second half saw the visitors taking control of the game, with a strong partnership and some good play between debutant Duncan McRae and Henry Paul. Winger Marcel Garvey came close to scoring after half time, but Rob Jewell defended well. Quins got their first chance to secure three points in the 45th minute but Burke pushed the kick wide.

Minutes later Henry Paul had his third shot at goal and kicked it taking the score to 0-6.

There were changes to the Quins pack in the 50th minute with Jones and Gomez being replaced by Worsley and Dawson and when Simon Keogh looked in trouble with his shoulder minutes later, it was not destined to be a good day at the Stoop.


Much to the management's relief Keogh was not substituted and was fine to continue. Paul Burke had another shot at goal in the 56th minute and again it was not meant to be.

Henry Paul's kick put another three points onto his teams tally in the 68th minute (0-9) before the first and only try of the match was scored a minute into injury time when Robert Todd intercepted a pass from replacement Andy Dunne and Paul converted. Score 0-16.

Some consistent kicking by Paul secured the win for Gloucester - their first away win of the season. Generally it was a disappointing game for all at the Stoop and a very docile crowd.

Final Score 16-0.

Besides the score line other obvious concerns for Quins were the injuries sustained by Monye and Fuga.

The good news is that Monye's knee seems to be better than suspected and management are hopeful that he will be available to play against Sale Sharks on Saturday, but Fuga has damaged the medial ligaments in his knee and could be out for up to eight weeks.