Today was meant to be Leicester’s day to turn things around.
It never took place. Prior to kickoff, the World Cup winners, South Africa’s Handre Pollard and Jasper Wiese, were applauded, and the England players were back with the Tigers.
Even yet, Dan McKellar’s team was unable to secure the victory. Leicester have now dropped four of their opening five Premiership encounters this year. Even if it’s early, a top-four position doesn’t seem likely.
Leicester had the majority of the running, but they made too many mistakes and were outscored five to three. The Harlequins were victorious with a bonus-point victory, despite Marcus Smith’s subpar performance in his No. 10 matchup with Pollard.
Dan Cole’s dejected expression as Leicester attempted and failed to push for what would have been a late, match-winning try said everything.
Leicester head McKellar’s face looked haunted at the final whistle as he digested a game his team should have won. The only consolation was a losing bonus.
We beat ourselves,’ said McKellar. ‘There were errors at critical moments. We did enough to win, but we didn’t take the opportunities.
‘Defensively, we need to be much better. It was five soft tries conceded at home. That’s got to change. We have to beat Northampton next week; it’s as simple as that.
‘We are in a position now where we can’t drop many more games.’
Smith was back to start at 10 for the Harlequins after the World Cup. He jumped for joy at the final whistle.
It won’t console anyone of Leicester’s persuasion, but this was another entertaining Premiership game.
There were five first-half tries, with No. 8 Alex Dombrandt getting the scoring going.
Dino Lamb got the visitors’ second, and Tyrone Green produced another acrobatic finish for the second weekend running.
Hanro Liebenberg and Freddie Steward kept Leicester in the contest.
So too did Smith’s errant kick from the tee.
England full-back Steward grabbed his second at the start of the second half, bravely calling for the ball to finish when clearly struggling with injury.
Will Porter sold the Leicester defense a wonderful dummy to snipe over.
But when Pollard nailed a penalty to put the Tigers ahead by a point, it looked like the Springboks No. 10’s kicking, as it was for his country at the World Cup, would be enough to give his team victory.
However, Lamb scored another goal from close range, and even though Smith missed the conversion and the Tigers made a strong last-gasp assault, they committed too many errors to prevail.
Nick Evans, the attack coach for the Harlequins, stated, “It’s a sprint, and you can’t wait until Christmas to start winning games.” We won’t get ahead of ourselves, but we understood we had to get going quickly.
“I’m happy and proud.” You have to earn a result here, and I believe we did. We persisted in the game despite its messiness. I believe we were well-prepared.
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