No dream return for Richards
Peter Richards' return from World Cup duty was dealt a blow as the Exiles went down to his former club for the second time this season.
By Simon Dilger
Last Updated: 28/10/07 6:11pm
Peter Richards return from World Cup duty was dealt a cruel blow as the Exiles went down to his former club for the second time this season.
Richard and his team-mates were left smarting from two disallowed tries as Harlequins beat London Irish by two points on a wet afternoon at the Madejski Stadium.
Irish started well, buoyed by their victory over Guinness Premiership leaders Gloucester last weekend
Jeremy Staunton missed a chance to take the lead after Quins lock James Percival was yellow-carded for pulling down a maul and his subsequent penalty drifted wide of the posts
Number eight Phil Murphy went over in the corner but referee Roy Maybank had spotted an obstruction by the home side in the build-up.
But three minutes later it was Murphy again who took advantage of an overlap on the Irish left to slide over for an almost identical try.
This time however the points were assured but Staunton failed to add the extras.
Dominance
Despite their dominance in possession the Exiles were unable to take advantage and on 30 minutes a break from Quins openside Will Skinner found them defending at their five-metre line.
Number eight Chris Hala'ufia smashed over from the resulting scrum with the boot of Adrian Jarvis taking Qiuns into a surprising lead.
A 40-metre penalty from Delon Armitage was cancelled out by Jarvis from a similar distance on the stroke of half-time to take the score to 10-8.
In the second half Maybank came to Quins' rescue and penalised an Irish scrum for an early shove after Richards had crossed for Irish.
A rash of replacements broke up the flow of the game somewhat and Jarvis' substitute Chris Malone saw his kick, which was last scoring attempt for both sides, bounce off the post.
