Wilkinson is struggling to carry a poor Newcastle side

It briefly looked as though the one-man Jonny Wilkinson show might enable Newcastle to force Quins to pay for their generosity at the start of the second half.

Wilkinson ran 20 yards to touch down before adding a conversion.

But despite their young skipper's efforts, Newcastle soon looked out of their depth again.

Their defence fell apart when Harlequins' number eight Tony Diprose forced his way over for a 56th minute try.

England centre Will Greenwood, returning to the Harlequins side following the death of his new-born son, received huge applause as he ran in unchallenged eight minutes later.

Then wing Ben Gollings sent scrum-half Nick Duncombe in for a simple try.

Full-back Williams took over the kicking duties to convert the last two.

But still Wilkinson would not give up, showing his vision with a sublime crossfield kick straight in to the arms of left wing Jamie Noon who placed the ball over the try line.

Wilkinson landed the conversion to maintain his 100 % kicking record and take his personal tally to 18 points.

But Newcastle were breached again when Harlequins hooker Tani Fuga scored their sixth try in injury time with Williams again converting.

Harlequins: M. Williams, Moore, Greenwood, Satala, Gollings, D. Slemen, Duncombe, Leonard, Fuga, Gomez, Davison, Codling, Tiatia, Sanderson, Diprose.

Replacements: Rudzki, Starr, Evans, Sheriff, Bemand, Jewell, Greenstock.

Newcastle: Botham, Noon, May, M. Wilkinson, Jones, J. Wilkinson, Charlton, Ward, Brotherstone, Hurter, Hamilton, Grimes, Dunbar, Devonshire, Arnold.

Replacements: Grindal, Isaacson, Godman, Dowson, Vyvyan, Thompson, Otuvaka.

Referee: Steve Leyshon (RFU)