Harlequins 28-18 London Irish

Harlequins (18) 28
Tries: Lowe Cons: Evans Pens: Evans 7
London Irish (12) 18
Pens: Malone 6

Try scorer George Lowe hardly touched the ball before going over

Harlequins condemned London Irish to an eighth straight defeat with a 28-18 win in the Premiership and deepened the sense of crisis for the former leaders.

In a dour first half littered with infringements fly-halves Nick Evans and Chris Malone exchanged penalties to turn around with Quins 18-12 ahead.

After the break Evans and Malone continued to exchange penalties before Quins made the breakthrough with a try.

George Lowe latched onto Jordan Turner-Hall's kick through to seal the win.

In front of more than 74,000 spectators at Twickenham, Irish appeared to be suffering from stage fright when they started in jittery fashion.

The Exiles were quickly on the defensive after Evans converted an early shot at goal right in front of the posts for Quins.

Only a brave covering tackle by Malone prevented Tom Williams from scoring a try inside 10 minutes after Danny Care created space for his winger.

The match then descended into a series of penalties at restarts and the breakdown.

In the final play of a slow and uninspiring first half, Irish second row Bob Casey was sin-binned for tackling a player while off his feet at a ruck. Evans's boot ensured a six-point lead for his side.

The Exiles held their own while a man down and took first blood after the break when Malone's successful penalty penalised Care for holding the ball on the floor.

Casey returned and after Evans put Quins 21-15 ahead, Exiles produced the first real break of the game as Mapasua's inside pass in midfield found Topsy Ojo, but his pass out of the tackle was intercepted by Williams.

Malone missed the resulting penalty but now Irish had their tails up and a fine break by Daniel Bowden put them onto the Quins line.

They could not cross the whitewash but their pressure did result in Care being sent from the field for 10 minutes and Malone clawed back three more points.

Harlequins reorganised and pushed for a try but their slow ball could not initially break down the Irish defence before Turner-Hall's deft kick through, after he had gathered a bouncing ball, to put Lowe clear for his try.

Irish pushed for a late score and declined a penalty at goal for a losing bonus point to go for the try.

In the dying minutes Harlequins held out but three times Andrew Small signalled a penalty against the defending side without showing a yellow card.

Harlequins director of rugby Conor O'Shea:
"We are in the mix in the Amlin, the LV and I think we have put ourselves in the mix in the Premiership with a win which gives us the chance to get into the top four.

"A loss after the way we played against Saracens would have been hard to take but there is more to come from us. We can play a lot better.

"The crowd might not have seen huge entertainment in terms of the rugby spectacle but as the game wore on it got better and the defence towards the end shows a group of players that are willing to do anything for each other. That is not coaching, it is a bond that has been created."

London Irish coach Toby Booth:
"We have had a wretched run of results and I won't hide away from the fact but we are only half way through the season.

"We are obviously doing a lot of things to make sure this doesn't continue and still we haven't found the formula. It will be back to the drawing board but we will try not to be too over-reactive.

"The realism of what we have been through has left a scar. But we have to dust ourselves down because it is not going to right itself. We have to look at how and why and when we can do things better and I will certainly not shy away from that challenge."

Harlequins: Brown, Williams, Lowe, Turner-Hall, Monye, Evans, Care, Marler, Gray, Johnston, Kohn, Robson, Robshaw, Skinner, Easter.

Replacements: Casson for Monye (70), Fa'asavalu for Care (70), Cairns for Gray (72), Lambert for Johnston (60), Vallejos Cinalli for Kohn (61).

Sin bin: Care (58)

London Irish: D. Armitage, Ojo, Mapusua, Bowden, Tagicakibau, Malone, Hodgson, Dermody, Buckland, Rautenbach, Kennedy, Casey, Thorpe, S. Armitage, Stowers.

Replacements: Seveali'i for Mapusua (64), Murphy for Dermody (64), Corbisiero for Rautenbach (48), Garvey for Kennedy (64).

Sin Bin: Casey (40)

Att: 74,212

Ref: Andrew Small (RFU).