Harlequins 26 London Irish 15

London Irish put up a dogged fight against league leaders Harlequins at Twickenham but ultimately came away with nothing to show for their efforts.

Ian Humphreys kicked five penalties for the Exiles as they matched their opponents for the majority of the game, but a late penalty try sealed their fate.

The teams exchanged penalties in the first-half and went in 6-6 at the break. Quins? Danny Care then went over shortly after the interval, with the video referee required to confirm the decision.

The boot of Humphries ensured Irish remained within touching distance of the score as he kicked a long-range penalty to bring the Exiles back into the game.

However, a penalty try, awarded with just three minutes left after two scrums had to be reset, ensured Conor O?Shea?s men ran out victors.

Irish were not helped either when new signing Pat Phibbs was sin-binned after deliberately knocking the ball out of Care?s hands close to the line.

The result capped a miserable end to 2012 for Brian Smith?s side, who have now extended their losing streak to seven matches in all competitions.

Reflecting on the game, Smith said: ?It?s disappointing because I felt our effort was worthy of something, but we?re big boys and we?ve just got to dust ourselves off and keep fighting.

?We?re happy with the effort, but bitterly disappointed coming up short both in terms of the result and not getting a bonus point.

?But we look at their side and think they?re a bit better along in terms of the development path than we are.

?Certainly up front they were very good but I thought our scrum was a lot more competitive than what they were rewarded for.?

Commenting on Danny Care?s try, Smith added: ?I thought it was touch and go because we had a chance to steal the ball under the posts, so it?s fine margins.

?The effort level was pretty good today, but we?ve got to hold our hands up too. We were probably overshadowed a little up front.

?Our lineout was good all day but in the last two we let ourselves down when we had a chance to claw something back out of the game.

?We?ve got to be brutally honest with ourselves and make sure our reaction to this performance is constructive.?

Harlequins: Brown (Botica 60), Williams, Hopper, Casson (Lowe 48), Monye, Evans, Care, Marler (Collier 79), Gray, Johnston, Kohn (Matthews 69), Robson, Fa'asavalu (Guest 48), Robshaw, Easter.

London Irish: Homer, Ojo, Joseph, Tagicakibau (Armitage 79), Yarde, Humphreys, Allinson (Phibbs 56), Lahiff (Yanuyanutawa 71), Paice, Aulika (Halavatau 77), Evans, Garvey (Skivington 71), Danaher, Sinclair, Hala'ufia (Gibson 56).

Sin Bin: Phibbs (76).

Attendance: 82,200.

Referee: Greg Garner.

Source: http://www.getbracknell.co.uk/sport/rugby/london_irish/s/2126318_harlequins_26_london_irish_15

psychosis dianna agron million hoodie march tebow trade mike the situation jacksonville jaguars jacksonville jaguars