Marcus Smith shines for Harlequins but Leicester Tigers turn the tide

Eddie Jones was among the spectators a day after the England head coach named the Harlequins outside-half Marcus Smith in the squad for a training camp in Oxford this week and overlooked the home side’s prop Kyle Sinckler. He had reflected the previous day that the rugby in the Premiership this season had been a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly, and here he was treated to all three in one sitting.

The 18-year-old Smith was having a growing influence on the game when he suffered a knee injury nine minutes into the second half having helped his side regain the lead. His departure, along with that of the England flanker Chris Robshaw, was a turning point in a game neither side managed to mould in its own shape.

Smith, standing deep, directed the home side’s multi-phase moves on a day when both sides initially put position over possession to reduce the risk of being caught on the counterattack and came close to scoring Quins’ opening try in the first half after anticipating the Leicester scrum-half Ben Young’s pass in his 22. There was very little loose-kicking until the game broke up in the final quarter and the only Leicester player to put boot to ball in the first period was their scrum-half.

Smith did so twice, his second almost leading to a try – for Leicester. He got more height than distance on the up and under from his 10-metre line, allowing Telusa Veainu, abetted by blockers, to weave through an array of tacklers into the home 22 where he found Jonny May who had his fellow wing Nick Malouf unmarked outside him.

A probable try turned into a knock-on as May’s pass hit the floor. The England wing had done rather better earlier when coming into the midfield from the left wing after Leicester had used a series of penalties, lineouts and mauls to set up camp near the home line. After tiring of the direct route, they meandered into midfield where Matt Smith fixed the defence with a decoy run and May provided the space for Veainu to ride the tackles of Charlie Walker and Mike Brown.

Quins had taken the lead with an early penalty but a lack of discipline undermined their territorial ambition. The match simmered, the scrum deteriorated into a shambles of resets and penalties, but the interval had the effect of thunder in relieving the humidity.

Quins were back in front within four minutes of the restart, Danny Care scoring from a penalty he had taken quickly after Leicester had been shoved off their open scrum ball. Mat Luamanu, Robshaw, Care and Alofa Alofa led a raid into the Tigers’ 22 and after Ellis Genge ended the move by standing in Smith’s position and catching a pass, Care took the penalty – which surprisingly was not supplemented by a yellow card – quickly and scored.

Their lead swelled to 10 points two minutes later. Veainu’s fumble turned into a counterattack when Smith passed with alacrity to Marland Yarde who drew the defence and freed Luamanu who rode two tackles and had just enough pace to make it to the line.

After the previous weekend’s victory at Wasps, Quins looked on course for a third successive win, but they are a side that as it takes with one hand gives with the other.

Leicester were back in front within 10 minutes as the game became completely open with the props Will Collier and Genge in the sin-bin after more scrum problems. First Ben Youngs led a counterattack that ended with Matt Toomua’s long pass giving May the room to sprint away from his England colleague Yarde and then George Ford held the defence with a pass 30 metres out that gave the replacement prop Greg Bateman a hole to aim for. He was expected to be no more than a link, but after charging through Brown he was like a truck rolling down a steep hill and rumbled to the line.

Smith had by then been replaced after complaining of a tight calf but is expected to be fit to join up with England. Even though the match had become a frolic, the casualty count was high. Walker and Dominic Ryan failed head injury assessments in the first half, Robshaw was taken off after being knocked out seven minutes into the second period, Leicester had to replace two replacements, Harry Thacker and Mathew Tait, and Brown was hobbling at the end after aggravating an ankle injury.

Alofa put Quins back in front after 62 minutes, the sixth time the lead had changed hands, but two Ford penalties were enough for the Tigers to record their third successive victory in this fixture. The first came after Veainu, leaping in the air, had caught Yarde in the face with his elbow. On another day it would have been a reversed penalty and a card, but a lot was missed on an afternoon when so much went on.