Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson accepted his side “weren’t at the races” as they finished scoreless for the first time in over a decade in a 14-0 defeat to Gloucester at a sold-out Kingsholm.
Error-ridden Quins were frustrated by resolute defence from their determined opponents but will reflect on numerous mistakes as none of their stars made any impact in an atypically lacklustre performance from them.
Josh Hathaway and Jack Clement scored Gloucester’s first-half tries, both of which Santiago Carreras converted, and it proved enough for victory.
Wilson said: “We were riddled with errors and physically we weren’t at the races, especially in the first half as Gloucester clearly had the competitive edge at that stage.
“The second half was an improvement but overall we gave away 23 turnovers and made 15 handling errors – but despite that we still had many opportunities to score, which we blew.
Fixture
Gallagher Premiership
Gloucester
Harlequins
“I have not seen us make that many individual errors for some time so we need to address the problem ahead of next week’s important game with Leicester at Twickenham.
“We had no problem with our attack last week, scoring 53 points against Stormers, and we are capable of going on long winning runs as we’ve done it before.”
It was a totally different story in the opposition camp as Gloucester won a third consecutive league match for the first time in over two years.
Their head coach George Skivington said: “Our defence was outstanding as to ‘nil’ any Premiership side is massive, especially one as good as Quins.
“The boys are now finding the right balance between attack and defence but our defensive set in the first 10 minutes set the tone for the rest of the match.
“Quins wanted to play attacking rugby just like us but we got on top of them today, although we left four or five tries out there.
“It’s now benefitting us that the senior leadership group are making the right calls in terms of game management, which is crucial in winning the game.”
Captain Lewis Ludlow added: “It was a very fast game as we are just getting the hang of our new game plan where the ball is in play far more.
“But our defensive effort proved to be crucial as we’ve conceded 30 points at home in nearly all our fixtures this season apart from Edinburgh last week.”
