Harlequins 53 - 15 Gloucester: Quins crush cup winners

The Londoners put their poor recent form behind them in stunning fashion, thanks in no small part to a Ugo Monye hat-trick, George Lowe's brace and scrum-half Rory Clegg's superb kicking display.

Returning duo Joe Gray and George Robson also ran in tries against a Gloucester side seemingly suffering a hangover from last weekend's LV= Cup success.

The defeat in London abruptly ended the Cherry and Whites' 11-match winning streak and dented the third-placed side's hopes of catching Leicester and Saracens.

Heading into the game, Harlequins were able to welcome back stand-in England captain Nick Easter and Danny Care from RBS Six Nations duty.

In addition to the England duo's return to Conor O'Shea's starting line-up, Gray replaced the injured Matt Cairns at hooker and Robson returned from a hand injury sustained in February.

Meanwhile, Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath decided to overhaul the side that comfortably beat Newcastle Falcons in the LV= Cup final last Sunday as they welcomed back a number of players from injury and international duty.

The game got off to a tentative start with both sides trying to feel out their opponents, although Quins soon began to pile the pressure.

Danny Care and Gray both saw try-scoring opportunities thwarted just shy of the line in the tenth minute, but Harlequins got off the mark from Clegg's 20-yard penalty.

Gloucester were under the cosh from powerful play through the middle and Harlequins dominated the contact areas in a game of big hits.

Quins soon grabbed the first try of the afternoon, with Gray driving towards the line in the 25th minute after some clever play and steady pressure.

Clegg's conversion punished the lacklustre Cherry and Whites further, although the visitors did get a foothold back in the clash three minutes later through Nicky Robinson's penalty.

After piling on more pressure, Harlequins secured two tries in as many minutes on the stroke of half-time.

Robson bounced over in the corner before Monye had acres of space to run the ball into the corner, allowing Clegg to notch another two conversions.

Having spent the first seven minutes of the second period camped in Gloucester's 22, only last-ditch defending prevented a fourth Harlequins try but it did allow Clegg to kick another penalty.

Quins, though, did not have to wait long for a try as Monye exposed a gap and sprinted clear to all but wrap up the victory in the 50th minute.

Clegg's conversion was complemented ten minutes later by yet another try as George Lowe went over the whitewash to the delight of the home faithful.

Gloucester coach Redpath rung the changes in a bid to stop the rot and replacement Henry Trinder ran through to score in the 71st minute.

Robinson converted but the points were a mere consolation as Lowe ran in a converted try before Monye secured his hat-trick try in the dying moments.Tim Molenaar added a consolation try at the death but Robinson skewed wide his kick at the end of a miserable afternoon for the visitors.

Quins director of rugby Conor O'Shea said: "It came from a combination of a lot of hurt we felt from a couple of weeks ago and the run we have been having," he said.

"Anybody that was down here and watched the Newcastle game in the LV= Cup would have seen some fantastic rugby but we just didn't finish.

"At times we probably played better rugby in that game (than we did today]. We try and play rugby and we always will.

"Nick (Easter], Danny (Care] and George Robson coming back into the team gave us a bit of experience around all the youth that we have and was a massive thing today.

"I am delighted to have a bit of momentum back in our season. There is still a lot to play for."

Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath admitted it was his side's worst performance in two years and "unacceptable" from his players.

"We were dreadful," he said.

"I think Quins had more energy than us, that was pretty obvious.

"I thought they looked a bit more energised than we did but, on the whole, I thought we were dreadful.

"We fell off tackles today that we hadn't fallen off previously and made it pretty easy to score against us on certain occasions.

"In the first half the game was gone at 24-3 because we never controlled any field position or possession.

"It happened, we have got to get on with it and deal with it."

Scorers: Harlequins: Tries: Gray, Robson, Monye 3, Lowe 2. Cons: Clegg 6. Pens: Clegg 2. Gloucester: Tries: Trinder, Molenaar. Con: Robinson. Pen: Robinson.Harlequins: Brown; Camacho, Lowe, Turner-Hall, Monye; Clegg; Easter, Robshaw (c), Fa'asavalu, Robson, Kohn, Andress, Gray, Marler. Subs: Brooker, Jones, Lambert, Vallejos, Skinner, Moore, Urdapilleta, Williams.

Gloucester: Burns; Sharples, Molenaar, Fuimaono-Sapolu, Voyce; Robinson, Lawson; Narraway (c), Qera, Strokosch, Attwood, James, Doran-Jones, Lawson, Dickinson. Subs: Azam, Thomas, Harden, Brown, Cox, Pasqualin, Trinder, May.

Referee: J P Doyle.