Harlequins fullback Mike Brown scores the game's opening try in France
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Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup

Teams: Harlequins | Toulouse

Harlequins reignited their hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup by recording a sensational 31-24 victory over Toulouse in France on Sunday afternoon.

After seeing their undefeated start to the season ended by Guy Noves' side at The Stoop last weekend, Quins appeared to have it all to do. However, they stunned their hosts with early tries from Mike Brown and Joe Gray.

Toulouse responded with a try from Yoann Maestri just before the break before Jean-Marc Doussain kicked the French champions into the lead towards the end of the third quarter.

Brown crossed again for Quins on the hour and the game seemed there for the taking for Toulouse when Quins No.8 Nick Easter saw yellow on 68 minutes. However, Nick Evans landed two penalties for the visitors while they were down to 14 and Quins held on to claim a famous win despite losing Will Skinner to a red card with just over a minute of normal time remaining.

In the end, Toulouse were left to rue 12 missed points from the boot of fly-half Luke McAlister as they slumped to a surprise defeat which allowed Quins to cut their lead at the top of Pool 6 to just a solitary point.

There were few signs of the drama to come when McAlister opened the scoring with a penalty inside three minutes after Harlequins were penalised at a scrum, following Doussain's break.

Evans cancelled out that lead almost immediately when Toulouse were penalised for picking up a player in the maul from the re-start. Harlequins' problems in the scrum continued as a third engagement led to a second penalty, though they escaped further punishment when McAlister struck his kick against the post.

Despite a poor playing surface both teams showed intent amid a hectic start and Quins claimed the opening try in the 11th minute. The English team stole possession in midfield before Brown won the foot-race to Evans' smart kick to the corner to touch down.

Evans missed the conversion but was faring better than opposite number McAlister, off-target twice in the space of four minutes - including another in front of the posts, as Toulouse missed the chance to cancel out the 8-3 deficit.

Harlequins then grabbed a second try on 24 minutes after Evans' lofted kick found space behind the Toulouse defence. The bounce was kind to Quins and a swift interchange of passes ended with hooker Gray diving over. Evans converted for a surprise 15-3 lead.

Timoc Matanavou looked lively for the hosts and fellow wing Vincent Clerc thought he had responded for Toulouse but the final pass from Yannick Jauzion was ruled forward. The pressure eventually told when Jean Bouilhou broke through for Maestri to score neat the posts.

Doussain took over the kicking and his conversion cut Harlequins' lead to five points at half-time before two penalties early in the second half put the French team ahead. Quins were forced to defend as Toulouse moved up the gears, Brown making a try-saving tackle on Clerc.

Bouilhou missed his first effort but made amends moments later to stretch the Toulouse lead to 19-15 on 61 minutes. No sooner had the game re-started than Tom Williams stole possession from Clerc and the attack ended with Easter off-loading to Brown, who scampered through for his second try.

Evans converted and added a penalty as the game swung back in Harlequins favour 25-19, until Easter was shown a yellow card for infringing at a ruck.

Doussain squeezed over in the corner as Toulouse looked to make the most against seven forwards, but the scrum-half missed the conversion and Evans hit back with a brace of penalties late on as Quins held out for a rousing win.