Gloucester 26-20 Harlequins, Aviva Premiership, October 23
Redpath relieved after narrow win
ESPNscrum Staff
October 22, 2010
Scott Lawson charges through a gap in the Quins defence, Gloucester v Harlequins, Aviva Premiership, Kingsholm, Gloucester, England, October 23, 2010
Scott Lawson leads the charge for Gloucester at Kingsholm © Getty Images
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Gloucester boss Bryan Redpath admitted his team suffered "a few flutters" before denying a Nick Evans-inspired Harlequins victory at Kingsholm.

Fly-half Evans scored 21 points as Quins hauled themselves level from 26-13 adrift before Gloucester No.8 Brett Deacon claimed a 77th-minute touchdown. The 33-26 verdict meant Gloucester could celebrate a third successive Aviva Premiership victory, while Quins are still without an away league win this year.

Gloucester played half the second period with 14 men after props Paul Doran-Jones and Nick Wood were sin-binned, and their transgressions gave Quins a lifeline before Deacon finished them off.

"I felt we were pretty comfortable before the two yellow cards," said Redpath. "Suddenly it was 26-26, then we dug in well during the closing minutes. I will take that, although the second-half wasn't good enough collectively. There were a few flutters. I am disappointed with the two yellow cards, both were dull penalties."

Doran-Jones went off following a skirmish with his opposite number Joe Marler, then as he prepared to return, Wood departed after tipping England and Quins No.8 Nick Easter from a lineout.

"We were pretty efficient in the first-half," added Redpath. "But Nick Evans is a talented player and he took his opportunities. We've got to make sure we keep creating chances. If you don't take them and your discipline slacks off a little, you are going to risk losing."

Evans and England scrum-half Danny Care touched down for Quins, while Evans' opposite number Nicky Robinson amassed 18 points, including conversions of tries from Dave Lewis, Charlie Sharples and Deacon, but Gloucester only just escaped from jail.

And Quins rugby director Conor O'Shea claimed his team scored a try at the death that would have given Evans a conversion attempt to tie the score at 33-33. But with no video referee for a game that was not live on television, a second opinion could not be gauged.

"Chris Robshaw scored - he was pushed over the line by George Robson. Such is life," said O'Shea. "You could see the incredulity on the players' faces. This season is going to be the tightest Premiership for a long time, and every point is going to count.

"We talk about the controllables. We can't control the referee, the crowd or the fact there was no television match official. We didn't play in the first-half - our set-piece was poor - but credit to the guys, they fought their way back. We dug in and got ourselves back into a position to win the game."

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