Evans a 'pleased man'
September 21, 2002

Harlequins chief executive Mark Evans was left a satisfied man after his side's 29-19 triumph over local derby rivals London Irish.

Quins' first win of the season takes them off the foot of the Zurich Premiership table, a position they had occupied after defeats to Gloucester, Leicester and Leeds.

"I am a very pleased man," said Evans. "I thought we played with a lot of heart, spirit and passion even though we didn't play practically well to be frank.

"We scored three tries and the third one, which was an interception try, was crucial. That gave us a 14-point turnaround.

"Bits of our defence weren't particularly good but London Irish didn't exploit that. We played better in the second half and I thought that Ace Tiatia was superb defensively. It was certainly the best game from our back row all season."

London Irish director of rugby Conor O'Shea was far from happy with his side's display.

After the Exiles' excellent season last term, they have won just one game out of four outings since the start of the new campaign.

O'Shea said: "We were rubbish. You can't go from one extreme to the other in terms of performance like we have done recently. It is not acceptable.

"We were taken apart from the word go. We had all the armour and I know the players can do it, but Harlequins deserved that one."

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices