London Irish gained revenge for their pre-season eviction from The Stoop by storming to a Chris Sheaby-inspired victory.

Quins chose to terminate their contract with Irish a year early and force them out of The Stoop but they were made to pay for that decision.

Both sides paraded several new recruits, indeed 12 of the 30 players who started the match were making their competitive club debuts.

Perhaps because of the re-shuffled squads the game at times failed to spring to life became scrappy with schoolboy errors halting some promising moves.

London Irish were left to rue a number of missed opportunities in the first half as they failed to cross the Quins line.

The normally reliable Gerrod Cunningham looked uncomfortable in his new fly-half role following Stephen Bachop move to Leeds and the New Zealander conspired to mess up a number of overlaps the exiles created.

His misery was compounded in the 10th minute when instead of releasing new-boy Nmandi Ezulike he went alone, but as he crossed the line a covering tackle by Ryan O'Neill knocked the ball from his grasp.

Quins, solid up front, created few clear cut chances and had to rely on Irish stand-off Paul Burke to keep them in the hunt.

Burke matched his opposite number Cunningham strike for strike as the pair amassed nine points apiece.

Burke, signed after an impressive season with Cardiff, slotted home a drop goal two minutes into injury time which brought the scores level at the break.

After short pre-season campaigns both sides looked decidedly rusty and the mistakes began to creep in.

After three minutes of the restart Quins piled over the top and presented Cunningham with a chance to give Irish the lead.

The Irish stand-off had sliced a similar chance in the first half but did not make the same mistake again and converted the chance with the help of an upright.

As the half wore on Quins were forced to defend bravely. Scrum-half Peter Richard made a try-saving tackle when Jason Wright appeared to have set captain Connor O'Shea clear but in the 60th minute after sustained pressure by the Irish Richard Kirke dived over.

It was no more than they deserved after the territorial advantage they had exercised in the second period and Cunningham added the conversion to make the score 19-9.

The inconsistent form shown by Cunningham in the first period disappeared in the closing stages as he slotted home a penalty in the 77th minute to make the game safe for the away side.

An injury time try however from former England centre Will Greenwood saved the blushes of Harlequins as he danced over a line from close range to set up a pulsating final few moments.

Irish hung on for a deserved victory despite a late surge from the home side.

London Irish director of rugby Dick Best claimed the win was a sloppy early-season display.

Best warned loyal Exiles supporters not to get carried away in the wake of their win and highlighted a number of errors which could have cost his side a deserved victory.

``Last season we failed to kill off teams when chances were presented to us and that resulted in a number of unnecessary defeats,'' said Best.

``Today we had chances. Eddie Halvey had a one-on-one with Mark Mapletoft, Justin Bishop failed to find his team-mate with an inside pass when clear and Conor O'Shea was tackled yards from the line.

``Our finishing needs to improve if we are to compete in this division and beat Northampton next week.''

Best will wait anxiously to hear the full extent of an injury to first-choice fly-half Jarrod Cunningham as the New Zealander limped off with five minutes remaining in the match.

Cunningham, traditionally a full-back, is the only experienced stand-off at the club and, judging from his performance, at The Stoop the Exiles may struggle to assert themselves in the division.

``Jarrod had one of those strange games. Last season he was the division's top point-scorer but today he lost us 13 points in the first half.

``He dropped the ball over the line and missed a kick in front of the posts which he would convert in his sleep.

``At half-time I was considering substituting him but I'm glad I didn't as his performance improved significantly after the interval.''

Best was quick to heap praise on Welsh pair Steve Williams and new signing Kevin Ellis as he said:

``It is tough to adapt to rugby in England when you've spent the majority of your career playing in Wales. The pair had big games today and we look forward to seeing how they will improve during the season.''

The London Irish scrum-half Junior Tonu'u has been ruled out for the next three weeks after damaging a tendon in his arm.