Premiership: Harlequins boss Tabai Matson pleased to survive ‘shambles’ against Newcastle Falcons

Harlequins head coach Tabai Matson was pleased with his side’s clinical edge as they made it three straight wins with a victory over Newcastle Falcons.

The 24-10 triumph saw the reigning champions move up to second place in the Premiership standings ahead of the other fixtures in Round 19 this weekend.

However, they did not dominate the possession stakes at The Stoop, showing that Harlequins took their opportunities when on offer better than Newcastle.

“If you told me before the game we’d be getting a 24-10 scoreline, I’d have been over the moon,” said Matson following the bonus-point win on home soil.

“When we got opportunities, we took them and they probably didn’t.

“They’ll probably have two or three they’ll be really disappointed with, especially when we went down to 13 men, so ‘clinical’ is a good word.

“As always, there are bits of the performance we’re pretty unhappy with and that’s a good sign. To pick up a five-point win at home and be disappointed with parts of the game proves we’re travelling well.

“We actually practiced a yellow card (situation) with Danny off during the week, but we never practiced two yellow cards.

“It turned into a bit of a shambles, but we survived. That’s the main thing.

“It’s a tough old season – I think we’ve got one more home game, so a win like this just keeps us in the hunt for the top four.”

Tries from Huw Jones, Cadan Murley and Louis Lynagh allowed Harlequins to open up a 19-3 lead, with Newcastle only replying through a Will Haydon-Wood penalty.

Tom Marshall did pull back a converted try before half-time, but the only score of the second half came when Murley secured Quins their bonus point.

Newcastle head coach Dave Walder said: “We had that period when they were down to 13 men