Luger jumps to Quins' rescue

Barry Newcombe13 April 2012

England wing Dan Luger flew to Singapore today for duty in the international sevens next weekend after helping to lift Harlequins further away from the bottom of the Zurich Premiership.

Luger's rescue act came in the last minute against London Irish, where his 35-yard sprint to charge down a conversion attempt by Irish points machine Barry Everitt kept the score at 18-18 - and doubled Quins' points advantage over Leeds.

Luger had been dropped by Quins last month - but still retained by England - and was summoned for his charge-down role by prop Jason Leonard who said: "With someone of Dan's pace there is always a chance of a charge-down. Everitt, like Jonny Wilkinson and all the best kickers, has his routine and takes his time."

Luger said: "Jason was shouting at me to come over from the left wing to the right and have a go at the kicker. I went up fast with Ben Gollings and I got the touch. He might have missed the kick anyway but we made sure. It was the second time I have done that - I did it against Bristol a few years ago to help us stay up then."

Quins believed they had won the game when Gollings dropped a goal after 85 minutes to claim a lead of 18-13 - following two drop goals by David Slemen and penalties by Paul Burke (2) and Chris Bell. But four minutes later Irish levelled with a try by Michael Horak.

Gollings, who is also on the way to Singapore, said: "We got two points out of that to go from the bottom of the table over Leeds but it would have been better to have had a win."

Quins manager Mark Evans said: "It does take Barry Everitt a long time to get his kicks in, we have talked about it before and I am glad we remembered that."

Quins, after four wins in 19 matches, next play London Wasps who confirmed their recent recovery with a 20-14 win at Saracens and said that they are considering a move to Oxford next season now that they have to leave Loftus Road.

The Irish, up to second place behind champions Leicester, now have to recover from what director Conor O'Shea termed a "poor game and a poor performance" to face Northampton in the Powergen Cup Final at Twickenham on Saturday .

Meanwhile, Harlequins complained that team manager Mike Scott had been abused and spat on as he sat in the Madejski Stadium.