Warriors showed tremendous character and resilience to overcome atrocious weather conditions and overturn an 11 points deficit after 13 minutes to record their second win at The Stoop.
A try from Jamie Shillcock, in his first Premiership start since April 2018, 13 minutes from time levelled the scores and captain-for-the-day Jono Lance levered over the conversion from the right hand touchline to give Warriors the lead.
Lance added a penalty for good measure from the final play of the match to put the seal on an impressive away win.
Torrential rain in the hour before kick-off and again throughout the game made conditions difficult for both sides but Warriors rolled up their sleeves and put in a huge physical effort that was rewarded with an important away win.
They also won the hard way having conceded two soft tries in a five minute spell early in the first half when Harlequins number eight Alex Dombrandt picked a hole in the defence and blindside flanker James Chisholm scored a kick-and-rush try.
But Warriors regained their composure and played their way back into the match. Although long periods of pressure in the first half did not bring a try they did produce three penalties from Lance who topped-and-tailed the scoring in the half.
The third of those kicks, right on the stroke of half-time proved significant as it reduced Harlequins’ lead to five points and gave Warriors a huge psychological lift going into the break.
In the second half Warriors played an intelligent wet weather game with Michael Heaney, Lance and Shillcock kicking astutely to keep Harlequins out of scoring range.
Harlequins turned to Marcus Smith in an attempt to break the second half stalemate but he was short with a speculative long range penalty attempt.
Instead Warriors pinned Harlequins deep in their 22, won a scrum when Quins were held up in a ruck close to their line and made the pressure count.
Heaney went on a sniping run from the scrum and was held up just short. But Warriors’ forwards retained possession and Heaney popped up again to deliver the scoring pass to Shillcock who finished superbly.
Lance made a difficult conversion look easy and Warriors played a sensible pick-and-drive game for the last ten minutes which ran the clock down and eventually forced Harlequins to concede another penalty which Lance slotted to complete a 14-point match haul.
Hear captain Lance’s reaction in the video above.
Warriors | 15 Jamie Shillcock, 14 Melani Nanai, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ashley Beck (Lawerence 62), 11 Ed Fidow, 10 Jono Lance (C), 9 Michael Heaney, 1 Ethan Waller (Black 62), 2 Niall Annett (Taufete’e 54), 3 Richard Palframan (Carey 65), 4 Anton Bresler, 5 Graham Kitchener (Fatialofa 54), 6 Ted Hill, 7 Sam Lewis, 8 Cornell du Preez (van Velze 54).
Replacements | 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Callum Black, 18 Conor Carey, 19 Michael Fatialofa, 20 GJ van Velze, 21 Jono Kitto, 22 Ollie Lawrence, 23 Perry Humphreys.
Timeline
5m | Lance pen 0-3
8m | Dombrandt try 5-3
9m | Smith con 7-3
13m | J Chsholm try 12-3
14m | Smith con 14-3
32m | Lance pen 14-6
40m | Lance pen 14-9
67m | Shillcock try 14-14
68m | Lance con 14-16
80m | Lance pen 14-19