Belfast Harlequins ‘superb defence’ foundation for AIL victory climb

Dolphin went into the game as league leaders but Quins scored five tries to take maximum points and survived a late onslaught by the visitors to send them back to Cork with nothing from the game.

“After losing in Clonmel we were really up against it and we just needed to pull the game together and the boys right from the first whistle were really great,” said Quins scrum coach Cess Porter. “We lost it a bit in the middle bit of the game but came back with really some superb defence at the end.”

Quins went 20-0 up after 30 minutes with two of their tries coming of lineout mauls.

“We have focused on the lineout drives and turning to turn those into points and we have been fairly successful with those over the season,” said Porter. “We had two tries of it against Dolphin, and it is really pleasing to see the effort the boys put in.”

Quins went 32-7 on the hour mark but Dolphin emptied the bench, and the home side produced a superb rearguard action to deny the Munster side any match points.

“We did put the game to bed, there is still a lot of work to do we have to go down to Cork to face them again and they will be ready for us next time,” he said. “That last play there must have been 20 phases and if we had of conceded a try on that they would have had two bonus points by getting four tries and coming within seven, but they came away with nothing.”

“It was a real testament to the defensive effort our guys put in to go 20 phases without conceding on the 80th minute.

"A testament to their dedication and fitness.

“We are not even halfway through the season and there is a long way to go.

"But we set a bar and it was really good and there was so much effort put in by the team.”

Captain Mark Glover got Quins’ first try before hooker Steven Weir was propelled over the line twice from diving mauls.

Ben Power kicked a conversion and a penalty before Dolphin got a try to reduce the Quins half-time lead to 20-7.

No8 Joel Dundas sealed the home side’s bonus point before lock Scott McClelland went over.

Then Dolphin responded with two late tries.

Elsewhere in the division, Ballyclare are up to second are after scoring six tries in a 44-38 home win over Clonmel and Omagh lost at Enniscorthy.

Ballynahinch stormed to the summit of Division 1A with a 27-25 bonus point win at Lansdowne.

George Pringle, Bradley Luney, Aaron Sexton and Clayton Milligan got the Hinch tries but it needed a late Conor Rankin penalty to seal the victory.

City of Armagh picked up two match points in their 28-26 home defeat against Cork Con.

Queen’s went down 22-14 at Nenagh in Division 1B.

Instonians climbed to second in Division 2A after a 35-17 success over Old Crescent at Shaw’s Bridge.

Hugo Ellerby got two of the Belfast side’s five tries.

Banbridge went down 22-25 at home to Greystones, while Ballymena had a bonus point victory at Buccaneers.

In Division 2B, Wanderers won the top-of-the-table clash 24-19 with Dunganon.

There were wins for Clogher Valley, Malone and Rainey.