Harlequins held to draw by Castres

Harlequins 23 Castres 23

Harlequins ended their eight-match losing streak today with a dramatic, but ultimately frustrating, draw against Castres at The Stoop.

Dafydd James scored two tries as Harlequins twice opened healthy leads but they were pinned back each time as Castres centre Richard Dourthe, the former France international, proved a constant thorn in their side.

Dourthe was voted man of the match for his six penalties and the carving break which set up Brad Fleming’s second-half try.

Even at 23-23 and with Castres down to 14 men after Paul Volley was sin-binned, Quins had chances but two missed penalties in the closing stages from fly-half Jeremy Staunton, who finished with 13 points, proved costly.

Harlequins will now take their search for a first victory of the season to Wasps, the European and Zurich Premiership champions, next weekend.

It appeared after 22 minutes that today was the day as Harlequins, having limited Castres’ attacking options, led 13-3.

The visitors had hardly touched the ball when Tom Williams, a lithe, slippery full-back making his first start of the season, slid around Dourthe to launch a fluid break.

The England Under-21 international moved the ball inside via Simon Keogh to Andre Vos and the Harlequins skipper fed James to finish off under the posts.

It was arguably the brightest moment the loyal Stoop fans had witnessed in what has been a depressing season but their spirits remained high as Harlequins, in charge at the set-piece, bossed the next 20 minutes.

Staunton landed a pair of penalties to open a 13-3 advantage, the second of which came after Harlequins’ much maligned pack had driven nearly 30 metres from the lineout and forced Castres to collapse the maul in front of the posts.

The French side started with Volley – a key member of Wasps’ double-winning side last season and once again overlooked by England despite the paucity of proven back-row forwards at Andy Robinson’s disposal – at number eight.

He turned in another gritty display but it was Dourthe who proved Castres’ key man.

After landing a 48-metre penalty to get his side on the board and receiving a dressing down from the referee for a high blow on Ceri Jones, Dourthe landed two quick penalties just before the interval.

After the interval Staunton landed another penalty but every time Quins thought the game was theirs, Dourthe pinned them back.

He landed two more penalties to draw Castres within a point before James finished off a neat move for his second try of the game to extend Harlequins’ lead to 23-15.

The ball was stolen at the lineout and when it finally reached England centre Will Greenwood, he drew two defenders and flicked it back inside to James, his British Lions colleague from three years ago.

But this game continued to twist and turn and with celebrations still in full flow, Dourthe picked a wonderful angle and broke Harlequins’ cover defence before handing outside to Fleming.

Dourthe missed the conversion from wide on the right but landed a sixth penalty of the afternoon just before the hour and the scores were level at 23-23.

Castres were then reduced to 14 men when Volley was sin-binned. but Staunton missed twoshots at goal to claim the win.