Quins sunk by Sarries
Saracens handed Harlequins their first loss of the Aviva Premiership season with a 19-11 triumph at a sold-out Twickenham.
By Rob Lancaster - Twitter: @SkySportsLanny
Last Updated: 27/12/11 7:05pm
Harlequins saw their perfect record in the Aviva Premiership come to an end at a sold-out Twickenham as they were beaten 19-11 by Saracens.
The reigning champions came out on top in a battle between the top two in the table that was watched by a record attendance of 82,000.
David Strettle crossed for an intercept try against his old club and Owen Farrell kicked 14 points to help Sarries cut the gap to the league leaders to five points.
Quins trailed 19-6 at the break but did threaten a second-half comeback, Joe Marler's try raising hope that they could yet get to 11 straight domestic wins.
Too much
But, in the end, Conor O'Shea's side simply left themselves with too much to do after a below-par first 40 minutes at England's rugby HQ.
Sarries, in contrast, were out of the blocks in a flash. Strettle made his mark against his former employers inside the opening minute, sitting Nick Evans on his backside with a big hit that set the tone for a one-sided first half.
Their speed up front left a sluggish Quins pack, perhaps regretting that extra slice of turkey during their Christmas dinner, struggling to keep up, meaning penalty opportunities came along in plentiful supply for Farrell.
The centre broke the deadlock after eight minutes and then doubled his team's advantage after Matt Hopper was punished for shouldering scrum-half Peter Stringer to the ground.
A third penalty - this time for Quins holding on in an attempt to slow things down at the breakdown - allowed Farrell to make it 9-0, though both the 20-year-old and Charlie Hodgson declined to have a pop at the posts from the halfway line when Quins next fell foul of the referee.
Instead Hodgson kicked for the corner, only for hooker Schalk Brits to overthrow his jumper and allow Quins to counter attack.
The breakaway led to a penalty and Evans duly landed the three points to get the 'hosts' on the board, only for Marler to offer up a late Christmas gift to Strettle that allowed the winger to canter in for an intercept try just two minutes later.
Farrell slotted over the straightforward conversion before another penalty from his trusty right boot made it 19-3 after only 25 minutes of play.
An Evans penalty with the final kick of the opening 40 minutes cut the gap to 13, and the second half saw a complete turnaround in proceedings.
With their forwards now on the front foot, Quins - last year's Amlin Challenge Cup winners - went through phase after phase in search of a much-needed try.
Made amends
It didn't take long in coming either, energetic prop Marler making amends for his earlier error by diving over in the left corner just eight minutes after the re-start.
Although the conversion was missed from tight to the touchline by Evans, Harlequins were suddenly the side in the ascendancy.
The in-form Mike Brown produced an outrageous dummy to break clear from deep as Sarries' strong defence was put to the test. They survived, though at one stage only thanks to Nick Easter's pass to Maurie Fa'asavalu being a fraction too high for his back-row colleague to take in metres from the line.
Ugo Monye sniffed out a rare attacking opportunity at the other end with a superb tackle, piling opposing winger James Short into touch.
It did not matter that the chance went begging, though, as Saracens held firm in a game of two very contrasting halves, meaning they have now got the better of their capital rivals in the last five meetings.
