Gloucester shut out Harlequins as Hathaway and Clement seal third straight win

Gloucester Rugby recorded a third consecutive Gallagher Premiership victory with a 14-0 win against Harlequins thanks to first-half tries from Josh Hathaway and Jack Clement.

After beating defending champions Northampton Saints in their previous Premiership encounter, a sold-out Kingsholm was expecting a competitive clash against Quins.

The power of the Cherry & Whites forwards was evident from the outset, putting their visitors onto the back foot.

Kingsholm was treated to a 12th-minute opening try when Max Llewellyn’s dummy resulted in Hathaway running over.

The second try was also equally as impressive as from a line-out, a driving maul with pace resulted in Clement crossing the whitewash.

Gloucester should have been further ahead by the conclusion as Santiago Carreras saw a penalty hit a post, and Hathaway failed to finish when he was kicked through.

The result sees Gloucester put further pressure on the top four, while Quins drop to five points outside the play-offs before the rest of the weekend’s fixtures.

Next week sees Harlequins have another tough clash at home to Leicester, while Gloucester travel to Exeter Chiefs.

A victory last month against Northampton followed by a win at home to Harlequins has put Gloucester on the verge of the Gallagher Premiership top four.

With a trip to bottom side Exeter and a home clash against Sale to follow, fans at Kingsholm are starting to believe something special is building.

Gloucester have secured six try bonus points from eight games this season, but it is their defence which is starting to stand out.

For the first time in 10 years, Harlequins failed to score a point during a game, despite having a host of visits into the Gloucester 22.

Quins will reflect on some basic errors which handed possession back to their opponents, but Gloucester will take great pride from their stubborn defence and powerful scrummage.

Gloucester have been without scrum-half Williams since he injured his shoulder while playing for Wales in the Autumn Nations Series.

Williams missed his side’s previous Gallagher Premiership win against Northampton Saints, but played a key role in their win over Harlequins.

The Wales international was influential in his side’s opening try and then had the foresight to kick Hathaway through late in the match, for what should have been his second try.

Gloucester Rugby: Carreras 7, Wade 7, Llewellyn 8, Atkinson 8, Hathaway 7, Anscombe 7, Williams 8, Knight 7, Blake 7, Fasogbon 7, Thomas 7, Alemanno 7, Clement 7, Ludlow 7, Ackermann 7. Replacements: Singleton 6, Vivas 6, Gotovtsev 6, Jordan 6, Tuisue 6, Barton 6

Harlequins: Green 6, Isgro 6, Beard 6, Anyanwu 6, Murley 6, Smith 6, Porter 6, Baxter 6, Walker 6, Kerrod 6, Lamb 6, Hammond 6, Cunningham-South 6, Evans 6, Dombrandt 6. Replacements: Riley 6, Jones 6, Lewis 6, Herbst 6, Chisholm 6, Care 6, Evans 6, David 6.

12’ – TRY! GLOUCESTER (HATHAWAY) 7-0 HARLEQUINS: Llewellyn with a dummy run before feeding the ball behind him and Anscombe spots the run of Hathaway out wide to score the opening try. Carreras kicks the conversion straight down the middle.

29’ – TRY! GLOUCESTER (CLEMENT) 14-0 HARLEQUINS: Fasogbon is really thriving in the scrum tonight and he wins another scrum penalty. The following line-out results in a tight driving maul which spins and allows Clement to touch the ball down. Carreras curls home his second conversion of the night.

66’ – CARRERAS HITS POST: The Gloucester kicker opts for a penalty to take his side’s advantage beyond two converted tries. However, his effort rattles the post.

68’ – HATHAWAY BIG CHANCE: Williams sends an excellent kick out wide for Hathaway who is through on the try-line. However, instead of catching the ball he tries to kick it on and as he tries to gather the ball his shoulder falls into touch.

• Gloucester made 155 tackles to their opponent’s 97 and both sides had a tackle accuracy of 79%.