London Irish 42-24 Harlequins: Quins crumble to fourth straight Gallagher Premiership loss | Rugby Union News

London Irish beat Harlequins 42-24 at Gtech Community Stadium; Michael Dykes scores a try hat-trick on his Premiership debut; Quins captain Stephan Lewies was sent off but the visitors threatened an unlikely comeback until Joe Marler was shown a yellow card

Harlequins lost 42-24 to London Irish at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday, with captain Stephan Lewies sent off midway through the first half.

Harlequins’ miserable run in the Championship continued with their fourth consecutive Premiership defeat after Lewies’ red card ruined any chance of them ending that streak.

Lewies was sent off for a dangerous challenge against Leader of the Opposition No 8 Chandler Cunningham-South, and the Irish took full advantage with a bonus points win to leave them just one point behind Quins in the Premiership table.

Harlequins’ Tommaso Allan scores his side’s first try but it won’t be enough to beat the London Irish

On his Premiership debut, Michael Dykes scored a try hat-trick, Cunningham-South, Tom Pearson and James Stokes the others with Paddy Jackson converting all six.

Quins’ response was a penalty try and more tries from Tommy Allan, Dino Lamb and Josh Bassett. Allan also added a conversion.

The Irishman started strong to take a fourth-minute lead. Twice they denied kicks on goal in favor of the attacking lineouts and were rewarded when Cunningham-South crashed out from second.

Three minutes later the hosts scored again when Stokes took the first flurry before feeding Pearson, whose pass gave Dykes an easy launch.

Jackson converted the two to give his team a 14-0 lead at the end of the one-sided opening 15 minutes, but Quins eventually got a foothold in the game.

A solid run from Nick David secured the visitors a platform in the Irish 22 before being awarded a penalty try when Dykes deliberately kicked in to prevent a score from David.

The Irish winger was shown a yellow card but was immediately given a boost when Stokes took advantage of a favorable rebound to run 30 yards to score.

After Jackson converted, TMO replays showed a dangerous challenge from Lewies and the Quins flanker was sent off.

London Irish’s Michael Dykes celebrates with teammates after scoring one of his three tries

The home side then suffered two blows in quick succession. Australian international lock Adam Coleman left with a serious arm injury before David tore his defense to shreds to create a try for Allan.

Dykes returned from sin-bin before Irish suffered yet another setback when prop Will Goodrick-Clarke left with a leg injury.

However, they overcame this to score their bonus point try from Dykes with another successful kick from Jackson giving Irish a 28-12 lead at the interval.

Four minutes into the restart, Dykes backed a break from Ben White to complete his hat-trick before Irish introduced Henry Arundell for his first appearance since September.

Spirited Quins stayed in the fight when first a clean break from Andre Esterhuizen created a try for Bassett before Lamb slammed his way in for a bonus point.

Irish’s nerves were on edge but Joe Marler was shown a yellow card for collapsing to end any hopes of a remarkable Quins comeback with a late Pearson try sealing the win.