Harlequins full-back Tyrone Green was delighted to score against Exeter Chiefs on his return from injury ahead of his side’s Premiership play off campaign.

The South African had not featured since March 13th but played all 80 minutes of Quins’ 47-38 defeat to Exeter on Saturday.

He credited head physio Elliot Clarke as a key factor in his speedy recovery from a leg injury, and has now set his sights on guiding Quins to a second successive Premiership crown.  

“Credit to Elliot and the medical team, they’ve done a great job to get me back,” said Green following a 13-try thriller at Sandy Park.

“Being back out there, I’m very happy. Play off rugby, I can’t complain.

“It’s been a while since I played and I loved every minute of it. Pity we didn’t get the win, but I loved being out there with the boys."

Green thought he had settled a final-day classic when he put Quins 38-29 ahead but two late converted scores gave Exeter the win in front of a record Sandy Park crowd of 14,876.

Clever link-up from Alex Dombrandt and Joe Marchant allowed Green to dash home, but as was the case throughout, that score was then offset by defensive errors.

Green said: “We got on the outside with Joe. I literally had to run in and score the try, so not much work from my side but good to get one in the first game back.

“We didn’t have much possession in the first half but we grew into the game and got better. But we can’t concede 47 points in a game and hope to win it.”

Green scored twice in Harlequins' semi-final win last year, and hopes he can be just as influential this time round when Quins travel to London rivals Saracens on 11 June.

He said: “We’re very excited, we kind of knew it might be Sarries.

“It’s semi-final rugby, we know what’s required of us.

“The boys are really pumped to get a good game in, so I think for us it’s about focusing on ourselves, doing everything we can and we know the results will come our way.”

Another bright spark was the performance of substitute Lewis Gjaltema, as he registered his first league score.

First-team minutes have been limited for the scrum-half with Danny Care excelling ahead of him, and he was disappointed that Quins were largely on the back-foot of a rare personal outing.  

“We want more ball as Harlequins,” said Gjaltema.

“We want to play with the ball in hand and we did a lot of defending, so we had to switch into that mindset. But I still enjoyed it a lot.

“They (the coaches) wanted me to express myself, and go out and do my thing, fit within the system, doing what we planned all week and just nailing that. But it’s just tough we didn’t have much of the ball.”

He was, however, delighted to touch down after number eight Dombrandt gathered a loose ball and kicked forward for the Kiwi to chase.

Gjaltema said: “Dom has put it through and it bounced up perfectly. I couldn’t have scripted it better, I didn’t think I had the legs for it but somehow got through and it was a good feeling to dot down for the first time.

“It’s a building week for us and we’re throwing stuff at it. But they really turned up and challenged us in a way we can learn from for sure.”