By Mohamed Hamza
Harlequins star Tom Lawday revealed he 'couldn't be happier' after his side's entertaining 38-33 Premiership Cup victory over Ealing Trailfinders at the Stoop on Saturday.
The hosts battled past Trailfinders to make it two wins from two in the competition, registering a bonus point along the way under the Friday night lights.
Lawday crossed for the first of four Quins tries, with Cameron Anderson, Jamie Benson, and George Hammond all scoring and while his side found it tough going at times, the back row was pleased with his teammates' resilience in south west London.
“Five points at home in a new competition that a lot of the boys haven't been a part of, [I] couldn't be happier,” said Lawday.
“We identified a couple of areas which needed to improve. Our attacking breakdown wasn't quite good enough.
“Ealing was slowing us down and we couldn't get our tempo into the game and defensively we were too narrow and they were finding easy routes around us.
“At the end of the day we weren't playing rugby in the right areas. If we're defending our own sticks for large periods of the game, eventually, things might break so we just needed to control the territory and possession a bit more.
“I thought Lucas Friday at nine in his second game for the club, first at the Stoop, 18 years old and he controlled it so well, he was an absolute natural.
“He got us out of trouble a couple of times in the second half with awesome kicks and we stuck into the game and it was an 80-minute performance.
“It's been a while since I run out of the Stoop and had consistent minutes in a competitive setting. I've been working pretty hard in the background and to get 80 minutes here and 5 points is brilliant.”
It was a weekend of double success for the club, as Harlequins Women secured a fourth consecutive win for the first time since 2021 thanks to a 38-7 bonus point victory over Sale Sharks at the Stoop.
Jade Konkel, Silvia Turani, Nicole Wythe, Connie Powell and Laura Delgado all got on the scoresheet for the hosts in what was an emphatic win over Sharks.
And with her side in excellent form over the past few weeks, captain Konkel attributed the south west London side's recent successes to a the work performed behind the scenes across all levels at the Stoop.
“We really had to dig deep. Fair play to Sale Sharks,” she said. “We knew it would be a noisy game and that was a full 80-minute performance and one we had to really push through.
“Everyone stepped up and did that. Lots of things to fix but at least we got the bonus point win which is what we needed.
“I think that's testament to all the work and that's everybody, everyone who turned up for training, all the coaching staff, all the management behind the scenes.
“Everybody's buckling in for a shared purpose and we wouldn't be able to be here without them so a massive thank you to everyone for putting in the graft.”
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