Tiger time!

It was the cruelest of ways for Harlequins to say goodbye to the 2007/08 Premiership. It was a game which left every Quins supporter at Welford Road feeling mixed emotions of pride and disbelief as, with three minutes left on the clock, Tom Varndell sealed Quins' fate.

Right from the kick off, Quins went sniffing for an early try. After repeated pressure on the Quins line, it came from a grubber kick through from Chris Malone to full back Mike Brown, who placed it down in front of the posts. Malone converted. 0-7.

Three minutes later, and it looked like Quins might add another, when Strettle made a fantastic break which saw him make 60 metres. A well timed pass from Strettle to Skinner, put the flanker free with only the try line ahead of him. It was unlucky for Skinner that Ellis had the legs to allow him a chance to clip him just before the line, forcing Skinner to knock on the ball over the line.

Tigers responded with their own try, when Ellis passed to Ben Herring, who went over in the left hand corner after brushing Tom Williams aside. 5-7. Goode missed the conversion.

For the first time in the match, Tigers took the lead, when Varndell found himself in a 1 on 1 situation with Mike Brown. The Tigers winger came off the better and claimed the try. Goode converted. 12-7.
Captain Will Skinner then made amends for his earlier attempted try that saw him come so devastatingly close. After a break from Care, Skinner ran the ball in to claim the points. Malone converted. 12-14.
The beginning of the second quarter showed off the power of the Tigers scrum, but Quins weathered the storm and cleared the ball out through Care and Skinner, only for Tigers to receive and mess up with a forward pass, losing 60 yards in the process.

Leicester were to be denied a try which came so close but could not be finished. Aaron Mauger was the player to make the opening, with a break through the Quins defence, and creating a two man overlap. The ball found Murphy and then Vandell, who was just not able to control it, and saw a possible 5 points disappear.
A missed drop ball attempt by Mauger was followed by a yellow card for Chris Robshaw, after the team had been warned several times.
Even with a one man deficit, a moment of quick thinking from Tom Williams led to Quins' next try, when the winger spotted a loose ball at the back of a ruck, and snapped it up, crossing the line in front of the posts. 12-19.
Half Time

In the second half, both teams showed belief and determination. It took Leicester only 2 minutes to take advantage of Chris Robshaw's absence to put Jordan Murphy in the right hand corner to score. Goode missed the conversion. 17-21

Simon Keogh was replaced by De Wet Barry, with Strettle moving to the wing. De Wet wasted no time making his mark, forcing a turnover on Tigers, before Chis Malone sent a beautifully timed kick across to Tom Williams, who was completely unmarked on the left wing, to score. Malone converted.

From a scrum, a missed tackle from Danny Care saw Jordan Crane go over between the posts on the 30 minute mark. Goode had an easy conversion. 24-28. With three minutes remaining on the clock, Quins saw their play off hopes buried, when Tom Varndell scored the last try of the match, chipping the ball past Quins full-back Mike Brown and winning the chase to the ball from 40 metres out.