Harlequins hosted Newcastle Falcons in the Club's annual Pride celebration, as Quins went in search of a bonus point win which would see them remain in the hunt for a top four place come the final weekend of the Gallagher Premiership season.

Both sides came out firing, and Quins held Newcastle Falcons deep inside their own half during the early exchanges of the game.

A strong attacking effort from Cadan Murley down the right wing saw the Premiership's top try scorer break two tackles before being brought down just inside the Newcastle 22. Quins recycled, and with the advantage attacked wide to the left with Marcus Smith nearly breaking through to score the first points of the match, but ultimately the attack came to nothing.

Following a series of scrum penalties awarded to Quins five meters from Newcastle's line, Quins looked sure to pick up seven points one way or another. A loose pass from the base was hacked on by Newcastle, and Adam Radwan won the resulting foot race up the length of the field to collect the ball and pass to Mateo Carreras who dotted down under the posts for the first try of the match. The try was converted to give the visitors a 0-7 lead with fifteen minutes remaining in the first half.

A penalty at the following kick off gave Newcastle their next points, as Brett Connon stepped up to extend Falcons' lead to ten points.

With three minutes left on the clock, Quins were in desperate need of points heading into the changing rooms after what had been a difficult first half for the hosts. Up stepped Andre Esterhuizen. With the mismatch out wide, quick ball from Danny Care to Marcus Smith allowed the fly half time to pick his man, finding the South African centre on a sublime line through the Newcastle defence. Smith slotted the resulting conversion to narrow Falcons' lead to three points going into the final minutes of the half.

With the clock in the red, Andre Esterhuizen kicked a Quins penalty into the corner and The Stoop broke out into song. With the crowd behind them, Quins claimed the lineout and were awarded the advantage at the resulting maul. A loose pass to the few backs who had remained in open field was gathered by Marcus Smith, who spotted an opportunity and found Josh Bassett on the blindside. Bassett powered through and somehow managed to offload to Louis Lynagh, who dotted down for his first try of the season in his first appearance of the season. The conversion was missed, but Quins went in with a 12-10 lead at half time.

A yellow card for Callum Chick on the stroke of half time meant Newcastle started the second 40 with 14 players on the pitch. Despite this, they would claim the first points of the second half and regain the lead through a Brett Connon penalty on 44 minutes. Quins trailed 12-13.

On 49 minutes Harlequins would score their third of the afternoon. Quins spread the ball wide and Josh Bassett stepped inside and dived over to give Quins a 17-13 lead as we entered the final half an hour at The Stoop.

Just three minutes later, Quins claimed a vital bonus point through captain Alex Dombrandt. Andre Esterhuizen carried hard into contact and offloaded round the back of the defender. A series of quick passes got the ball wide and into the hands of Alex Dombrandt who jogged over and scored in the corner to extend Quins' lead to eleven points.

A yellow card for Will Evans on 58 minutes would see Quins serve their own ten minutes down to fourteen players. Quins held Newcastle out for nine minutes of the ten, but a break from speedster Mateo Carreras put Newcastle within five meters of Quins' line. Replacement second row Freddie Lockwood powered over under the posts to give Brett Connon an easy conversion which narrowed the score to 22-20 with twelve minutes remaining.

Quins replied quickly, the break from Andre Esterhuizen opened up the field, and Alex Dombrandt straightened through a gaping hole in the Falcons defence to dot down under the posts. Marcus Smith converted to extend Quins lead to nine points.

With seven minutes to go, a quick lineout found Dino Lamb, who put his foot down and accelerated through the defence, bumping off the final defender to dive over and score Quins' sixth of the afternoon, which Marcus Smith converted. The score stood at 36-20 with five minutes remaining.

With the Stoop crowd behind them Quins pushed on and in a moment of magic, Marcus Smith spotted space out wide and put in a trademark cross field kick to Joe Marchant, who tucked the ball up under his arm and powered through his opposite number, scoring Quins' seventh in the corner. Marcus Smith added the extras to make the score 43-20 with just a minute left on the clock.

With the clock in the red, Quins would have the final say of the game. Newcastle defended well but a barrage of attack from the hosts would prove too much as Fin Baxter carried hard from the base and dived over to score the final points of the match. Joe Marchant stepped up to take the conversion on his final appearance at The Stoop but pushed it just wide, much to the amusement of his teammates.

The game ended with Quins claiming a vital 48-20 bonus point victory, with eight tries to their name as we enter Big Summer Kick Off week. Next up, Bath at the Big Stoop – Twickenham Stadium.