By Paddy von Behr
Chris Robshaw rightfully admitted that fortune favoured Harlequins in their Aviva Premiership opener with Wasps and insists improvements are needed to avoid relying on luck again.
Wasps were a successful Andy Goode conversion away from victory in the second of the two matches at the Heathrow Express London Double Header – fortuitously for Quins his kick hit the post.
That came after Tom Palmer dotted down in the final play of the game with three Nick Evans penalties and a try from Karl Dickson enough to give Quins a narrow 16-15 win at Twickenham.
And captain Robshaw admits Quins will need to be ten times better in order to get the job done by their own accord this season with last year’s beaten finalists Northampton next up at the Stoop on Friday.
“It was a very tense match and we were very lucky that kick missed right at the end,” said Robshaw.
“We were not really at full speed and we are going to have to really lift our game.
“We didn’t get much momentum in the first half and we were a bit slow coming out of the blocks and that is something we are going to have to address.”
Goode had been successful with a conversion after Joe Launchbury scored in the opening minute while he was also on target with a penalty inside the first 15.
Quins did fightback well after going in at half-time 10-3 behind with Evans converting Dickson’s try in the 70th minute after slotting two penalties himself.
And Robshaw insisted that securing the win was the most important thing from the opening weekend of the Premiership season no matter how it came about.
“You just want to win that first game, you don’t really care if it's not that pretty. We’ve blown the cobwebs out of the system hopefully and now we’ve got to kick on,” he added.
“We got away with it but you can’t argue with starting your season with four points.”
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Nick Dickson touches down for the decisive score at Twickenham SP79039
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