The first weekend of Premiership rugby and already we have the first draw. The temptation may be to roll the eyes at another stalemate, but this was not quite the kind of slugfest that resulted in such a spate of draws in the dark days of last season. The game swung this way and that before Mark van Gisbergen kicked his fifth penalty of the afternoon with four minutes remaining to salvage for his side what was probably a fair result.
Wasps had looked in clover at the break. A try for their big new signing, Andy Powell, and another for their arch poacher, Tom Varndell, had served as a fairly decisive response to Harlequins' opener from Nick Easter after barely a minute. Their other big signing, Riki Flutey, made his return after a year away in France to orchestrate many of their best moments, which were several.
Even when they lost Joe Worsley to the sin-bin in the 33rd minute they continued to dominate, notching a penalty to nothing in his absence and unlucky not to get more. Dominic Waldouck knocked on a tricky-ish pass from Flutey with the line at his mercy, and a 20-13 lead at the break seemed the least they deserved.
However, Harlequins fancy themselves this year even more than usual, having shaken off the traumas that plagued them this time a year ago. They managed to lasso Wasps in the second half, notch a penalty to get within four, before dragging the game down into a torpor of dullness for 20 minutes midway through the second half.
Having lulled Wasps into an arm-wrestle, they then burst into life with a bit of off-loading among the forwards that had Wasps all over the place. James Johnston drove deep from it, and the ball was whisked wide to Mike Brown whose try gave Quins the lead with 13 minutes to go.
After Van Gisbergen's penalty drew things level, Nick Evans lined up an attempt at a drop goal from around 40 yards that even he must have thought was a long shot. It duly missed.
So no heroics this time for the Quins talisman, but his sparkling break from a lineout had set up the ever uncompromising Easter for that early try, and he did not miss goal once from the turf, collecting 19 points, just like Van Gisbergen.
If the first quarter had been Quins', the second belonged entirely to Wasps, and to Flutey in particular. His run paved the way for Powell to score Wasps' first, then he was away downfield when Jordan Turner-Hall spilled the ball. His pass to Varndell meant the try was a formality.
That was their time to pull away, but Quins are made of stern stuff these days. They hauled Wasps in then inflicted their own version of pain. The draw was the right result. Things have always been tight in this competition.
