IF EVER there was a match won by the replacements’ bench, it was this cliffhanger. London Irish coach Toby Booth should take a bow, as should the five men he brought on in the third quarter of the match, because until the arrival of the cavalry, led by their talisman, lock Bob Casey, they did not have a prayer of winning.

The Exiles had been run ragged in the first half and trailed 20-8 at the interval, having found no answer to the scalded-cat running of David Strettle, the sheer elan of Danny Care, and the pace and power of Tom Guest.

But the arrival of the massive Casey, and the abrasive edge of front-rowers Danie Coetzee and Tonga Lea’aetoa, galvanised the Irish forwards, and the back-line reshuffle reaped even greater rewards. Paul Hodgson injected urgency at scrum-half and, with Peter Hewat moving up to fly-half, Elvis Seveali’i coming into the centre and Delon Armitage going to full-back, they had shape and penetration in equal measure.

Having been given a glimmer of hope when Armitage scored on the stroke of half-time, Hewat whittled the gap to 20-11 with his second penalty just before the hour.

However, the real momentum was established when, after a power-house drive up the middle by the former Quin Chris Hala’ufia, Hodgson found Hewat and the Australian’s miss-pass put Armitage clear down the right wing for his second try. Hewat’s conversion put the Irish within range at 20-18, and he then provided the decisive strike to give them the lead for the first time when he intercepted a Chris Robshaw pass as Harlequins overplayed their hand after a lineout on the visitors’ 22. He left the cover for dead, converted, and then kicked his third penalty to rub salt into Quins’ self-inflicted wounds.

It brought Hewat’s contribution to 18 points, banishing the memory of a first half which he and his teammates spent chasing shadows. This resulted in Ugo Monye and Guest scoring tries after outflanking the Irish defence, and Chris Malone kicking everything that came his way, to rack up a 20-3 lead with only 25 minutes played.

Booth’s inspired substitutions after the break changed that dynamic, and although Care burrowed over three minutes from time, Wai-sea Luveniyali converting to leave them trailing by a point, it was Quins who were doing the chasing as they slipped to their second loss on the bounce, and Irish claimed their second successive win.

“I thought we showed an inner desire and determination,” said Booth. “If you want to be a consistent performer and you want to challenge for trophies, that is the kind of performance you have to put in. I see that as a development of the mental side of our game.”

Having seen his side suffer a narrow defeat at Gloucester the previous weekend, Quins director of rugby Dean Richards was less than impressed with the way his side let Irish back into the game.

“In the first half I thought we were outstanding, but we shouldn’t have allowed them to score just before half-time,” said Richards. “It comes down to our ability to take the pressure off ourselves, which we didn’t do in the first 20 minutes of the second half. Against a team like London Irish that pressure is going to tell and we have nobody else to blame but ourselves.”

Star man:Peter Hewat (London Irish)

Referee:D Richards (RFU)

Attendance:11,007

Scorers: Quins:Tries: Monye 10, Guest 27, Care 78. Cons: Malone (2), Luveniyali Pens: Malone (2) London Irish:Tries: D Armitage 39, 62, Hewat 67. Cons: Hewat (2). Pens: Hewat (3)

HARLEQUINS:M Brown; D Strettle, G Tiesi, J Turner-Hall, U Monye (T Williams 74min); C Malone (W Luveniyali 73min), D Care; C Jones, G Botha (T Fuga 67min), M Ross (M Lambert 73min), O Kohn (G Robson 67min), J Evans, N Easter (C Robshaw 48min), T Guest, W Skinner (capt)

LONDON IRISH:P Hewat; T Ojo, D Armitage, S Mapusua (capt), S Tagicakibau; E Hickey (E Seveali'i 45min), P Richards (P Hodgson 52min); A Corbisiero, D Paice, (D Coetzee 58min), F Rautenbach (T Lea'aetoa 58min), N Kennedy, G Johnson, (B Casey 45min), R Thorpe, C Hala’Ufia, S Armitage (J Fisher 75min)