Maori All Blacks 26
Harlequins 10
It was scrappy, it was messy, it was ugly.
But the Maori All Blacks have at least finished their up and down northern tour with a victory on a cold, wet London night at the Twickenham Stoop.
In their second clash with Harlequins - following an 11-5 loss in 1926 on their long world tour - the Maori battled, the highlight being their four-try blitz in the space of 12 minutes in the first spell.
Against plucky but green opponents, including no less than five guest players, the Maori laboured, penalised heavily, losing prop Chris Eves to the sinbin late, frequently coughing up possession and unable to get their attacking flow going. It was reminiscent of the Munster clash, but Harlequins were far too inexperienced to capitalise. In fact, the home side offered little other than scrambling defence and ponderous yet effective lineout drives, from one of which yielded their sole try, to prop Dan Murphy. The scrums turned into a shemozzle, with constant collapses and resets.