Scarbrough flair takes Leeds to the high ground

Harlequins 23 Leeds 33

Never mind the Tykes, they should call Leeds the chameleons. Back in May, they arrived here as the Premiership's bottom club, and entirely lived down to that status by losing heavily. Yesterday, Leeds made it three wins out of three in this, their second season among the elite, and while awaiting further developments this afternoon, sit proudly on top of the table.

Quins, for their part, are digesting a mirror-image third straight defeat. The final whistle on by far the most disappointing effort of that trio – their previous conquerors were Gloucester and Leicester – arrived with Jason Leonard struggling in vain to feed an inside pass to Ben Gollings. Leonard, Quins' captain until Andre Vos arrives from South Africa in October, is known for his sportsmanship. It took the mightiest intake of breath into the leviathan prop's mighty lungs for him to turn slowly away from chastising Gollings and instead take the hand of the nearest opponent.

So Leeds are sitting pretty, having seen off Leicester and London Irish – trophy winners both last season – at Headingley, and now motoring through a green light on their first venture on to the road. There was another impressive contribution from the young England lock, Tom Palmer, plus the third and fourth tries of the campaign for the flying Danny Scarbrough, but the Tykes' strength under new coach Jon Callard is in the collective.

Neither side could be completely happy in the first half, which ended with Quins 13-10 in front. There was a light breeze in Leeds' faces, and high cloud masking the sun, yet on four occasions the respective fly-halves Paul Burke and Gordon Ross managed to punt straight into touch and so earn reproachful mutterings from the grunt merchants up front. Burke's opening penalty was overhauled by Scarbrough's first try, after 18 minutes. Braam van Straaten did well to collect Ross's up-and-under ahead of Quins' full-back, Nathan Williams, and the ex-Springbok was involved again after a couple more phases with a grubber kick into the supporting Scarbrough's path.

The Fijian centre Vili Satala marked his first Quins start with a try 10 minutes before the break, converted by Burke, who then dropped a goal. Ross did not reappear after the interval, and Leeds moved Van Straaten inside, with Chris Hall brought on to the wing. Both men were to play prominent roles in the remaining action.

Four minutes into the second half, Leeds broke away on the right, George Harder put a lovely pass in front of Hall, then received the ball back after the replacement had made 30 metres downfield, and fed the ever-alert Scarbrough for the score. Van Straaten, whose club record 31 points did for the Irish last week, converted and was on the way to another 18-point haul here. Two penalties by the South African to one from Burke stretched the Leeds lead to 23-16.

Then, Palmer won a Quins line-out close to the visitors' line – a mighty blow, all the more so because Quins had twice refused to kick for goal in favour of pursuing a try. It was difficult to guess at Keith Wood's feelings at this moment – the hooker had spent the last few days in both mourning at the untimely death of his elder brother and joy at the arrival of his first child with wife Nicola.

Will Greenwood skated through from 20 metres out for a try, which Burke converted to level at 23-23. But a Quins hand in a ruck gave Van Straaten another penalty goal with four minutes left, and flanker Cameron Mather settled it with a steal of a try when Quins' scrum fell apart.

If they are not careful, their season might follow suit.

Harlequins: N Williams (R Jewell, 57); M Moore, W Greenwood, V Satala, B Gollings; P Burke, S Bemand; J Leonard (capt), K Wood, L Gomez, K Rudzki (J Evans, 61), B Davison, A Tiatia, T Diprose, P Sanderson

Leeds: D Scarbrough; G Harder, T Davies, B van Straaten, D Albanese; G Ross (C Hall, h-t), D Hegarty; M Shelley (capt), M Regan, G Kerr, C Murphy (S Campbell, 70), T Palmer, C Mather, I Feaunati, D Hyde

Referee: R Dickson (Scotland).