The friendly was level at 14-14 heading towards the last quarter, but the visitors showed their class to pull away for the victory in front of a 2,000-strong crowd boosted by a large travelling support.
‘Jersey put up an awesome fight,’ said Tapuai, who has seven international caps with Australia to his name. ‘They’re a very physical team and I reckon, after tonight, if they keep performing like this then they’ll go a long way in the Championship.
‘Jersey put us under pressure in the first 20 minutes and I think that’s what these games are for, to try and test us. We’ll take some positives out of this but we definitely have a lot to learn.’
The Harlequins squad was without a string of their big names, with the likes of England internationals Chris Robshaw, Danny Care, Mike Brown, Joe Marler and Kyle Sinckler all absent.
The Reds took the lead midway through the first half, when winger Jason Worrall burst through from his own half showing brilliant pace to make it to the line for a 7-0 lead.
Hooker Max Crumpton rumbled over from close range to put Quins level, and it looked like it would remain that way at half-time only for full-back Aaron Morris to ease in in the corner with the final play, giving the visitors a 14-7 advantage at the break.
Jersey fly-half Brett Herron was a standout performer again for Jersey and was instrumental in the hosts’ second try. Moments earlier he had fluffed an attempted crossfield kick, but was brave enough to try it again, this time executing it perfectly for Auguy Slowik to pick up on the bounce and cross the line.
Harlequins were soon ahead again though when replacement Dave Ward was driven over from a line-out move, and then with Jersey back-rower Kyle Hatherell in the sin bin there was space out wide for Luke Wallace to score in the corner.
For the first time there were more than seven points between the sides. As the hosts searched for a way back, Charlie Walker intercepted deep in his own half leaving everyone trailing behind him to ease in for a breakaway try that signalled the end of any hopes of Jersey causing a pre-season upset.
‘You can see as a team Harlequins are coming together really quickly under the new coaches,’ said Reds forwards coach Neil Tunnah.
‘They play fast and it maybe took us a few minutes at the start to get up to the speed that they were operating at, but I think we showed a really good account of ourselves.
‘At times our scrum functioned really well and at times our line-out functioned well. We’re creating opportunities, we’ve just got to start being a little bit ruthless and go and take those opportunities.
‘The players will learn lots about themselves individually and where they are, and we’ll learn a lot about where we are as a team. I think they key is to keep learning, there are a lot of things we can do a lot better and we’ve got to keep working hard.’
Jersey take on National One side Old Elthamians next, on Saturday, as preparations continue ahead of the Championship opener at Coventry on the first weekend of September.
