The Big Game (rugby)

An aerial view of Twickenham Stadium. The Stoop can be seen in the top left hand corner.

The Big Game is an annual rugby union match hosted by Harlequins during the Christmas holiday season each year. As of 2011 for sponsorship purposes it is known as The LV= Big Game. It is one of Harlequins' regular home matches in the Aviva Premiership but it is moved from their usual home ground at the Twickenham Stoop (14,816 capacity^[1]) to the much larger Twickenham Stadium (82,000 seats^[2]).

There are other high-profile matches in London between the capital's rugby clubs at other times, particularly the London Double Header at Twickenham and Saracens' European or Premiership games at Wembley Stadium.

2008

27 December 2008 16:00

Harlequins	26 – 26	Leicester Tigers
Try: Brown Monye Con: Evans (2/2) Pen: Evans (4)	Report	Try: Murphy Croft Con: Flood (2/2) Pen: Flood (4)

Twickenham Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Dave Pearson (RFU)

2009

27 December 2009 16:15

Harlequins	20 – 21	London Wasps
Try: Care 68' c Strettle 79' c Con: Evans (2/2) Pen: Evans (2) 13', 18'	Report	Try: Simpson 2' m Hart 74' c Con: Walder (1/1) Pen: Cipriani (2) 23', 35' Walder (1) 62'

Twickenham Attendance: 76,716 Referee: Dave Pearson (RFU)

• Big Game 2 set a record Premiership attendance of 76,716.^[3]

2010

27 December 2010 16:30

Harlequins	28 – 18	London Irish
Try: Lowe 69' c Con: Evans (1/1) Pen: Evans (7) 6', 14', 20', 26', 36', 40', 54'	Report	Pen: Malone (6) 13', 18', 29', 38', 47', 59'

Twickenham Attendance: 74,212 Referee: Andrew Small (RFU)

2011

27 December 2011 16:30

Harlequins	11 – 19	Saracens
Try: Marler 47' m Pen: Evans (2) 18', 40'	Report	Try: Strettle 19' c Con: Farrell (1/1) Pen: Farrell (4) 8', 10', 13', 24'

Twickenham Attendance: 82,000 Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)

• Going into the game Harlequins had won all of their Premiership games, but fell to defeat in this their eleventh game to the team second in the table. As Twickenham had a capacity 82,000 crowd this game set a global rugby union attendance record for a regular-season club fixture.^[4]

2012

29 December 2012 14:15

Harlequins	26 – 15	London Irish
Try: Care 51' c Penalty try 77' c Con: Evans (2/2) Pen: Evans (4) 6', 22', 42', 57'	Report	Pen: Humphreys (5) 12', 24', 48', 55', 61'

Twickenham Attendance: 82,000 Referee: Greg Garner (RFU)

2013

28 December 2013 15:00

Harlequins	22 – 6	Exeter Chiefs
Try: Evans 2' c Walker 31' m Brown 39' c Con: Evans (2/3) 3', 40' Pen: Evans (1/3) 62'	Report	Pen: Steenson (2/2) 7', 43'

Twickenham Attendance: 74,827 Referee: JP Doyle (RFU)

2014

27 December 2014 16:30

(1 BP) Harlequins	25–30	Northampton Saints
Try: Lowe 5' m Clifford 59' c Twomey 76' c Con: Swiel (2/3) Pen: Swiel (2/3) 9', 52'	Report	Try: Manoa 18' c North 42' c Fotuali'i 71' c Con: Myler (3/3) Pen: Myler (3/3) 11', 37', 54'

Twickenham Stadium Attendance: 82,000 Referee: Wayne Barnes

2015

27 December 2015 16:30

Harlequins	39-39	Gloucester
	Report

Twickenham Stadium Attendance: 70,718 Referee: Wayne Barnes

References

1. "Club-by-club guide - Harlequins". BBC. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
2. "Twickenham Stadium". Rugby Football Union. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
3. Sheppard, Callum (23 December 2011). "Big Game 4 ticket sales set new record". The Big Game. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
4. "Harlequins 11-19 Saracens". BBC Sport. 27 December 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.