Last weekend appears to have been another 80 minutes of frustration, and while the 90 seconds of “action” on the ITV 4 highlights programme were inconclusive the victory of a losing bonus was snatched away by wayward play. That point was a precious commodity to lose and condemned Quins to slide down the table to their current fifth place where we could have been fourth.

Frustration is beginning to rear its ugly head once again Dean Richards confidently predicted  last week that the best is yet to come, well we certainly hope so as the weeks are slipping away and there are just five Premiership matches left. The top six remains very tight, and with Sale and Bath losing last week assisted our cause. Whilst many expected us to founder on the Northern Rock and return from Newcastle without any points the match showed that we could well have come away with a positive result, but that was thrown away, it is possible that we missed the skills of Care, Monye and Easter who were away in England duty. If Care is remains on the bench on Saturday against Scotland will he start for Quins on Sunday?

Six sequential wins was the Pride before the fall losing to Newcastle last weekend, but we are not out of the top four out of six race by any means. The other teams in the top six have put in some indifferent performance over the past few weeks that has kept the race well and truly alive, Gloucester and London Irish have currently played one more game than Quins, although they do have the points in the bank, Bath have played one less game than Quins who they meet in two weeks time at the Rec, which leaves Sale in sixth place. Quins and Sale have both won 10 matches and have 47 points, but Quins have a more superior points difference.

Sunday match is the first of a double header against Sale; we meet again on April 17^th in Stockport. On current form Quins have to be favourites, but again it should not be viewed as a foregone conclusion, they have lost their last few matches against Northampton and Newcastle a trend they will be anxious to reverse.  Sale are suffering from a large number of injuries going into this match but it is expected that a three o’clock Sunday kick off on a Sunday afternoon and playing in daylight, coupled with the fact that the match is being played on grass will also put the visitors at a disadvantage.

Harlequins against Sale at The Stoop this weekend is another of a series  of crucial games which will play a large part in determining our position at the end of the season. So by five o'clock on Sunday afternoon we will see whether our top four aspirations will still be fully focussed on full sail ahead or whether they will be sold out.  A lot will also depend on the results from the other matches this weekend, but we can help by winning matches under our control, we need a firm hand on the tiller, to steer us through the choppy seas of the end of season.

Come on You Quins!

 Other fixtures this weekend include;

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon