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Cardiff away- I hope I'm right...


By Quins4life
November 18 2015

Next up for Quins is another Challenge Cup tie and a trip to the Cardiff Arms Park to play the Cardiff Blues. Firstly, last Thursday night was a great start to our European campaign with a resounding bonus point victory over Montpellier. After the first 25 minutes, it looked like their power game was going to be tough to handle but we were treated with a marvellous comeback and perhaps the most pleasing performance of the season to date. Our pack stepped up and gave us a great platform, and provided 4 of the 6 tries, although Care’s try can hardly be credited to the backline as he scored at the back of a rolling maul. 

The other back try will be a contender for the try of the season award. Great link up play between backs as well as forwards lead to a try for the opinion-splitting OLH after a great offload from Brown, who was coming off the back of signing a new contract. I thought Hopper and Matthews looked better than in recent weeks, with Hopper showing that he is clearly better at 13, whilst Matthews carried and defended well. My highlight of the match was the try for Robshaw, however, and the great reaction from the crowd when he did. Finally he has something to smile about again and I hope he realises how much we appreciate and love him at the Stoop, he is a true Quins great, regardless with what has occurred when he has played in an England shirt. Time for everyone else to move on from it, and let the man play rugby! He did seem back near to his imperious best when he came on as a substitute at half time for the unlucky Wallace, who unfortunately picked up a knock. Overall, great win and performance to go with it. 

Anyway, onto our next opponents Cardiff Blues, who started their European campaign with a 7-try demolition of Italian minnows, Calvisano. Whilst no bonus point win in Europe should be disregarded, Quins will not have learnt much about their welsh opponents in this game due to the weakness of opposition they were facing. So we need to look domestically to get a better idea of what they are like. A few seasons ago they were strong competitors in the Champions Cup, reaching a number of knockout matches, however they have fallen away in recent years and now Scarlets and Ospreys are the standard bearers of Welsh club rugby. So far this season, it doesn’t seem any different. They have one win in seven and sit 11th in the Pro 12. They looked better in their final game before the European break against Glasgow, but they still lost the game. 

However, this could be put down to missing their welsh contingent due to the World Cup. They have a number of welsh internationals and they have now been integrated back into the team. In terms of standout players, you cannot look past Wales captain Sam Warburton and we’ll need to ensure he doesn’t have a big impact at the breakdown. If Robshaw starts or is involved at any stage, I am sure their “battle” within the game will come under a lot of scrutiny. Their team also included the likes of Wales internationals Alex Cuthbert, Lloyd Williams, Gareth Anscombe, Matthew Rees and also prop/brick house Gethin Jenkins, and his battle against Jones (if he plays) will be very interesting or if Sinckler or Collier start, it will be a real test of their ability against one of the greats in his position. They have a few ex-premiership players in the form of ex-Tiger and USA international Blaine Scully, ex-Gloucester scrum half Tavis Knoyle and ex-Exeter winger Tom James. Also watch out for fly half Rhys Patchell who has a long kicking boot and is also a good runner of the ball. 

Team Selections 

After a good win vs Montpellier in round one, O’Shea will know that any type of win will surely at least qualify Quins for the knockout stages as we have the two back-to-back games against Calvisano coming up next. O’Shea has been quoted as saying he’ll rotate players in this game though and he’ll probably be looking to take full advantage of being in the 2nd-tier European competition to prepare fully for a big test against Exeter Chiefs away the following week in the Premiership. 

I would expect Care to definitely start and also I expect one of Robshaw or Easter to start due to the injuries we have in this position, whilst the other will be probably on the bench. I’d keep Rosbshaw out of the potential duel with Warburton; I don’t think that is something he needs at the moment. However Marler and Brown will probably be given a week off to recharge again. I would like to see Botica also get a start to see how he is looking this season as the rumours were last season that he struggled within a slightly injury throughout a lot of the season. I’d give Yarde a rest too, he seemed to pick up a knock and he is crucial to us in future weeks. In the second row, with Horwill picking up a knock, I expect the same pairing to play, whilst I’d like to Buchanan get a start. OLH will start 15 if Brown is rested (which I think he will) and I think Hopper deserves another run at 13 with Sloan at 12 as I was impressed with Hopper last week. 

My Team to face Cardiff Blues; 

Lambert, Buchanan, Sinckler, Twomey, Matthews, Baby Chisholm, Clifford, Easter; Care, Botica, Visser, Sloan, Hopper, Walker, OLH
 

Below was the Cardiff Blues team that beat Calvisano last week. From what I believe this was a near full-strength team so I do not expect many changes to be made, unless they’ve suffered any injuries. 
Backs: Dan Fish; Alex Cuthbert, Rey Lee-Lo, Gavin Evans, Tom James; Rhys Patchell, Lloyd Williams; 
Forwards: Gethin Jenkins (capt), Kristian Dacey, Dillon Lewis, Jarrad Hoeata, James Down, Ellis Jenkins, Sam Warburton, Josh Turnbull.
 

So now to my thoughts on the game itself. I think a number of factors are at play in this match and could potentially have an effect on the end result. The relative short turn around for the Blues in comparison to the Quins (Blues played Saturday, whilst we played Thursday) could play into our favour. As they have adopted a plastic pitch at the Arms Park, it is likely to be a quick game and those extra rest days could help Quins, especially towards the end of the match. If, as expected, Quins rotate the squad slightly, it could be a tighter game than it potentially would have been if we played a full-strength team. Rotating the team shouldn’t be seen as disrespecting the competition or the Blues, it is because it’s a long old season this year and we need to take advantage of these games to see what other players can do and ensure others are fresher come April/May. 

Bearing all of these things in mind, I do believe Quins will win the game, regardless of the side we put out, as whatever team is picked it should be good enough to win. Cardiff have some good players in their team but it is a side which we should be beating. I think it will be an open game of rugby with a lot of points. It has the feeling of being a hectic game with a lot of tries on offer. If our pack performs as well as they did last week, I cannot see where they can hurt us. If we are seriously off the pace we could have some issues. I think it’ll be close going into half time but then our quality should show through and in the end mean a good win for the lads going into the crunch Exeter fixture. 

My Prediction; Cardiff Blues 20 Quins 35 


LIVE ON SKY SPORTS 
Thursday 19th November 2015, KO 19:45 
BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff 
Referee: Alexandre Ruiz (who?! I have no clue)

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Cardiff away- I hope I'm right...
Discussion started by ComeAllWithin.co.uk , 18/11/2015 13:57
ComeAllWithin.co.uk
18/11/2015 13:57
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
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poorfour
19/11/2015 08:18
A well written and researched preview Q4L - thanks. And a great guess at the team.

Quins4life
19/11/2015 21:47
Well... I guess I was right..... Great performance. Amazing defence and v.clinical in second half

brfc_quin
20/11/2015 00:19
Do you have this week's lotto numbers?! Great article!

Quins4life
20/11/2015 00:32
Will have a look at my mystic ball for next week. If Botica hadn't missed two sitters it would have been even closer to what i thought!

gregory p
20/11/2015 10:59
Brilliant call on the result - I really thought we'd struggle. Hmmm.......... is there something special going on at Quins?

NicoWilson
20/11/2015 12:45
Very well predicted. Well done!

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