In the cheap Seats

The sight of the Harlequins team warming up in their JC T-shirts served as a reminder of things outside rugby and was a very nice gesture that was appreciated by the London Irish followers.

The announcement of a 1 minute silence in memory of Will Greenwood and his partner Caroline’s sad loss of their premature infant son on Thursday served as a further reminder. I am glad to report that the silence was well observed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Will and Caroline and their families at this sad time.

With Greenwood out of the Harlequins side, Nick Greenstock, who is on a part-time contract and doesn’t train with the team stepped into the fray. London Irish announced that Paul Sackey was absent due to a gastric virus that has been spreading through Sunbury. Kevin Barrett started on the wing. This left LI with only one recognised winger. The fact that he couldn’t be recognised as such yesterday is something else altogether.

Irish kicked the game off, but Quins were on the attack straight away. Their first attack of the game brought them a penalty straight in front of the posts, Irish defence being penalised for offside. Burke stepped up, 3-0. There has been much discussion regarding making noise during the kicks but I feel that the people drifting into their seats or generally milling around behind the posts at this stage must be more off-putting.

From the restart, Irish won a penalty 5M inside the Quins half, Barry obliged 3-3, 2 minutes on the clock. Game on, or so we thought.

On 6 minutes, Everitt kicked to touch from an Irish scrum to take Irish to within 10M, Bob secured the lineout, but we witnessed the first of many turnovers, which resulted in Burke clearing the lines.

Rossouw got his first touch in the 8th minute this time, but he didn’t have it for long. The ball must have smelled badly or something as Pieters reluctance to hold onto it for more than a nanosecond all day was the most frustrating part of a lot of Irish supporters day out. If the jury were out up to now, they have certainly had some compelling evidence for the prosecution in this game. Where was the man from last week? No calling the line, no organisation, tackle-shy (that’s the safest phrase to use). No leadership from the most experienced player on the park and the man tipped to be our next Coach.

Kevin Barrett, although lacking the killer pace of O’ Sackey was the better of our wingers in this game by a long way. Caught for pace on more than one occasion when Bish or Sackey would have blazed to certain tries, his passion, commitment and work rate will attract no criticism from this reporter.

Michael Horak was earning his corn in the fullback berth, his catching and chip and chase were spot on all afternoon. In fact, he would get my vote as our MOTM. A sterling last line of defence that was needed far too many times in this game. At the opposite end of the park, Nathan Williams looked the real deal and a wise purchase for Quins.

Neither lineout looked too clever, Kirkie doing his best to miss Bob and Fuga throwing too long or to Bob. Daws grabbed a couple from the rear of the line, as he does. Gollings was well matched here, but it was his first game back. Everitt and Burke were kicking for territory, but neither was consistent in finding touch. When Irish did manage to secure attacking ball, all too often it came out on the Quins side. Bob Casey on a charge on his own was a sight seen far too often in this game. Diprose and Tiatia were winning ball, lots of it turnover ball. Jason Leonard made a few wild high tackles that should have resulted in the ref at least having a word.

The accuracy and execution of the passing has to be called into question here. Or more correctly, acknowledging that any winger, especially an inexperienced one, needs the ball to hand, preferably midriff height, in front of him so that he can catch at pace and keep running. We can’t level criticism on the winger when the ball is arriving at knee, or above the head, height and behind the man, resulting in a step back or at the very least a stop-start. At this level of rugby, this gives a huge advantage to defending teams. A question of too many forwards in the line again, but the backline was not incisive. Appleford was isolated time after time.

Quins driving maul was starting to look strong at this point, making metres at a time, even from deep. Irish are still susceptible to a large, mobile, well-drilled pack on the drive. This has been a feature for the past couple of seasons, evidence each Quins game last season, Ponty, Leinster, etc.

The first try of the game came in the 18th minute, the driving maul advancing steadily towards the Irish line and the Irish faithful in the South Stand. No amount of shouting would make it stop. The Irish defence broke, piled in to try to stop the advance; the ball came out to Tiatia with Matt Moore providing the overlap, touching down in the corner. Burke missed the conversion. 8-3.

The Quins faithful suddenly found their voices, whilst the opposite could be said of the Irish following. Memories of the Bath game, still too fresh in the mind came flooding back. Was this to be a repeat?

Poor execution was letting Irish down, the Quins forwards scented blood and boy were they up for this game? Rossouw was dispossessed on a number of occasions in this spell, being guilty of carrying the ball into contact and virtually presenting it to the opposition. He even managed a perfectly good pass to present Burke with the opportunity to kick cross-field into the corner, which, fortunately for Irish was knocked into touch by the Quins attack.

Irish didn’t manage to clear their lines from the lineout and gave away a penalty for offside 15M out. Meat and drink to kickers of Paul Burke’s calibre. 11-3, 25 minutes on the clock.

From the restart, Quins were on the attack again with Irish defending fiercely. Strudders emerging with the ball, passed to Horak, who carried out his predictable but effective kick and chase, the move ending with Kevin Barrett being bundled into touch.

Kevin Barrett started to look like the scrum half he is for a brief spell, helping out with kicking duties to help clear the lines. He will have to shave his head or something, as he looks too much like Barry on the park. He made two decent breaks around this point, but both times was caught for pace, with nobody in support to pass to. Kevin Burke was having a solid game alongside Bob, both making the ground when they could. The lack of support was worrying here too, with their best efforts all too often being rewarded with turnover ball to set Quins on the attack. Kidzilla’s finest moment came when he stooped and reached over a Quins player on the ground to nick the ball back about 25M from Irish lines. Although operating in isolation, he was soon to come unstuck, it provided a glimpse of his usefulness.

In the 37th minute, Barry attempted a drop goal, which drifted off to the left. Shortly afterwards he did slot a penalty to cut the deficit to 5 points, 11-6. From the restart, Barry’s clearance didn’t find touch. We got to see the first real glimpse of Satala’s pace as he chased a kick from Burke. Horak made the mark, much to the relief of the Irish faithful who thought a try was on the cards just before half time. Barry cleared to the 10M line. On this lineout, I did see Casey going what I considered to be dangerously backwards whilst trying to lean back in the air. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to have any ill-effect. Quins gathered the ball and got a penalty on the 10M line, not sure what for, as I was watching to see if Bob was ok. Paul Burke stepped up, did the thing, 14-6, half time.

From the restart, Horak caught, kicked and chased and was turned over. Paul Burke tried a clever dribble kick, which went into touch. Strudders won the lineout, there was a bit of faffing about, but Kidzilla emerged with the ball. Seconds later, Quins were penalised for being offside, on their 22. No problem for Barry, 14-9. Game on.

The front row changes started 4 minutes in, with the Nurse coming on for Kirkie. Rossouw was presented with a chance to run at the Quins defence, but chose to run about 5M, stop, look around and wait for the support/tackle. A confident, top-class, pacy winger would at least have been looking to take a tackle on the fly. I have to add this was the opinion of the South Stand, not just me. In the Super 12, would that support have automatically been there?

Beefy came on, Mike Worsley departed, having had a reasonably solid game. In the 8th minute, Quins added another try. Paul Burke supplying the pass to Gollings following relentless pressure from a driving scrum. The conversion was missed, 19-9.

In an attempt to halt the slide, Gustard was sent on in place of Kidzilla. From the restart, Burrows gathered. He had had a pretty anonymous game up to then. Mind you, the back line was sadly lacking direction and leadership. When will the Doc be fit? Burrows passed to Horak who made a full 40M, tried to pass before being tackled, but left Kevin Barrett having to step back to get it again. Gussie was penalised for crossing with Beefy, this being the first time the ref had blown for this offence, although there were numerous incidents on both sides.

Paul Burke looked to have picked up a knock and was replaced by David Slemen. Almost with his first touch of the ball, Slemen scored a drop goal to make it 22-9. Not a bad replacement, eh?

The restart followed the usual pattern, probably boring by now, but worth repeating. Horak wins, chips, chases, wins, and passes to Rossouw. Rossouw looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights, wants to get rid of this oval thing asap, when a bit of a run would have done his public image no harm, if nothing else.

From the resulting breakdown, Quins were penalised for going offside, 22-12, half way through the second half. Dawson was replaced by Cockle at this point. Durant made his second appearance, in place of Rob Hardwick.

In the 65th minute, Quins were penalised for not rolling away, Kevin Barrett attempted a chip kick, which fell straight into the arms of a grateful Nick Greenstock, who ran almost 80M to score the try that put the game beyond the reach of Irish. Oh, how we missed Sackey. Slemen bagged the conversion, 29-12, 67 on the clock.

Horak was replaced by Tofty, why not Burrows went the cry from the South. Irish started to put some pressure on at this point, the result being Rossouw’s 1st try in the Premiership in the 71st minute. Tofty was in the thick of the action in the build-up to this and must have taken a certain amount of satisfaction from the resultant try. Admittedly, Rossouw had to catch it above his head, but he really only had to fall over the line to score. Alright, positional aptitude, still had to score, etc. Barry converted, 29-19.

Quins camped just short of the Irish line, which was fiercely and bravely defended. Kevin Barrett was involved in defensive duties again, as were the entire team.

Slemen’s attempted drop goal was virtually the last incident of the game.

The Nurse went off with a blood injury and Kirkie reappeared in the 83rd minute.

Full time 29-19.

Mark Evans named Ace Tiatia as Quins MOTM.

After the game, Evans commented that Quins hadn’t played particularly well and that although he was pleased with the win, his and the teams thoughts were with Will Greenwood. “It’s been a very strange few days”, he added, “sporting teams are very emotional, passionate places to operate in and everybody is feeling this right now”.

“We looked like a side that has lost 3 games on the bounce. We did play with a lot of heart, spirit and passion. Our driving game got going for the first time this season. London Irish present a particular set of problems and we dealt with them well today. Our defence didn’t look very good in the 1st half, but Irish didn’t capitalise on our shortcomings”.

“Ace (Tiatia) was magnificent, Diprose and Sanderson turned over a shed load of ball (you weren’t wrong, Mark). I’m happy we restricted them to 1 try. Alex Codling isn’t happy at losing a few lineouts, but it is his first game back from injury, he is a wonderful lineout technician. The team has a much better balance to it when Alex plays”.

In contrast, Conor O’ Shea said “We were rubbish today, we go from playing so well last week to this kind of performance today. Quins were physical from the word go, our ball retention and recycling was poor. We took some big hits, but our efforts at carrying the ball into contact were very poor.”

“I agree with Mark that the margin between winning and losing is very small these days. All of the players have a huge desire to play for the club; it’s getting the state for mind right for day in/day out, week in/week out consistent performances. Maybe they’re all coming down with the virus. We knew Quins would come out firing from the off and we are very disappointed with the loss. It wasn’t that Quins played out of their socks, but they deserved to win. Once Nick grabbed the ball, he was able to out-run our little scrum half on the wing for the try. It was pretty much all over at that point”.

“It would seem very harsh for me to sit up here and say that I’m disappointed with performances, because it pales into insignificance when you consider the events in the week. Everybody at London Irish would like to offer any support we can to Will Greenwood. Just like the Quins players supporting the Jarrod Cunningham Appeal. Yes, we are disappointed, but nothing matches that”.

This defeat puts London Irish down to 8th in the table, just behind next week’s opponents, Wasps. Harlequins are now in 10th place, with Bristol propping up the table. Is mid-table mediocrity to be our place this season?

Apologies for the lack of detail on the Quins players, but being stuck in the corner of the South Stand, when the action is, what seems like miles away, is not conducive to the most detailed reporting. Especially as I'm not as up to speed on their players as I am with ours.


Harlequins: N Williams; M Moore, N Greenstock, V Satala, B Gollings; P Burke (D Slemen, 55), S Bemand; J Leonard (capt), T Fuga, L Gomez (B Starr, 73), B Davison (J Evans, 73), A Codling, A Tiatia, P Sanderson, T Diprose.

London Irish: M Horak (M Mapletoft, 69); K Barrett, N Burrows, G Appleford, P Rossouw; B Everitt, D Edwards; M Worsley (N Hatley, 48), R Kirke (N Drotske, 65), R Hardwick (P Durant, 61), K Burke (P Gustard, 51), B Casey, D Danaher, K Dawson (J Cockle, 60), R Strudwick (capt).
Referee: D Pearson (Northumberland)

Attendance: 7233

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