The shine of our dream start to the season became rather tarnished last Saturday evening up at Kingston Park, as Harlequins went down to their first loss of the season. Perhaps the only positive one can take from the defeat was that Malone’s kicking enabled Quins to pick up a precious bonus point, and we appear not to have given away any kickable penalties.  After just three rounds the Premiership table is beginning to open up.   

Without seeing the match it is hard to understand what went wrong last weekend. A work colleague of mine, and London Irish supporter, expressed his surprise, after he had witnessed a woeful Newcastle performance the week before. Alanquins’ match report suggests that despite trying Quins were unable to get back on level terms and a loss by 3 tries to nil is pretty damning, however the Newcastle indiscipline kept Quins in the match with four penalty kicks, plus two other kickable penalties that were kicked to touch in the hope of a catch and drive across the line. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as Alanquin wrote “One could not help feeling that had the two penalties not been missed, the two later ones, kicked to posts and not touch, would have ensured the win.”  He added “Quins played less well than their previous games and need to tighten up before the visit of Bristol and has suggested that the bonus point was a poor consolation for a game that ought to have been won. The match report also stated that the forwards did pretty well but there was a lack of penetration from both backs and forwards and perhaps the reason why Newcastle won, “Matthew Burke is still a very fine player and his kicking game is superb”. Malone’s four penalty goals make him joint top, with Ryan Lamb, as the player to have scored the highest number of Premiership points, with 46 points

Dean Richards was clearly disappointed with the performance and was reported in most of the papers last weekend as saying “We showed pretty low imagination in getting the ball over the line."   He added “…of the tries they scored, we gave them two, possibly three. They took their chances. We had loads of chances and didn't convert any into points. We created a lot of opportunities and just did not put any of them away which is very disappointing. That is something we need to work on for next week.” Let’s hope that has been resolved.

It must have been a  v  e  r  y   l  o  n  g  journey home on the team bus.

In contrast, Bristol Rugby ended their four match losing run with victory at home to London Irish last Sunday, however they have lost seven matches in a row on the road since their 14-8 win at Northampton back in January. Their win may well have been down to the return of their Samoan wing David Lemi.

After the match Richard Hill stated  “I think we got some Bristol grit back, which had been missing before this game. The lads had been training hard but have been unable to transfer that to the weekend. But we found that today, that bit of real grit, that will to win”. This match saw the debut of their controversial summer signing winger Tom Arscott from Plymouth Albion, whose transfer together with that of fly half Ed Barnes led to Bristol being fined £25,000 by the RFU following an illegal approach.

Hill acknowledged that Lemi was a little tired but expected him to be at his best for the visit to Harlequins when fellow countryman Alfie To'oala will also be available. Quins will need to ensure that he is not given the opportunity to run with the ball. We all saw what he can do, when Bristol visited The Stoop back in February. We expect that our own Samoans Tani Fuga and Steve So’oialo also to be available to play. This weekend, Bristol will be without Regan and Perry who are in France with England, but are likely to play Ward Smith at No.8 in their squad that is likely  to also include two former Quins Roy Winters and Josh Taumalolo

Currently in third place, Harlequins have the opportunity to return to second place in the Premiership, providing they beat Bristol. Leicester entertain Gloucester at Welford Road, in the     ”top of the table” clash which will be televised by Sky Sports. Dependant upon the result of that match, it is mathematically possible for Quins to go top!

Harlequins have won seven of their last eight home matches in the Guinness Premiership in 2007, their only loss being 16-23 to Wasps back in March. In contrast Bristol have won just once at the Stoop, in the Premiership, since 1997 winning 38-32  way back in September 2001. The two teams did meet just five weeks ago at The Stoop in a pre season friendly when Bristol won 27-22. Last season in the Premiership, Quins won 15 – 8 at The Stoop, but lost at The Memorial Ground, 33-20 back in October.

This is a crucial “must win” match for Harlequins if they are to maintain their top three status. It is a chance to show that last weeks performance against Newcastle was an annoyance. A loss at home, this weekend, coupled with the likely wins for the three teams immediately below us, who are all playing out of form teams could see a vulnerable Quins fall to sixth position. If Quins play as they did in their first two home matches, this season, then they will record another home win. Bristol are never an easy team to play, and they will be determined to build on their win last week end. The matches between the two teams are usually exciting games with a large number of points scored, and I expect this to be the format this weekend. Quins will need to work hard to secure their win, and could secure a four try bonus point. I would not be surprised to see Bristol travel back down the M4 with a losing bonus point for their afternoon’s work.

This match referee is David Rose, who will be in charge of his fiftieth Premiership match.

 Come on you Quins!
This weekend fixtures:

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• October 2007 at Harlequins