ComeAllWithin.co.uk - Harlequins 13-13 Cardiff Blues

Indeed, their command of possession and territory was suchthat the visitors did not get out of their own half of the field for overtwenty minutes from the start. Unfortunately, Quins failed to convert that superiority intopoints. They had only a solitarypenalty from Malone after six minutes to show from their efforts, the fly halfhaving missed with two drop-goal attempts, one of which struck the post, and akickable penalty. The score camefrom an excellent up and under kick by Malone and good chasing produced thepressure that gained the penalty.

Harlequins kept the pressure on their opponents kickinganother penalty for a five metre lineout. A good catch and drive was well defended and ultimately turned overalmost on the line and another chance for a Quins’ score had gone. Malone had a fine break but therewas no support and he was caught short of the line and the ball turnedover. Nick Easter retired to theblood bin for the first of two visits, being replaced by Chris Hala’ufia. Unforced errors on both sides preventedany real width on the greasy ball in the drizzle that persisted during thefirst half.

A penalty for Quins going in off their feet, allowed Cardiffto find touch in the Quins’ half and from a penalty conceded at a scrum Blairtook play into the Quins’ twenty-two for the Blues’ first visit in thematch. But Jim Evans stolethe lineout, as he did on a number of other occasions during the afternoon, andthe danger was cleared. Ugo Monyedemonstrated his defensive powers, gathering a long kick through, getting backon his feet and staying strong until help arrived.

Then after the first half hour an infringement at a lineoutgave Blair the chance to kick the penalty and level the scores at 3 – 3. Quins again put pressure on theBlues as Robshaw and Monye chased the restart, caught Shanklin and the ball wasturned over in the ensuing ruck. In an attempt to put some width on the attack the ball was moved quicklyleft, where Monye lurked on the wing and Strettle was looping round in support,but Tani Fuga fumbled the ball and a chance was lost.

Both sides continued to provide unnecessary errors toprevent any fluidity of play. A penalty to Cardiff saw the ball not thrown instraight at the subsequent lineout. An offside by Quins saw Cardiff kick deep into the Quins’ twenty-two andyet again Jim Evans stole the throw and Malone cleared.

Then Gomarsall put up a high kick, deceiving the Cardiffdefender who made the mistake of letting the ball bounce. It came down a second time into thehands of Strettle as he sped towards the line, but the defender managed to gethold of a leg and stop the certain try. The ball bobbled about and was knocked into touch by a Cardiffhand.

The half was nearly over as Quins took a lineout only fivemetres from the Cardiff line. Chris Robshaw took the ball and as Jones feinted to loop right, takingsome of the defence with him, the ball was smuggled to Nick Easter who drovestraight through the gap which opened to score a good try without a singledefender having any chance of stopping him. Malone kicked a fine conversion from the left touchline andQuins went in at half time with a lead of 10 – 3.

The second half started with Cardiff attempting to increasethe pace and break out of their own half of the pitch. A poor pass that went to ground behindthe intended recipient saw Monye, at speed, kick on along the touchlinetwice. The ball rolled left intotouch depriving the winger of a certain try. Then after seven minutes Kohn went offside at a ruck andBlair took the opportunity to add three points for Cardiff and the score to 10– 6. At the same time Nick Easter left for a second session under the stitchingneedle in the blood bin.

A great kick high and catch by Mike Brown followed by abreak past three defenders was stopped and Cardiff were lucky to get afingertip to deflect the pass for David Strettle saving a certain try andturning defence into attack as a kick deep into Quins territory almost broughtabout a Cardiff score. A fumbledknock-on gave Quins a scrum and Gomarsall’s box kick cleared the danger.

Easter now returned with fresh bandages and when thevisitors went offside at a lineout Malone was able to find touch deep in theCardiff half. For once Cardiffstole a Quins’ lineout and a high ball saw Ugo Monye claim a mark as he crashedinto the post protective padding. Perhaps the blow affected his judgment because his kick did not findtouch. Instead Tom James, theBlues wing, ran the ball back fending off the tackle of Robshaw and passinginside to Spice for the scrum half to evade yet another tackle and score a goodtry. Blair easily added theconversion to give Cardiff a lead of 10 – 13.

The lead barely lasted one minute as Martin Williams camethrough offside at a lineout and Malone kicked a difficult 45 metre penalty tolevel the score. With one halfhour remaining, both sides looked for opportunities to score, but without success.Both fly halves missed with attempted drop goals. A brilliant catch of his own high ball by Mike Brownfound Paul Volley offside. Onceagain Cardiff’s lineout throw was not straight. Another Mike Brown special put Quins on the attack. Cardiff too had a final attempt to rununtil a forward pass brought it to an end.

Quins gradually picked and drove to a position from whichMalone could drop a goal and win the game. Unfortunately, Gomarsall, as he later acknowledged, made awrong decision to try to gain another few yards and collided with Volley. The referee adjudged that to beaccidental offside and blew the final whistle.

On a note for the record books, I cannot remember anothermatch since substitutes were allowed in which the only substitute used by Quinswas while Nick Easter was having his blood injuries stitched and all of thestarting fifteen finished the match

At the press conference following the game, Cardiff were notdispleased with the two points which were an unexpected bonus after thedifficulties they faced in their lineout. Asked why Harlequins had not looked for a drop goalwhen they were in position to do so. "Gomars has said it should have gone. He's held his hands up,"said Dean Richards, the Harlequins director of rugby. "At the end weshould have just dropped the goal. You couldn't have asked for a betterposition."

Richards admitted he was very disappointed that his sidefailed to win a match they dominated in the first half. "We had 70% of thelineout possession, our scrum was pretty good and from a territorial point ofview it was probably 60-40, but we didn't capitalise on it," he said. “Ourremaining four games are all winnable. We shall just have to win them.”

Harlequins: M Brown;S Keogh, D Strettle, D W Barry, U Monye; C Malone, A Gomarsall; C Jones, TFuga, M Ross, O Kohn, J Evans, C Robshaw, P Volley (capt), N Easter (CHala'Ufia 15-22 & 46-53).

Cardiff: B Blair; TJames, J Robinson, T Shanklin, G Thomas; D Flanagan, J Spice; G Jenkins, T RThomas (G Williams 67) T Filise, D Jones, P Tito (R Sidoli 72), M Molitika, MWilliams, X Rush (capt).

Referee: P Gauzere (France).

Attendace: 11,340

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