The Pool 3 Table does not make particularly good reading for Harlequins supporters, yet those who follow Bristol certainly have something to cheer about and they are likely to be cheering on Quins on Friday night. As stated, Quins are out of the running BUT they can still have a significant affect the on the final positions in this group, although it is possible of that the victor of next weeks Bristol v Cardiff match will take the spoils. Both teams are at the top of the table; with the same number of points yet Bristol have the advantage of winning more games, by way of back to back wins over Quins just before Christmas.

Quins were at Home to Cardiff in round two of this competition back in November, when the teams [played out a 13 all draw in front of a frustrated home side. This was a match where Quins could and should have has the match won by half time, yet we unable to press home their advantage and allowed Cardiff to get back into the game to play out a draw, result that benefited neither side. Two months on and we’ve seen very few positives from Quins performance on the pitch, a slide which continued in the home match against Ospreys in December when they were  unable to score against  twelve or thirteen men,  which hopefully culminated with that degrading second half spectacle last Sunday in front of a full house and a significant Sky audience. Surely our performance cannot sink any lower? 

Some comfort can be drawn from the fact that Harlequins supporters do not have the monopoly in following a club with troubles on the pitch, Cardiff Blues supporters appear to have their own concerns if their website is a good indicator, and maybe the two groups can get together on Friday to provide comfort and support to each other. Ironically both sets of supporters suggest that their woes lie in the way the players are coached. The loss 10-11 to Edinburgh last weekend did not help their cause.

Feedback from this match suggests that the Cardiff backs were awful - especially Thomas. another poster Dry wrote “Can anybody please tell me what is going on with these tactically naïve players, Never seen anything like it, the kicking, the decision making was awful. Edinburgh were no great shakes but much smarter.” sam 123 also posted on The Blues supporters website “What is the point in having a world class centre in Shanklin who has nowhere to go as Thomas keeps running inside. He’s too slow and makes some terrible decisions. Past it. Not a big Nicky Robinson fan at all but Macleod makes him look like Dan Carter. Why didn’t we bring Rhys Jones on and give him a go at the end – he couldn’t have been much worse. If we play like that against Quins we’re stuffed – we’ll have thrown away Magners and Heineken in a matter of weeks.”

The Cardiff coach Dai Young is fairly optimistic about their chances, “This is the first realistic opportunity of reaching the last eight for a number of years.” He added: “There’s only one reason we haven’t before and that’s because we haven’t been good enough, however, we’ve compiled a squad which is very competitive and I think we’ve shocked a few people that we are in this position. What we have to do is keep our squad fit for both games, as we are a bit stretched, and take our opportunities. It’s not an easy path, we still have a lot to do, but we feel are capable of doing it.”  With the return of flanker Martyn Williams, lock Paul Tito and prop Taufa’ao Filise to their starting XV   and with Jamie Robinson returning from injury to be on the bench, they will be well placed. 

Cardiff based Quins follower sam123 has provided some insight as to the calibre of the team that Cardiff may field on Friday night, “Macleod has been, I am informed, playing like an absolute drain at 10 recently. That’s about the only positive as Blair is a fairly (although form has dipped of late) reliable kicker, Roberts is an exceptional prospect on the wing, Molitika remains notably improved from his days with us and all the others are reasonably well known. It’ll be interesting to see what – I assume – some of our younger players can do against them. On recent form they won’t tear us apart in the backs – they drop the ball, pass behind the man/to Harvey and run into each other almost as much as we do – but that’s a very decent pack that I’d expect to see anything other than our first choices struggle against. If, of course, they rediscover their form then there’s every chance of a Leicester-esque score line, but I’d be surprised. They do, of course, very much need to get 4 tries” 

With match on Sky and our recent performance it is unlikely that many Quins will travel to the match, although Cardiff are expecting a crowd of  over 9,000 spectators. 

Harlequins have to approach this week’s game and the one against Stade Francais at The Stoop next weekend as if the results mattered; the games need to be used to build preparation for the return the Premiership action which starts with a Friday night special against Sale on January 25th. Winning builds confidence, and as mentioned earlier Harlequins can cause an upset and affect the final outcome of Pool 3 Dean Richards told the Western Mail earlier this week, that he was targeting this match as a “morale boosting” success. “We would like to win to get back on track. We will go into it with a desire to win,” he said. “Looking at it defensively and attack-wise, we have got to tighten up. At this moment in time, we are not playing as well as we could be. We knew we would be up against it when we played Leicester, but to implode as we did in the 20 minutes after half-time was unacceptable and, there were very few positives we could take out of it.” He added “Our decision-making was poor and it cost us. In saying that, it came from our more experienced guys, not our less experienced players. We are just going to have to build up for Friday. We have to look at it objectively. For individuals and for us as a team, in terms of getting a win, it is an important game.”  He finished by saying “I am quite upbeat and we will keep plugging away,” 

Let’s hope that we start to see a reversal of fortunes, Quins have nothing to loose in this match, whereas a loss for Cardiff could possibly end their Heineken hopes. The result of Bristol’s game in Paris will also play a part, but I expect it is likely that the Pool winners will not be decided for another weekend.

Come on You Quins!!

Harlequins:
15. Mike Brown, 14. David Strettle, 13. Hal Luscombe, 12. De Wet Barry, 11. Tom Williams, 10. Chris Malone, 9. Steve So'oialo, 1. Ceri Jones, 2. Gary Botha, 3. Mike Ross, 4. James Percival, 5. Nicolas Spanghero, 6. Tom Guest, 7. Paul Volley (Capt.), 8. Chris Hala'ufia.
Replacements: 16. Tani Fuga, 17. Ricky Nebbett, 18. Ollie Kohn, 19. Phil Davies, 20. Danny Care, 21. Adrian Jarvis, 22. Tosh Masson

Cardiff Blues:
Ben Blair, Jamie Roberts, Tom Shanklin, Dafydd Hewitt, Gareth Thomas, Nick Macleod, Jason Spice, Xavier Rush (c), Martyn Williams, Maama Molitika, Paul Tito, Deiniol Jones, Tauf'au Filise, Gareth Williams, Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: John Yapp, T. Rhys Thomas, Scott Morgan, Mark Lewis, Richie Rees, Rhys Jones, Jamie Robinson.

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

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• January 2008 at Harlequins

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