This match is one of a full set of midweek matches that have been shoe horned into the schedules to allow for an early finish ahead of the 2009 Lions Tour.

Defeat last Saturday sees Harlequins drop to fifth, and coupled with a number of other “unexpected” results last weekend saw every team the Premiership table shuffle their positions with the exception of Bristol who are already beginning to look as if they have been cast adrift.

I am unsure what happened on Saturday as Quins exhibited their own meltdown reflecting the current situation in global financial markets, Saturday’s match can be summed up as “Boom and Bust” I am also not in a position to comment on last Saturday’s match. This is not due to the fact that I was away for the weekend although I did receive text updates on the match thanks to BatQuin, but because I am still speechless, at throwing away a 17 point lead and the match. Whilst this may have been the game of round 4, and as Mick Cleary noted in the Telegraph, “it was great stuff for the neutral as well as for England followers. The home fans, of course, may not quite see it the same way.” Brian Moore struck a more sober note in his column on Monday “On Saturday morning I got talking to a Harlequins season ticket holder and we agreed that the way the club had developed in the last few years had been fantastic. A hugely improved following, a safe family environment, entertaining rugby. All they need now is to learn how to close out a game. Leading by 17 points at half time on Saturday and by 8 points the week before (against Gloucester) in both games they succumbed to late scores. A successful side find a way to win, however it is done and a lack of this as much as any technical issue, stops them being title material.” He seems to have forgotten this is Quins Rugby! We seem to have been in this position so many times before.

Saturday is history, no matter how much it rankles, we must move on and the squad and management must learn from these demoralising loses.

So fifth placed Quins head off to Sixways to meet Worcester to if they can bounce back from those two defeats. Quins have experienced playing under the floodlights at Sixways before and know that under these conditions it can be an even more intimidating place to play, but they have won their last two Premiership matches at Sixways. Back in December Quins held out for a narrow 10-7 win. Infact Worcester have not beaten Quins in the Premiership since February 2005 .Although lying in eleventh place, Worcester are no slouches this season and it must be remembered  that they turned over Wasps at Adams park last weekend snatching victory with their final penalty kick of the evening.

Last weekend Worcester were on the receiving end of five tries as Bath cruised to a 37 -19 points victory, but not that Worcester were poor. They started the match at great speed taking the lead with an early Crichton penalty but they were unable to string the phases together. Bath realised early on that the Worcester plan was to try and punch holes in their defence after two or three passes. Once Bath had realised this they were rarely troubled by Worcester who did score a try. The majority of their points however came from the boot of “admirable” Crichton. In his match report Paul Ackford noted that Worcester also need to work out what to do with Chris Latham, as he seemed lost for most of the game.

With the match being shown live on Sky TV it is an opportunity for Quins to shine and show the country what they can do. At least if it all goes horribly wrong I suppose we can hide behind the sofa!

Come on You Quins!

The other Premiership mid week matches are;  

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• Quin Kong's look at the ELVs

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS

Harlequins Poll