Bath came to the Stoop looking for a divided side split by injury, bans and strains on loyalty. What they got was a team who has learnt from adversity and with a strong sense of loyalty to each other.  The first half started as nervy as the visitors could have hoped. Two silly penalties within the Quins half meant that Bath had the advantage 6-0. That said Quins made the better breaks and there were glimpses of the speed of the back line.

For me, however, it was good to see both backs and forwards gaining in confidence. Tiesi, Easter, Care, Monye and Brown stood out but there was a lot great work from rest of the team. Yes there were silly mistakes and there were a couple of bad kicks but it was not two bad sides scrapping it out but two good attacking sides nullifying each others attacking prowess.

NEv did manage to get the deficit down to three with a nicely taken penalty but the threats to the Bath line were defeated by good defence by Bath and some sloppy handling. The missed kicks at goal didn’t help either. The best two attacks by Bath were beaten. The most dangerous just before half time only stopped by Monye doing his trade-mark sprint-half-the-field-and-take-down-the-man-and save-a-certain-try heroics. Abendanon did his best to carve his way through the Quins line and succeeded but he was often isolated and when Mike Brown did the same at least we had NEv dropping back into the full back position to make sure we had cover if it didn’t work.

Much of the first part of the second half followed the same pattern; however this time there was a variation on the kicks which kept Bath on the back foot. The intensity kept being ratcheted up however eventually a penalty came to us. Scores all a-piece six to six. So to Bath’s end game. The ball came out along the line. A small opening in the rush defence. Through went Hape and try, the conversion was missed.

Now was the time and the team had to stand up and be counted. Attack was the name of the game and attack they did. A veritable wave crashed on Bath, held off only by a silly knock on and then, as the clock hit zero, conceding penalty after penalty. A yellow card for constant infringement meant that there was a chance for a losing bonus point. This was not good enough, and so the scrum, now on a high, was called. How many attacks on the Bath line I couldn’t tell but eventually Easter barged his way over, only for the TMO to be called. At this point I managed to get to the only monitor at ground level. The call I heard was “is there any reason I can’t award the try” and from where I was looking there wasn’t and the TMO agreed. Quins managed a great victory although at the cost of heart attacks for the supporters.

The obvious loss of the horned helmet was recognised by the club. What bears do in the woods is one thing, what they do when given a drum and the freedom to wander was a joy and at least you can hear them coming. As Churchill might say, this is neither the end, nor the beginning of the end but it could be the end of the beginning. The season started for Quins here and there is only one thing to add and that’s COME ON YOU QUINS!

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