Additionally with the completion of the five matches scheduled this month, it brought the first half of the domestic season to a close. (Although we still have a game in hand following the postponement at Bristol in October.)

A BIG month for Harlequins too, notably the long awaited, much heralded arrival of our new Captain Andre Vos, who was not to disappoint. Additionally November gave us  the closest we get these days to a “London Derby!” with no less than three such matches played this month, two against Saracens and one against Wycombe  (sorry) London Wasps.

A month that saw us continue to win at home “Fortress Stoop” five home wins on the trot, yet away we still cannot seem to press home any advantage and win, albeit we were unluckily at Saracens, given our determined fight back.

 Our defence has been very strong at home, and at times, awesome. Despite losing players to the sin bin we still maintain our defence and prevented points being scored at home against Wasps and Saracens It is as if we are more advantaged with just 14 instead of 15 men on the pitch!

So our tally for November: -
Points for 118 Points against 126. Won 3 lost 2
We also “maintained” our position as Seventh in the Premiership
 

November 2nd-Quins v Bath   W 18-9
Man of the Match as voted by CAW   Nick  Duncombe

 “A winning start for Vos”

 The first match of the season to be played in wet conditions, and consequently there were a number of handling and kicking errors.

Duncombe was absolutely everywhere like a terrier, hustling and bustling across the field, with accurate passing and great running, he was voted man of the match on CAW and by the club.

Diprose too had a very good game and Vos certainly made an impact! as he topped the tackle count with thirteen tackles 

On the whole Nathan Williams kicked well but would have benefited on more than one occasion with wet weather tyres!

 Finally Greenwood eventually put on the No 10 shirt and relished in the glory as he dived across the line from close range, following a strong drive from the pack for a well worked try. Will we be seeing more of Will as No 10? 
 

November 9th  Saracens v Quins  L 36-30
Man of the Match as voted by CAW   No CAW MotM

“A game of two halves”

The first London Derby of the month

There was not a CAW vote for MotM for this game, probably because we were all so disappointed that victory was cruelly snatched back from us at the end of the match, to give us our first Premiership away win for 20 months. Certainly a game of two halves reminiscent of that Classic Powergen Semi Final against London Irish last year when we gave them a 27 point lead! On the positive side we came away with two points.

Our points were gained from a brace of tries from Moore, giving him the highest number of Quins tries so far this season at five,  with additional touchdowns from Duncombe and a first Vos in the Quartered Shirt. Nathan Williams kicking most of the conversions and a penalty just before full time.

Other reports that I've read about this match  suggests that Nathan Williams was the Man of the Match, and therefore has been put forward to stand in this months poll.
 

November 16th Quins v Wasps  W 27-14
Man of the Match as voted by CAW   Nick Greenstock

“Awesome Quins”

Not pretty Rugby but an exciting, a tough fought match. I've watched the video a number of times. If the match away to Saracens last week left one struggling to find a Man of the Match, in this contest it was hard to find anyone not to nominate!

Diprose was magnificent and was Sky’s Man of the Match, and on balance won my vote.  As Captain, Vos was everywhere constantly motivating the team and checking they knew the game plan, and with Ace also in the back row provided a formidable defensive line.

Paul Burke’s kicking only let him down once and that knock down in injury time that lead to his try was an added sweetness that pushed any chance of a bonus point, out of Wasps hands. In addition Wlliams tactical kicking from close to the touchline was also spot on.

Codling was immense in the lineouts, contributing, via a quick ball to Greenstock for a wonderful try, which earned him CAW man of match

A forgotten fact is that we won this match, despite being one player down for 20 minutes of the match, because of the  sin binning of Bemand and Fuga., Even  though the substitution of Lock by Dallaglio turned the game towards Wasps in the third quarter, we maintained our strong defensive stance to win a well deserved victory. Even  “Bad boy” Gollings contributed with his tackle on Dallaglio deep in the second half is worth watching again and again.

Unfortunately injuries sustained by Duncombe and Grreenstock marred an otherwise exciting afternoon for Harlequins.
 

November 23^rd  Northampton v Quins  L 35-7
Man of the Match as voted by CAW   “Don t ask me I was at Twickenham!”

 “The Worst performance of the Evs Era”

A game to forget? Judging by the CAW Man of the Match Poll it seems  that more Quins fans went to the England game and Twickenham rather than make the journey up to The Gardens. Those who went to Northampton agreed that Alex Codling  should be voted the man of the Match due to the number of stolen balls he collected at the lines. One report I read suggested that Northampton did not bother to contest the lineout in the second half. Other reports have suggested that youngsters Andy Reay at Centre and James Hayter as hooker equally had  good games but  with the lack of cohesion there was only going to be one result

A miserable afternoon  for Quins despite taking a brief lead-in the first half,  and capitalising on both scrummages and line outs the team could not string their game together. There is nothing more to say.
 

November 30th  Quins v Saracens  W  36-32
Man of the Match as voted by CAW   Nathan Williams

Nathan Williams voted MotM on the day

 “London Derby or Farce”

The turn of the Premiership Season. By this stage we should have played all the premiership teams once, except we have a game in hand due to the Postponement at Bristol.. Today saw an exciting match, one, which in hindsight we should have won more comfortably, and a match where the score owed a lot to poor ball control rather than skill. This was not help by a number of “creative” referring decisions which, I think we are still coming to terms with.. Yes we picked up four points but it should have been fivw.

The  track from The Clash was appropriate at the start of the match but one from those other Fez Boys, Madness, may have been a more apt way of summing up this game, or even the Benny Hill  Show theme tune.  Whilst we did eventually “ Rock the Casbah” we should have capitalised further on our second half,13 point lead, and pressed home our advantage even harder.

Williams voted as man of the match on the day, although his kicking was woeful at times.. Diprose performed very well yet again. The break through the opposition defence by Vos and the pass that lead to Williams try was memorable. Codling too, was very efficient in the lineouts and also Matt Moore, our leading try scorer ,this season bagged another one, and nearly made it two with a carbon copy break through, but was defeated by the bounce. Poor Ben Gollings  had a bad day, and was unfairly criticised. He never gave up chasing to prevent Saracens Scoring when they broke through, and from where I was sitting, above the try line, he definitely did ground the ball , before it slipped out of his hands.

I am "worried”, about Satala, he reminds me on occasions of a scared rabbit stuck in car headlights, I’m sure that we have not seen his full potential, but he does lack confidence, in tight situations. Maybe he dislikes playing in the wet. 

Others nominees for November Player of the Month

 One has to single out Andre Vos. he has been an inspiration over the past five weeks. He is a leader and has a lot of ambition. His personal encouragement on the players on the field is very noticeable in all the matches, and he has rapidly gelled with the team.

His determined break through in the centre of the field at home Saracens, and the pass to Williams that enabled him to score was a magic moment.

This month there is no one player that stands out  more than anyone else. The match against Wasps was a real team performance. It is a much closer call this month. Unfortunately two of the nominees were injured in the match against Wasps with Duncombe going off injured after just 4 minutes, and Greenstock who was injured in the second half.  They both missed the next two games, and who knows what their presence might have made down at Franklin’s Gardens.

My nominations for Harlequins Player of the month are therefore;

Nick Duncombe   -   Man of the Match v Bath
Nathan Williams  - Man of the match v Saracens (home and away!)
Nick Greenstock   -  Man of the Match v Wasps
Alex Codling       -   Man of the Match v Northampton
Andre Vos      -     for his inspiration and guidance and captaincy to the whole team
Tony Diprose  -    consistency of performance throughout November

 So as December dawns and the close of the year beckons, we look forward to a series of Cup matches against Stade Francais in the Parker Pen Cup and Leeds in the domestic, Powergen Cup, and of course progressing further in both competitions. This is not beyond our reach.

The Premiership resumes for us on December 28^th, for the rest of a somewhat fragmented rest of season, interspersed with both European and Domestic Cup matches and the Six Nations Championships.

I m sure, however that the team will give much to celebrate over the forthcoming festive season and surely, that elusive away win is not that far away now, two away wins would make a cracking Christmas present!

 

kwin adds:

The result of the poll was

Question: CAW November Player of the Month

Nick Duncombe 3% Nathan Williams 10% Nick Greenstock 7% Alex Codling 1% Andre Vos 15% Tony Diprose 63% Number of votes: 67

So the Come All Within Player of the Month for November was
** TONY DIPROSE **

 

 

 

 

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