So it was, perhaps, a propitious omen that it is the date of the first battle in the war which Quins must wage and win to regain their place in the Premiership. 

The much anticipated day arrived and it was off to foreign fields and pastures new to meet the enemy, Birmingham and Solihull R.F.C., masquerading as Pertemps Bees.  I cannot remember when I have seen such massive support for Quins at an away match more than exceeding the 500+ in Paris at Stade Francais. And they were in good voice.

The overall weight of media and betting opinion was fixed firmly on Harlequins to return to the Premiership at the end of the season but many rugby supporters awaited the result hoping, no doubt, that Quins would find a banana skin and slip to defeat.  After all, London Wasps once fielded a less than full strength side against the Bees in a cup match and suffered ignominious defeat!

It was quite clear that the Bees were up for the match.  They came hard at Quins and contested the tackle area, rucks and mauls ferociously.

They showed some invention in attack and, after some five minutes play, Bees were unlucky to have a try disallowed for crossing.  

Almost immediately from the restart the backs ran the ball and a slick pass from Mehrtens to Duffy passed via Williams to Ugo Monye who sped in to touch down under the posts as cries of “U-u-u-g-g-o-o-o-o!” rang round the ground.  Andrew Mehrtens converted. Six minutes gone – 0 – 7.

But Quins were conceding possession and committing too many unforced errors with poor handling skills and loss of the ball in contact. 

Despite this another break from Mehrtens found George Harder in support and an exquisitely timed inside pass put the winger through between the posts. 

The fly half added the points and after fifteen minutes Quins led 0 – 14.  The rest of the half, despite some good breaks by Monye and another attack which failed on a pass adjudged forward to Harder, saw the home side throw everything they could at their visitors scoring from a penalty on the half-hour.

A further good attack saw Tom Williams blatantly shoulder charged into touch only five metres short of the try line.  Only a penalty followed when a yellow card, certainly, or a penalty try, possibly, might well have been the result in the GP with more consistent refereeing.  Half time arrived with the score 3 – 14.

Bees started the second half coming at Quins even harder.  They were competing ferociously in the tackle area and gaining superiority in possession and a drop goal by their replacement fly-half, Tim Lamb, narrowed the score to 6 – 14.  It was soon after this that a mass replacement by Quins brought on Fuga, Bouza, Vass and Easter. 

Quins’ pressure brought a scrum close in front of the Bees’ posts.  From Mehrtens the ball was spun out right where Tom Williams completed the score and Mehrtens added the conversion to increase the gap to 6 – 21 as the game moved into the last quarter.   Bees added another penalty on the half-hour. 9 - 21

The last of the cavalry arrived when Will Greenwood came on in place of Tom Williams with Duffy dropping back to full back. 

It was shortly after his arrival that he delivered a superbly timed and weighted kick through the Bees’ defence for Monye to run on to, scoop and again score under the posts.  Mehrtens added the conversion.  9 – 28 and the bonus point secured.

Bees did not give up and only an excellent try-saving tackle from Monye on Beim prevented the score.  But the game was almost up now.  Jarvis replaced Mehrtens.  Then, in injury time, from a scrum on the Bees’ 10 metre line, Harder ran down the blind side to score under the posts.  Jarvis converted.  9 – 35.

This was not the best of performances although the backs, for the most part, played with speed and invention.  Errors which would have been more ferociously punished in the Premiership abounded.  Despite the alleged strength of the forwards in ND1, the scrum went well and was not overpowered although the rolling maul was well resisted by the home team.

Dean Richards was not satisfied with the result. "If every player was fair to themselves”, he said, “they would say their skill levels weren't up to what is expected. We tried to push the game too much and made a huge amount of unforced errors. That was reflected in the way we played and the result. There was no surprise at the way Bees played. We expected them to come out hard and they did. The fact they came even harder in the second half - all credit to them. The score didn't reflect the game, it should have been tighter.

"I'm pleased we didn't concede a try but I'm not happy with the huge amount of errors. I'd like to think it was a case of first day jitters. There are plenty of areas we must work on. The positive is we've come here, played badly and taken five points from the match."

Bees director of rugby Phil Maynard, who sought to play down the defeat and attributed it to three missed tackles and some inconsistent refereeing in disallowing a good try,  was disappointed by Quins . "I was surprised at the lack of physicality - we were expecting a harder battle. We've had sterner tests up front in this division. They won't struggle in this season but they certainly won't have it all their own way,"

"They'll have to reassess things. Their players will have had more of a roasting after the game than mine have. They have gas to burn and some good players, but if you could see £3.5million worth of difference there this afternoon I'd be prepared to argue with you. They didn't play with any rhythm and they were trying to score off first phase which showed a slight bit of arrogance."

So the first battle is won and it can only improve.  Certainly there were many good things.  The sharpness of the backs and the drive and direction which Andrew Mehrtens  brings to their attack is impressive with Monye finding space to run and Harder not merely a battering ram. 

Jordan Turner-Hall had an impressive debut and will get even better.  Alex Rogers, too, had a fine debut in the front row

Pertemps Bees: D Knight; T Beim, A Billig, S Martin (M Davies 60min), N Baxter; T Walsh (R Lamb 54min), P Knight; A Le Chevalier, M Miles, M Long (R Leilua 62min), B Hughes, E Orgee (capt, R Hurrell 1min), T Tamarua (H Fakatou 68min), K Trayhern, D White (J Jenner 54min).

NEC Harlequins: T Williams (W. Greenwood 62 min); G Harder, G Duffy, J Turner-Hall, U Monye; A Mehrtens (A Jarvis 78min), S So’oialo (I Vass 56min); A Rogers (L Ward 68min), J Richards (T Fuga 56min), R Nebbett, J Evans, S Miall (N Easter 56min), A Vos (capt), T Diprose (P Bouza 56min), L Sherriff.

Scorers:
Pertemps Bees: Pens: Walsh, Lamb; Drop Goal: Walsh.
Harlequins: Tries: Moyne (2), Harder (2), Williams; Cons: Mehrtens (4), Jarvis

Referee: M Fox (Leics)

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon