Harlequins’ season appears to have started at 4.00 last Saturday afternoon as the second half of their home match against Newbury kicked off. Trailing from the break 10-13 a different team run out from the Lexus stand and after Nick Easters try the team went on to demolish a feisty Newbury side with a further 42 unanswered points. We were all left wondering what Deano said to them at half time. I think we all concur with barquin mad’s comments posted on Monday regarding taking 200 minutes to start playing competitively and “now that they realise they can play decent Rugby, let’s hope the floodgates open, and that nervous fragile mindset has gone.” The “As” certainly followed up with their own trouncing 56 - 15 of Bristol A on Monday night, with their commitment and belief. 

The pressure continues to be relentless and this week and Harlequins will certainly have a game on their hands. The standings in ND1 are beginning to get clearer as the weeks go by and Nottingham have had a very good start to the season, winning their first two matches against Rotherham (ET) at home and away at Sedgley Park picking up a four try, bonus point in both matches. As befits a team from Nottingham their “bows of burning gold” have shot their “arrows of desire” and this time last week Nottingham sat on top of ND1, a division they were promoted to at the end of the 2003/04 season. Last weekend they ran a heavily fancied Plymouth Albion very close, loosing by just one point. The home side won 23 – 22. As the score line suggests, this was a close game and by all accounts it was a match that Nottingham should have won, but bad luck and indiscipline was their down fall. Nottingham were able to get the better of the very strong Plymouth pack, pushing them into retreat and driving Raven over for the first try of the match. Play was kept in the Nottingham half for most of the first half and the sides were almost level at 13 -12 at the break. Early in the second half the Nottingham No8, Fitisemanu, picked up a yellow card which enabled Plymouth to build a significant lead of 23 – 12 in the second half, although neither try was converted. Back to full strength Nottingham reapplied their pressure. The pack continued to dominate Plymouth when prop Cook was driven over for a try which was converted and Nottingham were back in the match at 23 -19.

A penalty then brought the deficit to one point. Nottingham s dominance continued and they had high hopes of winning the match as they pounded the Plymouth defence. Like Harlequins, Nottingham had two tries disallowed as Fitisemanu crossed the line twice. The first occasion the referee was unable to see whether the ball was grounded properly, and by trying to prevent a reoccurrence at his second attempt he was deemed to have made a double movement. As the game drew to a close scrum half Richardson made a fast break down the wing outpacing three defenders but was brought down as he weaved in filed just yards from the try line. Nottingham had one more opportunity squandered when a scrum in the last minute under the home posts. A drop goal would have sealed a win but they lost their discipline and conceded a penalty instead. It is apparent that Plymouth had a lucky escape, and Nottingham will certainly be fired up and fancy their chances at home this weekend, posing a potential banana skin for Quins. In addition pre season Nottingham beat Northampton “As” 56 – 19. 

Nottingham have a rich rugby history being founded in 1877. Former England players include, W.Hare, G.Rees, C.Andrew and stalwart Quins hooker, and current broadcaster, Brian Moore as well as Chris Oti and Simon Hodgkinson.The Club moved to their current ground at Ireland Avenue, in 1904. The Beeston site was once notorious for its mud, as it forms part of the flood plane for the River Trent, and a high water table made drainage difficult, (end of physical geography lesson). Eventually these problems were overcome and the club invested in a drainage system some twenty years ago. Over the years the two teams have met a total of fifteen times, with honours very even in all matches, with Harlequins just having the edge by winning eight, with one drawn match. Quins’ biggest win against Nottingham was in February 1995 when they were victors 43 – 4, overturning their biggest defeat from the previous year, February 1994 of 11-43.

Harlequins will need to watch out for Tongan Prop, Lea’aetoa, he has found his form with Nottingham and is troubling his opposition. As a prop he is a useful ball carrier, and can tackle and his strength is paramount in the scrum as Plymouth discovered last week. The Nottingham No 8 Fitsemanu has also been playing well in since the start of the season and is another South Sea island player to watch.

BBC Nottingham believes that it is the fear of relegation which has made Nottingham RFC determined to succeed this year. Last year Nottingham showed an inability to change their defensive tactics if it wasn’t working. Missed tackles last season also proved costly for them, Missed and floating passes are also cited as a weakness last year, but I think the same could be said for some of Quins play this season.

Nottingham captain Craig Hammond told his local radio station that Saturday will be “just another day at the office”. He believes that for Harlequins “big names” it will be difficult to come down to grass roots level, however we now have a few weeks under our belt and know what to expect. As Kwin so amusingly pointed out earlier this week, we also have our own “Sheriff”!

As we are now beginning to expect as a matter of course, Harlequins have again named a slightly changed side this week, as Dean Richards runs his Horses for Courses, and is still trying out combinations. Jordan Turner Hall returns and replaces Will Greenwood, and will partner Mel Deane who moves to outside centre. Lorne Ward makes his first start for Quins at tight head prop, with Ricky Nebbett switching to loose head replacing Alex Rogers who drops to the bench. As we heard from the match report last week, Richards has not forgotten Diprose who is back this week at No.8, Easter is on the bench. It is good to see that we have such a flexible squad of players this season, with strength in depth, who are happy to play in the “As“ as well as the first team, and that a large proportion of those names on the team sheet this week are in the academy.

As Vos has stated “teams want to play really well against us so we have to make sure we’re at our best every single week”. Nottingham will see Harlequins as a potential scalp, but as long as they don t loose there heads Quins should win again this week. The quality of the reserves on the bench will play their part as the second half of the match progresses. This match could be more difficult than Otley, but if the team follow the strap line on the September page of the Quinssa calendar, Harder, (used adjectively!) concentrated and determined should bring us a win.

For those travelling have a great day and for those who are not, you can keep up with the action on line on CAW thanks to live updates from Gumychesterquin.

Come on you Quins!

NEC Harlequins:
15. Gavin Duffy, 14. Simon Keogh, 13. Mel Deane, 12. Jordan Turner-Hall, 11. Ugo Monye, 10. Andrew Mehrtens, 9. Ian Vass, 1. Ricky Nebbett, 2. Tani Fuga, 3. Lorne Ward, 4. Jim Evans, 5. Simon Miall, 6. Andre Vos (c.), 7. Luke Sherriff, 8. Tony Diprose
Replacements from: Jimmy Richards, Alex Rogers,Pablo Bouza, Tom Guest, Nick Easter, Adrian Jarvis, Tom Williams, Aston Croall, Charlie Amesbury, Chris Robshaw

Nottingham: not announced but expected to be
15.Thompson, 14.Jackson, 13.Wykes, 12.Molenaar, 11.Brown,10. Warnock, 9.Richardson, 1.Fowkes, 2.Loney, 3.Lea’aetoa, 4.Arnold, 5.Raven, 6.Hammond (c), 7.Wilks, 8. Fitisemanu
Replacements:


Match Officials:
Referee: Tim Wigglesworth
Touch Judges: Dale Newitt and Steve Makinson

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