With so many of the youngsters playing for the first team on Saturday (and playing very well I hasten to add) and with a large number of senior players still out through injury the side had a rather odd look to it. A number of the regular watchers of the A League games would have been hard pressed to have recognised all of the names on the Quins team sheet with four players on loan from local club Esher for the night to try to plug some gape. 

Jimmy Richards, Steve So’oialo and Gavin Duffy were all selected in the 22 which was quite hard on the since they had played a big part in the weekend win over Doncaster. A few players were in unusual positions too with Mike Brown at centre, Ian Vass at fly half and Gavin Duffy playing at fly half later in the game.. 

It was certainly good to see Ceri Jones starting after the knee injury he picked up against Saracens pre-season and also Mike Worsley in the reserves returning from a minor back injury. 

The start of the game was rather scrappy, mostly ping-pong kicking and lots of whistle blowing from the rather officious referee, he gave a huge number of penalties at the break down for either holding on or not rolling away which made the majority of the game disjointed.

Duncan James was replaced due to injury in the first ten minutes and Steve So’oialo came on. Mike Brown had the first chance to put points on the board but his kick from 35m clattered into the left hand upright, Kevin Fisher, the young wing from Esher, followed up well and tackled the Bath player who caught the rebound, this led to another penalty to Quins this time 20m out and this time Brown pulled the ball wide of the posts.

Jordan Turner-Hall was looking lively, always looking for the gap, trying chips over the top and taking the crash ball well – one time the Bath back row attempted a double tackle on him and they were both left on their backsides with JTH still going forward.

The referee made some ‘interesting’ decisions at the scrum, awarded a penalty for diving on a lose ball and then sent Mike Brown to the sin bin for a first offence of what was as far as everyone else could see the grave offence of picking the loose ball up! Apparently he gave it for deliberate offside but since it wasn’t a ruck situation it is difficult to see where the offside line should have been – hay ho…

Bath took advantage of the extra man when Quins finally ran out of tacklers after some heroic try line defence and number eight Chris Goodman scored the first try, Malone added the extras and Bath were leading 0-7 after 27 minutes.

The referee was using his yellow card soon after the restart when hooker Rob Hawkins was binned for pulling down a Quins driving maul that had already traveled over 20 yards. The penalty was kicked to touch and the pack drove over the line at some speed and Ceri Jones marked his return from injury with a try. With Mike Brown in the bin Luther Marais took over the kicking duties and sent the ball right between the posts to tie the scores 7-7, 31 minutes.

Ian Vass gave a penalty away for manhandling George Hughes in a race to the line and Malone made no mistake. 7-10, 33 minutes.

The Harlequin pack certainly played very well in the tight often driving the Bath pack back and disrupting their ball with Ceri Jones having a lot of fun with his opposite number. Tom Guest starred at the back of the lineout too.

At half time Simon Goldsmith (Esher) came on for Jimmy Richards, Mike Worsley came on for Ceri Jones and Gavin Duffy came on and then went off again before the second half started.

Goldsmith was in action running up the left wing after an excellent break by Tom Guest but the pass to him was judged to be forward. 

Some excellent handling by the Bath second and back rows put lock, Dan Smith over in the left corner. Malone missed the conversion. 7-15, 43 minutes.

A kick to touch by Malone then went into the crowd, the ball soared towards Club President and ex-fullback Bob Hiller only for the record holding ex-international to drop the ball, much to the hilarity of the surrounding Quins fans.

Bath wing Mark Mangeolles was next on the score sheet and this time Malone didn’t miss stretching Bath United’s lead to 15 points. 7-22, 47 minutes.

Duffy came on for Steve So’oialo with Ian Vass going to scrum half and Duffy going to fly half, Mike Brown also came off and was replaced by Will Maddox (Esher). Straight from the kick off the referee blew up for a Quins player being in front of the kicker. More scrappy play and ping pong kicking followed before Bath’s excellent handling put Peter Murchie over in the right hand corner. Malone hit the post leaving Bath twenty points up with about 25 minutes left on the clock. 

Some cynical play from Bath saw their fullback Mike Baxter sent to the bin and Quins chose to use their powerful scrum rather than going for the posts, Tom Guest picked up at number 8, passed to Ian Vass who made yards and sent a beautiful miss pass out to Kevin Fisher on the wing, the Esher player made no mistake to score in the corner. Luther Marais just missed the tricky touch line kick but the deficit was reduced to 15 points. 12-27, 61 minutes.

Simon Goldsmith went off and was replaced at hooker by Aston Croall. 

Bath then had a long series of terrible boot lace related problems, the physio was repeatedly called for - boots were re-tied and miraculously each player bounded back into action soon after.

Sherriff was driven over the line but held up, and Bath were given a penalty for crossing right on their own line when it again looked certain that Quins would score. 

Mike Blakeburn (Esher) came on with Sherriff moving to centre and Will Maddox going off. 

A great break by Gavin Duffy through the centre took play into the Bath 22, Sherriff was in support and took the ball at pace, turning the defenders inside out before crashing over near the posts. Marais got the conversion with only three minutes left on the clock. 19-27, 37 minutes. 

Quins made good ground towards the Bath line through Kevin Burke, Aston Croall, Tom Guest and Kevin Fisher before the young wing lost the ball in the tackle.

Kiba Richards then stormed through the Bath defensive line before linking well with Marais who passed to Sherriff who powered his way over the line to score again. Marais narrowly missed the kick but Quins were now only three points behind and they had already secured the try bonus point. 24-27, 43 minutes.

Another counter attack by Sherriff and a rolling maul powered into the Bath 22 with the home crowd urging the ball towards the Bath line but the referee spotted a knock on and blew for full time.

Quins had come so close to snatching a last minute victory but it was not to be.

FT 24-27 

The Quins forwards were dominant throughout the game and it was certainly good to see Ceri Jones and Mike Worsley both playing well and causing their opposite numbers an awful lot of trouble in the tight.

Perhaps the chopping and changing of the half back pairing with no recognized fly half available was one of Quins main problems especially when you look at the half backs that Bath had out – Walshe and Malone. 

One thing that was wonderful to see was the desire to win that the team had even when they were 20 points down with less that 20 minutes left. Sherriff certainly looked like he enjoyed his brief spell at centre and perhaps we might see him playing there again, especially if he can guarantee scoring a brace of tries in five minutes! 

It wasn’t quite the standard we have come to expect from the 2ndXV but perhaps it was never on the cards with so many 1stXV regulars being out with injuries and a lot of the 2ndXV having played in the win over Doncaster at the weekend. 

The two bonus points leave Harlequins still at the top of the Guinness A League (South) three points above Gloucester but having played a game more.

The next 2ndXV game is away at second place Gloucester on Monday 17^th October. 

NEC Harlequins 2ndXV: 15. Luther Marais, 14. Kiba Richards, 13. Mike Brown, 12. Jordan Turner-Hall, 11. Kevin Fisher, 10. Ian Vass, 9. Duncan James, 1. Ceri Jones, 2. Jimmy Richards, 3. Aston Croall, 4. James Inglis, 5. Kevin Burke, 6. George Robson, 7. Luke Sherriff, 8. Tom Guest
Replacements: 16. Simon Goldsmith, 17. Dave Millard, 18. Mike Worsley, 19. Mike Blakeburn, 20. Steve So’oialo, 21. Will Maddox, 22. Gavin Duffy

Scorers: Tries: Jones, Fisher, Sherriff (2), Conversions: Marais (2)

Bath United: 15. Mike Baxter, 14. Peter Murchie, 13. George Hughes, 12. Spencer Davey, 11. Mike Mangeolles, 10. Chris Malone, 9. Nick Walshe, 1. Chris Loader, 2. Rob Hawkins, 3. Aaron Jarvis, 4. James Hudson, 5. Dan Smith, 6. Gary Holmes, 7. Jamie Miller, 8. Chris Goodman
Replacements: Sam Alford, Chris Brooker, Ben Mercer, Ian Davey, Fraser Cliverd, Simon Puckering, Robbie Dugard, John Gould

Scorers: Tries: Goodman, Mangeolles (2), Murchie, Conversions: Malone (2), Penalty: Malone

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