To say the weather was terrible was to understate the case hugely, there was a gale blowing and torrential rain. Connacht put out a very strong team that contained three popular ex-Harlequins – Gavin Duffy, Mel Deane and Andy Dunne.

The Quins team was a mixture of first team players, new signings and academy players. A lot of people we’re looking forward to seeing how Mark Lambert would do after coming back from an injury plagued season, others we’re interested to see how the academy boys, Stegman and York, would do. But most were probably most interested in the new signings Williams, McMillan and Evans, especially how the half-back pairing of Care and Evans would work out.

Things started brightly for Quins with a scrum close to the Connacht line, York picked up from the back of the scrum and drove for the line, he was held up over the line, after the second scrum the ball was turned over and Connacht cleared the danger.

The first points were scored by Ian Keatley who slotted a penalty from 25m out, against the wind. 3-0, 7 minutes.

The first substitution happened when Lambert came on for a blood injury to Brooks.

Quins didn’t really have any possession to work with, with the Connacht’s pack holding onto the ball well.

Quins finally had a chance to score when Connacht were pinged for holding on. Nick Evans slotted it easily to tie the scores. 3-3, 20 minutes. Brooks returned.

The restart didn’t go 10 metres, but perhaps the referee was a bit confused with the other changes to the laws.

Stegman then showed his pace, chipping ahead, he looked like he may be about to score in the corner but as he ran past Farley he was brought down, the referee missed it. Quins kept the ball alive, it looked like the ball was chipped ahead too far but Tom Williams showed blistering pace to just get to the ball first. Nick Evans missed the conversion from wide out on the left. 3-8, 22 minutes.

The game became scrappier, Quins’ lineout was very poor, with overthrows and Connacht managing to steal our ball.

Connacht had one good attack, chipping the ball through and getting close to the line before a good turnover on the ground and a big clearance by Evans.

3-8 at half time.

Olly Kohn and Shane O’Connor came on for Jim Evans and James Percival, Aston Croall for Tani and Mark Lambert on for Ceri.

The rain wasn’t quite so bad in the second half but the wind was just as strong and now in Connacht’s favour. It certainly aided Keatley’s kicking when he slotted a penalty after three minutes of the second half. 6-8, 43 minutes.

Danny Care realised the strength of the wind when he put a box kick in and it was blown back over his head.

The game remained very scrappy from a Quins point of view, the first time Quins tried a back move it was knocked on in the centres. The lineout got better, we actually won some of our own throws.

Quins gave a penalty away not far from our own posts for holding on, Murphy took the tap quickly and put Matthews in for a try under the posts, Keatley added the extras. 13-8, 57 minutes.

Gareth Williams, the new signing from Wales replaced Danny Care and George Lowe came on for JTH.

Five minutes later Connacht stole the ball from a Quins ruck, it was passed to Keatley and he slotted a wind assisted drop goal with ease. 16-8, 62 minutes.

Quins again seemed to be turned over disturbingly easily and against such a strong wind it was difficult to make much ground.

Seb Jewell replaced Nick Evans and Sam Smith came on for Charlie Amesbury with 10 minutes to go. Almost straight away Keatley got another drop goal, even though some of the crowd thought the ball had gone to the right of the uprights. 19-8, 70 minutes.

Gavin Duffy started a move, keeping the ball alive the move ended with Muldoon scoring, the kick missed to leave the score 24-8 with three minutes to go.

Tom Sargeant came on for Neil McMillan.

There was no further change to the scores, although the scoreboard went up to 26-8 and then back again after there was a bit of confusion about the final conversion.

All in all it couldn’t be called a pleasing performance, but with 19 players unavailable either in the 7s squad or injured and the conditions it should, perhaps, have been expected.

Another thing that made the game a bit messier was the change in the laws, the referee some times seemed to forget the changes at times, this made is trickier for the players and supporters to really know what was going on. Here’s hoping that the players get it all sorted out very soon. One thing is certain and that is the way the referee will be interpreting the laws will have a huge effect on the game.

The most of the new signings that were on display all had moments why they were signed, McMillan looks quick and good in the tackle, Williams looked sharp in tricky conditions and Evans showed some class at times.

The back three of Williams, Amesbury and Stegman all looked very sharp indeed, but it certainly wasn’t a game that saw the ball being passed down the line, they did counter pretty well though.

Connacht certainly played the new laws, conditions and referee better than Quins did, perhaps the pre-season match they already have mixed with the fact the Quins were missing 19 players made it more noticable. 

The weather forecast for Saturday is currently looking pretty good, so here’s hoping that better performance will be seen against the team from Reading -  London Irish.

Connacht:
G Duffy; L Bibo, M Deane, K Matthews, J Hearty; I Keatley, F Murphy; B Wilkinson, S Cronin, R Morris; M Swift, A Farley; J Muldoon, J O’Connor, C Rigney.
Replacements: M McCarthy for Swift (63 mins); A Browne for Rigney (70 mins); A Dunne for Keatley, T Nathan for Matthews, A Wynne for Deane (all 75 mins); C Muldoon, A Flavin, R Loughney, J Lyne, B McGovern, K Campbell.
Scorers: Tries: Matthews, Muldoon; Penalties: Keatley (2); Conversions: Keatley; Drop goals: Keatley (2)

Harlequins:
T Williams; C Amesbury, D W Barry, J Turner-Hall, S Stegman; N Evans, D Care; C Jones, T Fuga, J Brooks; J Percival, J Evans; P Davies, N McMillan, C York.
Replacements: O Kohn for Percival, S O'Connor for J Evans, A Croall for T Fuga, M Lambert for C Jones (all half-time); G Robson, G Lowe for Turner-Hall, G Williams for Care (both 57 mins); S Smith for C Amesbury and ; S Jewell for N Evans (70 mins); T Sargeant for McMillan (78 mins).
Scorers: Try: T Williams; Penalty: Evans.

Referee: J Lacey.

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• August 2008 at Harlequins

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