By Billy Hamilton
March 13 2003

The big day has arrived the one that the team has been practising for all season. From the pre-season tour in Greystones to their last serious outing at Oxford they have been preparing for this day all season. Oh, and by the way, there is a rugby game to provide half-time entertainment.

London Irish vs NEC Harlequins
Sun 16 Mar at Madejski Stadium - KO 14:30 (Sky TV)

The big day has arrived the one that the team has been practising for all season.  From the pre-season tour in Greystones to their last serious outing at Oxford they have been preparing for this day all season.  Oh, and by the way, there is a rugby game to provide half-time entertainment.

Although this Sunday is the usual St.Patrick’s Day social occasion the rugby can have a serious effect on the future of the club.  We have only six games to pick ourselves out of the bottom zone (you can see how hard I am trying to avoid using the “R” word).  We are only propped up by Newcastle and we are only kept off the bottom position by points difference.

Harlequins have not won an away game since they beat Rotherham on 17 March 2001. Not only will they wish to break this hoodoo but they will also want a win to pull them clear from the bottom before their final five games against top five opposition.

We, of course, cannot afford to lose any points if we are to have any chance of remaining in top flight rugby. We can only hope that we can put recent bad performances behind us a hope to take inspiration from good individual performances in the Jarrod Cunningham game.

This game will mark the 100^th appearance of Keiron Dawson in league and playoff games.

Summary of meetings between the teams in the Premiership
Played 17
London Irish Won 8 47.1%
NEC Harlequins Won 8 47.1%
Drawn 1 5.9%
Biggest Win for London Irish 62 - 14 25 Apr 1998
Biggest Win for NEC Harlequins 66 - 7 14 Sep 1996
London Irish top try scorer vs NEC Harlequins Conor O'Shea 9 tries
London Irish top points scorer vs NEC Harlequins Barry Everitt 60 points
NEC Harlequins top try scorer vs  London Irish Daren O'Leary 6 tries
NEC Harlequins top points scorer vs London Irish Paul Burke 47 points

Previous Meetings
21 Sep 2002 London Irish vs NEC Harlequins 19 - 29 The Stoop

14 Apr 2002 London Irish vs NEC Harlequins 18 - 18 Madejski Stadium

01 Sep 2001 London Irish vs NEC Harlequins 32 - 21 The Stoop

19 Nov 2000 London Irish vs NEC Harlequins 21 - 16 Madejski Stadium

19 Aug 2000 London Irish vs NEC Harlequins 22 - 16 The Stoop

12 Feb 2000 London Irish vs NEC Harlequins 39 - 14 The Stoop 

07 Nov 1999 London Irish vs NEC Harlequins 16 - 17 The Stoop

23 Jan 1999 London Irish vs NEC Harlequins 22 - 17 The Stoop

19 Dec 1998 London Irish vs NEC Harlequins 20 - 16 The Avenue

25 Apr 1998 London Irish vs NEC Harlequins 62 - 14 The Avenue