By sb
November 18 2002

The U21s bounced back from their disappointing second half performance against Bath to win a bizarre but deserved win against last year’s winners of the U21 Championship Play-off at Wasp’s training ground in Acton. The starting line-up was reinforced by a new front row combination, which included two recently signed South African players, in a game which saw loose head Sam Walton and Blind Side flanker Tom MacCormick return from injury.

In the fine tradition of the club, the 21s started by giving away two tries in the opening minutes. Quins kicked off and, in the blink of an eye, the Wasps full back was sent 60 metres when a triple overlap appeared like magic down their left wing. He touched down in the corner in a time of 30 seconds. The conversion was missed. Score Wasps 5, Quins 0.

Four minutes later, after Quins had set up a try scoring opportunity in the Wasps’ 22, their No. 5 was put clear from a ruck in midfield and scored to the left of the posts. Again, it was a case of the defence going missing as barely a hand was laid on him as he trundled in. Again, the conversion was missed. Score 10-0.

Encouragingly, the team then rallied strongly and for the next twenty minutes they camped in the Wasps’ half. In the 15th minute, strong forward drives resulted in two penalties on the line which drew a warning from the referee about a possible penalty try, at which point, somewhat surprisingly, they decided to go for the points. The kick by Adrian Jarvis, slid past the posts, the only apparent blemish on an otherwise excellent kicking display by the Quins No. 10.

The pressure on Wasps intensified after this and their No. 3 was warned for dragging down a rolling maul, ten yards from the try line. After two more drives from a line out were held up inches short, the ball was swung wide and centre Andy Reay scored under the posts in the 23rd minute. Jarvis made no mistake with the kick. Score 10-7.

The game had really swung in the Quins’ favour now and they maintained great pressure on a creaking Wasps’ defence forcing a penalty in the 34th minute when they killed the ball at a ruck. Jarvis connected sweetly to collect the points. Score 10-10.

In the last minutes of the half the game was nearly turned upside down by a bit of inconsistent refereeing. Wasps forced a lineout just outside the Quins’ 5 metre line and the resulting maul was taken down by lock Ben Thompson (who was having another excellent day in the lineout). Unlike the Wasps’ prop who was warned, Thompson was given an immediate yellow card. Quins then infringed repeatedly from a series of penalties until the referee awarded a penalty try in the last minute of the half. Score 17-10.

Half-time

Quins came out fighting in the second half and, though down to 14 men, scored the first points of the half. In the 5th minute, a penalty on the Quins line was kicked upfield for a line out from which Adrian Jarvis made a tremendous break. A ruck was set up just inside the Wasps’ 22 where it was swung right to left where flanker Tom MacCormick was lurking in the centre. He ran it in from 15 metres. We then come to the bizarre moment of the match. Jarvis’s conversion seemed to this writer to miss the posts to the left and, certainly, neither touch judge raised their flags, however, it later transpired that the referee had given the conversion making the score 17-17.

Ben Thompson then rejoined the match and in the 11th minute Wasps were again penalised for killing the ball and Jarvis kicked a good penalty from the 10 metre line. Score 17-20.

Quins kept up the pressure and, in the 19th minute, they were held up over the line but the referee again awarded a penalty which Jarvis converted easily. Score 17-23.

Quins then replaced Walton and MacCormick who were beginning to tire in their first games back and they seemed to be cruising but were unable to score the killer try. Then, in the 24th minute, they won their own ball at a lineout just outside the Quins' 22 but it was somehow turned over, run left and, from the ensuing ruck, the Wasps No 7 ran through a defence which parted like the Red Sea for Moses. The try was converted. Score 24-23.

Within three minutes, however, Quins bounced back when Wasps were again caught interfering in a ruck. A composed Jarvis slotted the ball home from the ten metre line. Score 24-26.

This seemed to re-establish some control over the game for Quins and they camped in the Wasps’ half until the 30th minute when a rather laboured mis-move was almost predictably intercepted just inside the Wasps’ 22. A frantic chase ensued and full back Tom Williams somehow recovered to bring down the flying Wasps’ back inches short of the line. Wasps then went over the top in their desperation to win the ball and the danger was cleared.

But the alarms and excursions were not yet over. Determined to give Wasps another chance to win the game, Quins tried to run the ball out of their 22 and, having turned it over, conceded a penalty two metres to the right of the posts, five metres out. In a kick reminiscent of the famously woeful effort by a Mr Fox in a Rugby League Challenge Cup Final many decades back, the Wasps kicker screwed the ball 8 metres wide of the right hand post with the final kick of the game. Cue jubilant Quins’ celebrations.

Final Score: Wasps 24, Harlequins 26.

Many a post-mortem was entered into after the final whistle as almost everyone except the referee and the referee’s assessor had the score as 24-24 but, as they say, the referee’s decision is final and Quins had recorded an excellent and deserved victory. The team showed great resilience to bounce back from their horror start and, apart from his quality place kicking, Adrian Jarvis kicked beautifully from hand, ably assisted by full-back Tom Williams. So, in three weeks, the team has beaten last years’ U21 league champions and last year’s play-off winners. What they must now learn to do is see off the lesser teams and learn how to kill off a game when they are on top.