By Bedfordshire Boy
January 5 2016

Quins prove to be the true warriors by leaving Sixways with four valuable pointsI do not suppose there is any way that this game would match up to the try fest at The Big Stoop last weekend but most of us travelling would be hoping to come away with 5 points, no easy task though against a dogged Worcester side playing at home in far from ideal conditions.

Quins were obviously taking this game seriously with close to a full strength team, we are very fortunate to have much more strength in depth this term being able to field Charlie Walker and Ross Chisholm as “reserve” wingers for the injured Visser and Yarde. Chris Robshaw now seems to have settled on the number six shirt, I wonder if this is as a result of his discussions with Eddie Jones?

Bit of a flog across country from Bedfordshire to Worcester with heavy rain for just about the whole two and a half hours journey but at least it stayed mostly dry for the trek from the “park and walk” to the stadium. Plenty of Quins supporters at the ground and all in all a good sized crowd for a match being televised on a wet winter afternoon, 9035 being the declared number of attendees. 

First surprise of the afternoon was to see Wayne Barnes standing out in the middle resplendent in his bright yellow shirt, it seems that Andrew Small decided to stay at home. I am always somewhat nervous to see Barnes officiating as one is never sure of how he is going to see things on any particular day. 
It did not take long for Quins to get onto the scoresheet when a missed pass from Nick Evans to Charlie Walker put him into a little space. Walker passed to Ross Chisholm who slipped the ball back to Walker who ran in for a try under the posts after a spot of ball juggling to amuse the crowd. An easy conversion for Nick Evans, 0 – 7 after 3 minutes. 

Almost from the kick off, a bit of mindless play from Dave Ward who interfered with the run of Chris Pennell who was chasing his own kick resulted in a penalty to Warriors, which luckily for Quins, drifted to the right of the posts. Next followed a period of play where it seemed that both teams had been reading the Saracens Tactical Plan but neither seemed capable of executing it properly with the ball being aimlessly kicked back and forth down the pitch. The monotony was broken when the Warriors lock Cavubati made a fine break through the Quins defensive line, finally being brought down just inside the Quins 22. With the Quins defence in disarray George Lowe went in to the ruck from the side and killed the ball earning himself a yellow card, interestingly the first yellow card to be awarded against Quins this season. Heathcote made the conversion to bring the score to 3 – 7 after 15 minutes. Both teams pretty much cancelled each other out for the next 10 minutes with Quins not giving away any more points before George Lowe returned to the field. From a penalty to Quins from Warriors being offside, Evans kicked to the corner and a fairly standard catch and drive led to Luke Wallace grounding the ball for Quins second try. The additional points were added by Nick Evans to bring the score to 3 – 14 after 26 minutes. 

A few minutes later Tom Heathcote left the field for a concussion assessment after Charlie Matthews ran into him trying to charge down Heathcotes clearance kick. Wayne Barnes eventually went to the TMO and between them they agreed there had been no foul play much to the disapproval of the home crowd. As usual with these situations, you could come to any conclusion that suited you with the slow motion replays, personally I did not think there was anything in it but I am sure that if the same thing were to happen to a Quins player at The Stoop, the home crowd would be just as vocal in their disapproval. Nick Evans added another 3 points from a penalty to the Quins total on 33 minutes following some good work from Chris Robshaw. As so often happens, Warriors are almost immediately awarded a penalty, this time against Nick Evans for not releasing the ball, which they chose to kick to the corner rather than a fairly standard kick for goal. From the lineout, Quins are penalised and as Warriors are unable to gain an advantage they take another lineout which this time results in a scrum to Quins. The ball is cleared from the Quins 22 and shortly afterwards referee Barnes whistles for half time, Warriors 3, Quins 17. 

A very lively start by Warriors in the second half but they soon find themselves in their own 22 following a Danny Care grubber kick to touch 15 metres from the Warriors line. The ball goes loose from Warriors lineout and Wallace gets to the ball which Quins quickly ship out to Chisholm on the left wing. Chisholm is tackled but from the recycled ball Danny Care kicks a perfectly weighted kick to the Warriors try line which Charlie Walker gathers to go in for his second try of the match. The impeccable kicking from the tee from Nick Evans continues and after 45 minutes Quins are leading by 21 points, surprisingly these turn out to be the last points that Quins score in the match. Warriors are straight onto the attack from the restart and are awarded a penalty which is kicked the corner. The catch and drive is defended by Quins but Ward is adjudged offside and from the second lineout Warriors get set well and drive over the line for Mama to touch down. Fortunately for Quins the conversion is not accurate and the score remains at 8 – 24 after 48 minutes. You now sense that we have a different game on our hands as yet another penalty to Warriors is kicked to the corner but this time Warriors knock the ball on at the base of the resulting ruck and Quins manage to clear their lines only for Warriors to press yet again. Reinforcements time for Quins as Buchanan, Sinkler and Clifford replace Ward, Jones and Wallace respectively on 51 minutes.

Quins defence under real pressure now as they are shoved off the ball, scrum reset and this time Warriors break for an attempted score under the posts which is held up illegally by Jamie Roberts who is shown his first yellow card in Quins colours. Not surprisingly, Warriors elect for another scrum and get another shove set up resulting in Wayne Barnes awarding a penalty try under the posts. An easy conversion by Mills brings the score to 15 – 24 on the hour mark. At long last Quins spend a few minutes in the Warriors half but the ball is spilled by Sinkler in the tackle and Warriors break and all of a sudden Quins are defending close to their own 22. Four replacements on for Warriors as Quins repel the attack as Quins are awarded a penalty which Evans kicks to the corner. Obviously looking for the try bonus point but to my mind should have taken the three points on offer to widen the gap in the score. Stout defence by Warriors who win a penalty to clear the ball to their 10 metre line and from the resulting lineout kick the ball into space by Mills behind the Quins defensive line. For me, this led to some of the worst officiating that I have seen in a long time as Walker gets back, spills the ball and is clearly held down on the ground by Cooper Vuna which allows Phil Dowson to touch down for a score in the corner. With the benefit of the match highlights replay when I got home it appears that the officials never even considered that Walker was impeded from getting to the ball and only looked to see if the ball had been dislodged by the Warriors player. Once again the conversion attempt was wide of the posts bringing the score to 20 – 24 with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Everything now going the way of Warriors and the Quins defence being severely tested as two late changes sees Tom Biggs take to the field. The rain returns for the last few minutes of the game but Quins do enough to see the clock reach 80 minutes and hang on for a hard fought win and 4 valuable points that takes them up to third place in the premiership table. 

Another far from convincing display from Quins who did just enough to win and come away with four points, something that they failed to do far too often last season. If Warriors can put in performances like the one today for the rest of the season they ought to comfortably avoid relegation. There is no doubt Quins are a far stronger outfit this year with the youngsters all having gained additional experience and some very good signings in Horwill, Jones, Visser and Roberts in particular. I think third place in the table is a fair reflection of the performances to date and if we ever manage to put together a full on eighty minute performance we could even get to second place by the end of the season. Next week against Saracens back at The Stoop will be a massive test. 

Finally, back to the two main talking points of the game; I accept that generally you see what you want to see with any incident but regarding the incident which saw Tom Heathcote leave the field, for Dean Ryan to correlate a player being knocked out with foul play is somewhat misplaced. Sorry to harp on about this one, but to my mind the officials decision to award the final Warriors try falls into the same court as the decision by a certain Mr White to incorrectly award a line out to Newcastle in the 2004 Powergen Cup Final which led to them scoring a last minute try to seal a win. Yes, that decision by Wayne Barnes will stay with me for many, many years, fortunately this time it did not cost Quins the match.