By AlanQuin
January 30 2005

As I travelled to Leicester for the match, never an easy prospect, I reflected that it was 1997 since I had witnessed an Harlequins’ victory on that ground.  I remember little of that distant event save that the victory was by a single point and Jamie Williams made his debut for the first team.

I also remembered victories over Leicester at The Stoop.   Twice in the Cup and a couple of  years ago in the League. The heart thought we might win, but the head had less optimistic thoughts. 

For long periods of this match it was not possible to recognise that this was a match between the top and bottom clubs in the Zurich Premiership.  On the one hand this was the almost impregnable fortress of Welford Road where, like hurricanes, victories for visiting teams hardly ever happen.  On the other hand Harlequins propping up the table from the relegation spot and apparently almost everybody’s whipping boys this season.  But from the first half of this match, shirt colours apart, it was difficult to recognise which team was top and which bottom.

From the start Harlequins scrapped, battled, tackled and resisted.  From the start when Neil Back dropped the ball from the kick-off and found himself engulfed by the Quins forwards the determination was evident.  Held back from the line a clever little kick from Diprose put the ball into touch at the corner.  The Leicester throw was lost when Chuter missed his target and Nick Easter stole the ball and went for the line to be stopped a couple of feet short.  The ball came to Jon Dawson who burrowed over for the try which Staunton converted. Less than two minutes had elapsed.  

It did not take long for Leicester to respond.  From the restart they came deep into Quins’ territory.  Although Quins retained possession in the resultant maul, So’oialo was adjudged to have touched the side-line as he sought to box kick to clear. In the resulting lineout Quins conceded the first of the many penalties that ultimately proved their undoing as Goode kicked the first of eight successful kicks and after four minutes the score was 3 – 7.

Both sides sought to put pressure on the other and the Tigers frequent unforced errors eventually led to a penalty which Staunton slotted through from wide out on 45 metres.  Undoubtedly this was the most difficult of kicks which made his subsequent three penalty misses inexplicable.  Renewed Tigers’ pressure followed and only a few minutes had passed before Quins again conceded a penalty just inside their 22-metre line to allow Goode to score.  From the restart Quins gained a line-out inside the Leicester 22-metre line and a penalty from an infringement in the lineout.  But the first of Staunton’s missed kicks prevented any addition to the score for Quins although a further penalty for Tigers was kicked by Goode to bring the score to 9 – 10 and the lead was slipping away.

Then came a set-piece move which rocked Welford Road although the crowd was too stunned to applaud a try by Ugo Monye at his fastest.  A long throw to the very back of the lineout found Nick Easter still going backwards and his inside pass found Ugo at full speed as he broke through the Leicester line, brushed off the first tackler and swerved round Geordan Murphy to score under the posts and give Staunton the simplest of conversions.  Unbelievably, after twenty minutes Harlequins were leading by 9 – 17.

Staunton had another chance to increase the lead shortly after but again his kick sailed wide.  Now Leicester increased their pressure and a series of penalties against Quins saw Leicester try to score by a series of catch and drive moves and rolling mauls until they lost the lineout but were awarded a scrum and then a penalty and this time they took the points from another successful kick by Goode,

Continued Leicester pressure saw Goode aim a splendid cross kick to the right corner where Ben Kay, towering over Simon Keogh, caught the ball and despite being stopped by Keogh was able to offload to Austin Healey for the winger to score.  Goode duly converted and Tigers had regained the lead  19 – 17 and so it remained until the end of the first half although had  Monye managed to get more than his fingertips to the last kick of the half he would have been clear across the line.

Neither team made any substitutions at the interval, but now Quins had lost the benefit of the wind which was blowing into their faces.  Goode’s already long kicks seemed to get ever longer as Quins were pinned back.  Finally, for an offence at a maul almost on the Quins try-line, Nick Easter collected a yellow card and once again, inevitably Quins were down to 14 men.  From the penalty which was awarded Goode further increased the lead.

Leicester substituted Deacon bringing on Henry Tuilagi.  The Harlequins pack, meanwhile, were working splendidly and not allowing the heavier Tigers to dominate.  A further kickable penalty was missed by Staunton but by the time Easter returned there was no further scoring by either side.  Tiger sent for the cavalry, bringing on Julian White and Daryl Gibson for Healey and Graham Rowntree.  Unforced errors continued to cause Tiger’s attacks to founder as knock-ons, poor passes and good Harlequin defence held them back despite the boot of Goode whose kicks from hand went further and further up the touch-line. Inevitably, Quins again conceded a kickable penalty and inevitable Goode succeeded in increasing the gap to 25 -17 .

Harlequins substitutions brought on Mike Worsley  (for Dawson) Simon Miall (for Winters) and Tom Williams (for Duffy) but Quins could not break out.  They tried valiantly to gat the additional score which would get them as bonus point but on each occasion they got near the Tigers’ line decisions went against them and as injury time lengthened to more than 5 minutes with the last move of the match Tuilagi managed to force himself over the line for Goode to convert with the last kick of the match to give the scoreboard a somewhat lopsided appearance belied by Harlequins excellent performance.  The boot of Andy Goode made all the difference, his personal haul of 22 points contrasting with Jeremy Staunton’s loss of nine points.

At the press conference, later, Mark Evans was clearly disappointed.: "I thought 19-17 was not a fair reflection of where we were at half-time.” he said, “Leicester are one of the best sides in Europe and to win at Welford Road you have to be inch perfect.  We weren’t inch perfect all the time.”  He went on :"I thought we played well today but have come away with nothing. We controlled territory in the first half, which is what you must do against Leicester, but we still lost 32-17, which looks like a hiding. But it wasn't like that."

When questioned about Staunton's display, Evans said:  He is a 79% kicker.  Some days they go over and some days they don't. That's goal-kicking."   He remains positive, however, saying that if Quins play as well as that, they will not go down.

John Wells also praised the Harlequins’ effort saying that Quins made a battle of it and didn't let Tigers have anything cheaply. "They scrapped for every bit of ball, whether it was on the floor or in the air. We dogged out a result in the end. It wasn't pretty but we just about deserved it."

This was, however, despite the defeat a performance that cannot be criticised for lack of commitment or effort by any player.  There were some fine Quins performances.  The forwards did battle with the Tigers’ heavier pack and were not vanquished.  Simon Maling had a splendid game giving solidity to the lineout and Easter, Sherriff and Diprose put in sterling performances in the back row.  James and Deane, in the centre, worked tirelessly to seek to create openings and were staunch in defence.  Then there was the welcome return to try scoring of Ugo Monye.   All is far from lost.

 

Leicester Tigers
Graham Rowntree (Julian White ,58 mins), George Chuter, Darren Morris, Louis Deacon, Ben Kay, Brett Deacon (Henry Tuilagi ,53 mins), Neil Back, Will Johnson, Harry Ellis, Andy Goode, Austin Healey (Daryl Gibson ,58 mins), Ollie Smith, Leon Lloyd, John Holtby, Geordan Murphy.
Replacements
Ephraim Taukafa, Julian White (Graham Rowntree ,58 mins), Luke Abraham, Henry Tuilagi (Brett Deacon ,53 mins), Scott Bemand, Daryl Gibson (Austin Healey ,58 mins), Alesana (Alex) Tuilagi

Scorers:  Tries: Healey, Tuilagi
Conversions;  Goode 2
Penalties:  Goode 5

NEC Harlequins
Ceri Jones, Ace Tiatia, Jon Dawson (Mike Worsley ,62 mins), Roy Winters (Simon Miall ,62 mins), Simon Maling, Nick Easter, Luke Sherriff, Tony Diprose, Steve So'oialo, Jeremy Staunton, Ugo Monye, Mel Deane, Dafydd James, Simon Keogh, Gavin Duffy (Tom Williams ,62 mins).
Replacements
James Hayter, Mike Worsley (Jon Dawson ,62 mins), Simon Miall (Roy Winters ,62 mins), Kai Hortsmann, Andy Reay, Henry Barratt, Tom Williams (Gavin Duffy ,62 mins)

Scorers:   Tries: Dawson, Monye
Conversions: Staunton
Penalty:  Staunton

Referee: Roy Maybank