Harlequins
Preview: Saracens v Harlequins
By Quinten Poulsen
December 2 2010
Yesterday it was announced that everyone's favourite biscuit connoisseur, Dr Brendan Venter, would be leaving Saracens – effective from January 9th2011. Whether the club can continue its excellent progress without Venter in charge remains to be seen, and Harlequins will be first up to see if this news has any effect whatsoever on how the team fares.
Since Venter's arrival prior to the start of last season he has proved one smart cookie, and steered Sarries to an impressive 3rd place in the league, and to the Premiership final - finishing as runners up when they lost to Leicester Tigers. They currently lie in 5th place, although with 6 wins and only 3 losses are a mere 4 points behind 2nd placed London Irish. Six victories is a pretty good return so far, especially considering they have beaten each of the top 3 sides, albeit at home. Nevertheless, they remain one of the top contenders for the play-offs.
One concern for Saracens currently is the number of first choice players out injured – Hougaard, Goode, Ratuvou, Powell and possibly Strettle. They have also been missing No.8 Ernst Joubert though he is expected to be back for this fixture. On the plus side they have seen centre Owen Farrell take over the fly half duties and give a very good account of himself. Looking very assured for a 19 year old playing out of position, he has a good temperament, distributes the ball effectively, and is proving a successful goal-kicker – plenty to get any England fan's digestive juices flowing. Inside him there is a choice of experienced scrum halves, namely Richard Wigglesworth and Neil de Kock, with the latter likely to get the nod this weekend. Centre is where there will be most concern for Sarries fans as although the very robust Barritt is fit there will probably be an academy player slotting in at outside centre, or maybe at inside centre with Barritt moving out.
Up front is where Saracens caused Quins, and nearly everyone else, most problems last year and the pack remains strong. In the front row the talented Mr Britz has already dunked 4 tries in 8 games, and his lineout throwing appears to have improved a year on. Cornish ginger nut Hugh Vyvyan is still going strong at the age of 34, and has seen plenty of locking duty along with Borthwick and Botha. Assuming Joubert plays this weekend he will increase both the grunt and skill factor and, like Quins, Saracens have the conundrum of narrowing down four highly talented back rowers in Joubert, Jacques Burger, Kelly Brown and Andy Saull.
Harlequins should be able to welcome back Care, Easter and Camacho from international call-ups, and those 3 will undoubtedly strengthen the match-day squad. Both Guest and Dickson have played very well indeed this past month, but will probably return to the bench for Sunday. Will the return of Camacho see Lowe back at outside centre? If so that will probably leave Ollie Smith and Ross Chisholm fighting for the outside back spot on the bench.
On Sunday it will have been 1 year and 1 day since Quins last won away in the premiership. So what are the boys from Twix chances for this game? They have a lot of things going right for them despite the lack of league wins, including the best defence in the league in terms of missed tackles and tries conceded. One thing Quins haven't been short of this season is possession, but it has been an inability to ruthlessly convert chances that has cost them in a number of games. However, it is at least a good sign that they're creating so much, and spending plenty of time in the opposition half. If Quins lose this game we will probably once again be ruing spurned opportunities, but if the ball sticks in the hands a bit more and they show a little more nous in the red zone then a win is certainly possible, and Quins will be hob-nobbing with the teams at the top end of the table. Saracens can be expected to make things very difficult of course, and will be favourites to win; and if the weather is more suited to rugby than penguins this could be a cracker of a match. Newcastle v Bath has already been postponed, so let's hope the snow stays away from Watford. Last week's win against Leeds was highly enjoyable, but a victory for Harlequins on Sunday would take the biscuit.
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Stumbleupon02/12/2010 13:58
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not sure whether i'd start care or dickson. care hasn't played a huge amount recently so fatigue shouldn't be a problem as it might be with easter. but dickson has played really well recently so maybe deserves to start, swapping after 50 with care. I suspect all 3 internationals will go straight back in though
I would also start with Guestie and Dickson, and do a double substitiution of Danny and Easter after 50.
what about starting with Chisholm, Brown, Comacho as the back 3?
George and JTH in the centre with Ollie S and Tom W on the bench?
Starting locks Vallejos and Kohn? Robson and Pete Brown on the bench along with the usual front row replacements?
The game's afoot;
Follow your spirit: and upon this charge,
Cry — God for Harry! England and Saint George
Interesting decisions to be taken with regard to the returning internationals. I'd expect DC and Gonzo to start as they are both quite a bit better than their replacements. It's a tough call between Minty and Guest though. They are different styles of No.8 and I suppose it depends on the expected Sarries team and our game plan. Easter brings more control and grunt (especially in the scrums) Guest brings more speed.
