By TOKS
December 24 2006

When I undertook this assignment to construct some vague ramblings about this game I knew that I would have to contend with the rigours of pre-Xmas drinking (and the resultant amnesia). I didn't think that I would have to contend with a weather system that had fallen out of the foggy tree and hit every branch on the way down. The following represents a broad approximation of the events of the evening...

After a 10 minute delay to make sure everyone was sitting comfortably Mr. Davey blew his whistle and we were off and running. And, in stark contrast to the last occasion we "graced" the Stoop, within a matter of minutes we were two tries and 12 points to the good, courtesy of Messrs. Castanets and Ratuvou (six different websites have six different scorers for the second try but we'll give it to the BBC on the basis they get so little else right). And then, for reasons unbeknown to us Philistines in the stands, Saracens stopped playing (or Quins started, or a combination of the two). It was as if Gaffney's final words to the squad were "Listen, chaps, tonight I want to work on the defence. I want you to go two tries up and then see if you can defend for the rest of the game". Back the Quins came, chipping away at the lead as Saracens, through a combination of turnovers, poor ball retention and poor kicking (a rare off day for Glenda both from the hand and off the ground) gave them a seemingly endless supply of ball. Two penalties from Jarvis meant that Sarries were pegged back to 12-6 at the break.

The second half followed much the same pattern. A further penalty reduced the Quins' arrears to 12-9. Brown was then sinbinned for an offence it just wasn't possible to see from 70 metres away (although BigBri and Rocket, with their special super-duper gloomvision goggles on, felt it was the right call) but still it did not interrupt Quins' flow. Saracens defence was heroic at times, with a Seymour last-ditch tackle one of the highlights (10,000 people discovered just how loud Kat can be at that point). Substitutes and starters swapped places although by now the Quins' announcer was in full panto mode and very little factual information was imparted on the personnel details.

And then the pressure told. After more Saracens confusion in midfield Brown took the opportunity to exploit a gap and he was over with Mehrtens (how can he not start?) adding the extras. Ten minutes to go and one point down, 15-16. The Quins' faithful started to feel that the pressure had finally and justifiably told, the Saracens' contingent felt that this was a situation that was perfectly capable of being rectified (although I feel that the optimisim was rooted in a large quantity of Fosters/Pride/Magners rather than anything we had witnessed in the past 60 minutes). Finally, Saracens' attack awoke from its defence-orientated slumber. Down the field they came working their way through phase after phase until they were camped on the Quins' line. Two minutes to go, and with Quins' defenders having been sucked into the breakdown, the ball was quickly spun left for Big Bad Ben Skirving to crash over unopposed. Glenda missed the conversion but the job was nearly done, and a couple of minutes later Mr. Davey (who seemed to have a competent game so far as we could see) blew his whistle for final time. And, as the pundits say, a win's a win.

Observations? Well, just two. The defence was awesome at times but if we cough up that much ball to the Cheetahs on New Year's Day, or even the Sinners next Wednesday evening, we could be in for a hard time.

The final observation concerns the Stoop. Fantastic facilities, a great view from all parts of the ground and a super playing surface. If Franklins Gardens is the standard for all rugby grounds to be judged by then the Stoop is not too far behind.

Merry Xmas, everybody (now who sung that?).

Teams:

Harlequins: Brown, Strettle, Luscombe, Abbott, Williams, Jarvis, Gomarsall, Jones, Fuga, Ross, Kohn, Miall, Vos, Skinner, Hala'ufia.

Saracens: Castaignede, Scarbrough, Sorrell, Farrell, Ratuvou, Jackson, de Kock, Yates, Ongaro, Visagie, Fullarton, Raiwalui, Vyvyan, Hill, Skirving.

Referee: Sean Davey.

Crowd: 10,500 ish (can't find an exact figure anywhere!).