By Paddy69
September 19 2002

The game that was the season opener last season sees a Harlequins side that has slumped to three straight defeats face a London Irish team that has won just one of their competitive outings since that memorable Cup Final victory. NEC Harlequins V London Irish Preview

21/09/02


Statistics show that Quins have never had four straight losses at the start of a season and for the supporters and team alike that must be unthinkable. Especially given the fact that this weeks visitors are their most staunch rivals, and the fact that two of the losses thus far have been at The Stoop.

London Irish have not had a sparkling start either, with losses at home to Bath and away to Leeds prior to a resounding victory over Saracens last week. Much has been made of the fact that Wayne Shelford “rested” several key players for this game, but the myopic LI supporter in me says that all of these players were on the field by the end, to no avail, albeit they were trying to steady the sinking ship by then.

Both teams have had similar media reviews over the past few weeks, with words and phrases like: hapless, too many turnovers, individual errors, no passion and lack of ambition levelled at the players.

It must be said that any visitors to the Madejski last Sunday could discount those remarks with regard to Irish. The fact that it is our Derby game will mean that both teams and supporters will be fired up for this one. The South Stand will be rocking to the sound of bodhrans and The Fields from the plethora of green wigs. Well done to LISC for sorting out a block of tickets, the Noise Abatement Society may need to be on call, given the Quins supporters horned helmets, which are now allowed back into the ground.

Harlequins are without their stalwart captain (nearly said talismanic, they really hate that!) who is on International duty in deepest darkest Russia. Injury returnee Tani Fuga will be at 2 this week for Quins. Alex Codling also returns from injury in his no. 5 slot. Nick Duncombe will be on the bench.

Whilst Irish are without their influential No. 8 and former Quin, Chris Sheasby, unavailable for 6-8 weeks through knee ligament injury. Also missing from the Irish starting line-up due to Russian duty will be Justin Bishop, this has opened the way for Nick Burrows to make his LI return against his former employers, in the same way that Durant made his debut against Sarries. Captain Fantastic, Ryan (How many Ryan Strudwicks are on the field today?) Strudwick steps into the No. 8 berth. This allows Kevin Burke his first start of the season in Ryans 2nd row place.

The battle of the Irish fly halves, Everitt and Burke will be viewed with interest, with Burke being the current Ireland A incumbent. There are many who feel that either (or both) deserves to be given a run in the full Ireland squad. The winner of this duel will almost certainly be on the victorious side.

The lineout battle between Diprose/Codling and Casey/Strudwick, with various supporting roles should be fascinating. Rossouw/Sackey/Appleford Vs. Greenwood/Satala/Moore, will the grass at The Stoop be burning from the pace on offer?

Quoting statistics again, in the Premiership, Irish have won 8 of the 16 meetings to Quins 7, with the draw last season at the Madejski being the remaining game (yes, we know it was 89 minutes, but we are not the ref). If Irish can transfer last week’s passion to The Stoop, the victory should be assured.

However, in the interests of being the perennial underdogs, I reckon Quins will edge it by a nose. In any case, BRING IT OOOOOOOONNNNNNNN.

London Irish have announced the team for the game, which, due to squad rotation ses Naka Drotske head for the bench. Given his performance last week, I had hoped he would start.

Team:
15. Michael Horak*; 14. Paul Sackey; 13. Nick Burrows; 12. Geoff Appleford*; 11. Pieter Rossouw*; 10. Barry Everitt; 9. Darren Edwards; 1. Mike Worsley; 2. Richard Kirke; 3. Rob Hardwick*; 4. Kevin Burke; 5. Bob Casey*; 6. Declan Danaher; 7. Kieron Dawson*; 8. Ryan Strudwick (Captain).

Replacements:
16. Kevin Barrett; 17. Mark Mapletoft*; 18. Paul Gustard; 19. James Cockle; 20. Naka Drotske*; 21. Neal Hatley; 22. Pierre Durant.
*Denotes International;
Director of Rugby: Conor O’Shea; Player/Coach: Brendan Venter


Quins team:

15. Nathan Williams, 14. Matt Moore, 13. Will Greenwood,12. Viliame Satala, 11. Ben Gollings, 10. Paul Burke, 9. Scott Bemand, 1. Jason Leonard (Capt.), 2. Tani Fuga, 3. Laurent Gomez, 4. Bill Davison, 5. Alex Codling, 6. Ace Tiatia, 7. Pat Sanderson, 8. Tony Diprose

Replacements:
16. Bruce Starr, 17. Karl Rudzki, 18. Jim Evans, 19. Luke Sherriff, 20. Nick Duncombe, 21. David Slemen, 22. Rob Jewell