By KevT
September 26 2002

NEC Harlequins take on the Sale Sharks on Friday night at Heywood Road (Kick off 7.45pm) buoyed by their first victory of the season against London Irish. Injury problems have continued to beset the Quins management. Alex Codling misses the match due to a re-occurance of his hamstring injury. Paul Burke is out for six weeks due to a hamstring injury and is undertaking a “scope” of his knee to sort out a longstanding problem. Also absent are Will Greenwood who so tragically lost his baby son last week and Keith Wood who is on international duty with Ireland. Jim Evans replaces Alex Codling, David Slemen plays instead of Paul Burke, Nick Greenstock deputises for Will Greenwood and Tani Fuga continues instead of Keith Wood.

Quins were pleased with their win on Saturday but realise that a better performance will be required to beat The Sharks. Flanker Pat Sanderson said “ We’ve had lots of things to work on. It was good to get a win but we have still only one win in four games which is not where we want to be.”

The back row performed very well against London Irish. “We’re becoming more of a coherent unit now and working together as a team. My own performance is improving, I think playing for the Sevens has helped me. There’s nowhere to hide in Sevens so you have to be fit and you have to have the right skill level.”

Pat will be playing against his brother Alex when Quins play Sale on Saturday. “We’re the best of mates and we don’t fall out. There’s no edge playing against each other it’s a normal game. We might have a joke when we’re standing next to each other in a line out.”

“Sale are a good side. They’re coming off a good last season. They have some very dangerous players in open play and Evs (Mark Evans) says that Charlie Hodgson is a ‘bag of tricks’. The players quite enjoy playing on a Friday night. The atmosphere at Heywood Road is good in front of a packed house because the ground is so enclosed and the supporters are close to the pitch.”

The Sharks have a very dangerous back three in Full Back Jason Robinson and wings Steve Hanley and Mark Cueto. At Half Back they have Scottish International Brian Redpath returning from injury and in my view this season’s most effective Fly Half in Charlie Hodgson (watch out Johnny). Anyone who watched England’s performance in Argentina couldn’t fail to be impressed by Hodgson and Quins back row will need to watch him closely if they are to prosper. Nick Greenstock can expect to face his fair share of crash ball runs from Dan Harris but this tactic has disappointed Sharks supporters. Their back line hasn’t been firing as well as last season with only six tries in four games.

Up front Hooker Andy Titterall has impressed this season and has been added to England’s Training Squad. Second Row Chris Jones caught the eye two weeks ago against Leicester by running in a try from the half way line and managing to out pace Austin Healey! He has also been added to the England Training Squad. Sharks have a pretty effective back row in Alex Sanderson, Pete Anglesea and Stuart Pinkerton.

Sale coach Jim Mallendar admits that Quins pose a real threat. “Quins have the ability to win games, especially when it matters, and even though we did the league double over them last season they still came to Heywood Road to knock us out of the cup.”

"The side is being coached by Mark Evans and Paul Turner, who know our style very well and will be planning to counter that.”

"We will need to be at our best. We defended very well against Leicester and showed good attacking skills, in patches, against Leeds last week. But we still haven't put together anything like a complete performance."

The loss of Alex Codling at second row will hurt Quins but The Sharks do not have the league’s most effective line out (maybe why Alex is being rested) and so it will be interesting to see how this part of the game fares. The Quins scrum was far more effective against London Irish. The Sharks scrum is solid if unspectacular. The crucial part of the game will be the performance of the Half Backs. Redpath and Hodgson are a very effective partnership and are very attacking players. The Quins back row will have to be very alert to keep these two quiet. Slemen will offer more attacking options than Paul Burke and the club have been working with him full time this week. Josh Baxendell will have his hands full marking the excellent Bill Satala and the Sharks will have to watch out for Backs coach Paul Turner’s set plays.

I believe Quins will try to play a tight game to keep the ball away from Jason Robinson and the Sale wings. Look for a few of Nathan Williams trademark kicks and that “thing of beauty” the rolling maul. Quins use of the backs will be limited to set plays from scrum or line out in the opposition half. Sale will try to play a wider more expansive game and it is the team that manages to impose its own style who will win.

I think it will be tighter than previous league matches between the two sides with either side getting a bonus point for being within a score. It could go either way.




NEC Harlequins: Nathan Williams; Matt Moore, Bill Satala, Nick Greenstock, Ben Gollings, David Slemen, Nick Duncombe, Jason Leonard, Tani Fuga, Laurent Gomez, Bill Davison, Karl Rudzki, Ace Tiatia, Pat Sanderson, Tony Diprose.

Replacements: Pablo Cardinali; Bruce Starr; Karl Rudzki; Simon Miall; Luke Sherriff; Nick Duncombe; Rob Jewell


SHARKS: (Possible) Jason Robinson; Mark Cueto, Jos Baxendell, Dan Harris, Steve Hanley; Charlie Hodgson, Brian Redpath (Capt.) ; Jim Thorp, Andy Titterrell, Barrie Stewart, Scott Lines, Chris Jones, Alex Sanderson, Pete Anglesea, Stuart Pinkerton