By AlanQuin
January 19 2009

Harlequins crashed to their first Heineken cup defeat of the season, losing to Ulster at Ravenhill by 21 – 10. It was a match that should not have been played or at least not allowed to continue much past the beginning of the second half when the increase in gale force wind and the icy sleet necessitated the stand behind the down wind posts being evacuated.

If spectators were in danger of physical damage from a disintegrating stand, players were in danger of hypothermia.  A couple of Harlequins did suffer from that condition. The weather conditions were the worst most players had ever experienced and almost reduced the match to the level of the toss of a coin. 

Quins made yet another of their poor starts leaking a try after barely one minute.  They failed to control the kick-off and conceded a scrum just outside the twenty-two. Ulster, with quick ball from the scrum, moved the ball right and Darren Cave went through a gap left by Amesbury to score under the posts.  Humphreys converted.

Quins were playing with the strong wind in their faces and being held back in their own half by the hard driving of the Ulster pack.  Almost inevitably in that type of play Quins, through Easter, went offside.  Easter then compounded the offence by a remark to the referee which cost another ten metres and Humphries slotted the penalty to increase Ulster’s lead to 10 – 0.

Quins had a penalty and the kick to touch pushed Ulster back, but the lineout throw was not straight and advantage was lost.  An excellent kick through to touch from Care gave Quins position for attack and they gained a kickable penalty.  Nick Evans’ kick was caught by the wind as it went accurately towards its target and turned almost at right angles before it reached the posts to head towards the corner flag! 

Quins continued to struggle against the hard tackling and driving of the Ulster pack, their control not accurate and turning over possession too easily.  Refereeing of the breakdown was somewhat haphazard and most decisions appeared to go Ulster’s way.

With conditions rapidly worsening, the wind rising and the rain driving, a penalty on the halfway line allowed Humphries to successfully kick another three points to further increase the lead.

Discipline was again a problem with Danny Care collecting his third yellow card in five Heineken Cup matches, this time for kicking a ball out of a ruck.  Ulster went to touch deep in the Quins’ but Quins disrupted and stole the lineout.  As time was running out Ulster were awarded a penalty for something said by Ceri Jones and the three points which followed brought the lead at half time to 16 – 0.

The weather had worsened substantially by the beginning of the second half and the officials should certainly have given serious consideration to abandoning the match.  The wind was making walking perilous and the rain was a mixture of sleet and hail and bitterly cold.  Quins started well and their pressure kept play mainly in the Ulster half.   Two minutes into the half Boss was penalised for going offside at a scrum.  He had frequently been allowed to get away with such infringements throughout the match.  This time it cost his side three points as Evans easily slotted the kick through the wildly waving posts.

Ulster continued to infringe without being stopped.  They sealed off ball at rucks; they attempted to kick the ball out of the scrum illegally and succeeded.  Taone replaced Tiesi, injured in a tackle after eleven minutes.  Quins continued to try to break the defensive line and Care with a good kick up field behind the defence, which was well chased BY brown and others caused the Ulster full back to carry over his own line.  From the resulting scrum, Care broke quickly from the base of the scrum to dive over the line but was held up.  Quins continue to take scrums as Ulster were again penalised.  The Quins pack was beginning to wreak havoc in the set piece and eventually the referee, having warned Ulster, signalled a penalty try.  Evans converted and Quins were back in the game at 16 - 10

As Quins were awarded a kickable penalty, Malone replaced Evans, and had to take the penalty kick as his first touch of the ball.  He missed.  Strangely, Ulster substituted a prop and forced uncontested scrums depriving Quins of their best weapon of the half. 

With three minutes remaining, disaster struck as Malone’s clearance was charged down and hacked on.  Amesbury chasing back missed the touchdown and Best was awarded the try and deprived Quins of a losing bonus point.

Having been refused press accreditation by Ulster, your match reporter is not in a position to report directly what Dean Richards said after the match.  It is reported by those that were there that “There were a couple of turning points in the game and there were also issues," Richards said afterwards before explaining that a key second-half substitution saw his frontline kicker Nick Evans taken off by the officials when the coach had wanted him to stay on for a crucial penalty attempt  .

"It was difficult in those conditions but the timing of our substitution of Nick Evans annoyed me. I was furious with the fourth official who pushed the substitution through. The idea was that Evans took the kick but the referee insisted on putting Chris Malone on and he missed it."

Richards added: "I thought we gave away far too many silly penalties in the first half, but, look, we're still in Europe with a home game against Llanelli.

Ulster: C Schifcofske; A Trimble, D Cave, P Wallace (rep: B Cunningham, 40+1), S Danielli; I Humphreys (rep: P Steinmetz, 58), I Boss (rep: P Marshall, 77); J Fitzpatrick (rep: B Young, 61), R Best, T Court (rep: N Brady, 74), E O'Donoghue, R Caldwell, S Ferris, K Dawson (rep: D Pollock, 61), C Henry (rep: M McCullough, 40+1).

Harlequins: M Brown; T Williams, G Tiesi (rep: E Taione, 52), J Turner-Hall, C Amesbury; N Evans (rep: C Malone, 73), D Care (sin-bin, 35-47); C Jones, C Brooker, M Ross, J Percival, G Robson, C Robshaw, W Skinner, N Easter.

Referee: R Poite (France).

Attendance: 8,861.