By PerryGo
November 6 2002

The little grey cells have not only been pondering how to free the Stoop Two this week! Just when you thought PerryGo was too busy campaigning for Liberty, Justice and the South-West-London Way to produce anything for the messageboard … Did you notice anything about the score on Saturday? Yes, I know we won. Not that.

What I’m getting at is that we didn’t concede a try. That will be very pleasing to the players and the coaches, I’m sure. By my reckoning, that’s the first time this season.

It may be stretching a point to say “great defence wins matches” but what’s certainly true is “lousy defence loses matches”. I thought Quins’ defence was very sound on Saturday, and for long periods Bath never looked like getting over the try line at all. Barkley kept them hanging in there with his kicking, as we thought he might, but the Bath backs – so dangerous and talented on paper – seemed sterile and bereft of ideas when they had the ball. The only backs’ move in the repertoire seemed to be ‘route one’.

As someone once said, “we have a great team on paper but unfortunately rugby is played on grass”. Once again, we had an opposition bemoaning their own errors and failings after the match, as if they lost it all by themselves. Long may it continue though, if we’re on the winning side. Sadly, though, I have to say, Bath are looking more and more likely to be contesting the relegation spot come a few months time.

I was bemused by some of co-coach Brian Smith’s post-match comments though. According to the ever-reliable Kev T he said: “Individuals are letting us down. Too many people didn’t turn up. We’ve been loyal to players to provide stability but we’ll pick on form now. We’re not getting enough mileage out of our back three. Perry has done okay. This week was a watershed for people on their last chances.”

It’s not entirely clear to me from Saturday’s performance exactly who he places in each category. Dan Lyle was taken off at half time, presumably because of a lack of form rather than any injury – that I saw. Lyle is a very talented footballer, although I saw little of it in the first half on Saturday.

Criticism of the back three is also interesting, although, in fairness, Smith (who was re-christened Brain Smith in Saturday’s programme) did single out Matt Perry, just back from injury, for special praise: “Perry has done okay…” Their starting back three was Perry, Barkley and Danielli. Perry, as we already know “done okay”. Barkley is playing on the wing out of position, at the coaches’ behest, since without him they’d score ‘nul points’ the way they’re playing right now. So Danielli it is. Come back Voyce and Thirlby, all is forgiven.

Perhaps Smith has a secret cache of second team and U-21 players ready to step up. But surely one of Bath’s problems has been the loss of the experienced old hands? I wonder for who else the Stoop match last Saturday will turn out to have been a ‘watershed’? Felt like a watershed for everybody to me – summer rugby, anyone? I can’t see Bath winning while their key international contingent is away from the office, especially if they are going to drop people like Lyle at the same time.
Older readers may remember John Kingston’s famous emphasis on defence when he first came to the Stoop. No-one thought he was wrong in that, although, contemporaneously it appeared we were spending so much time working on it that we didn’t have time to practice scoring tries. We knew he harboured a secret passion to see good tries scored, though, by his habit of watching matches from behind the line Quins were defending. Ah, happy days…

Actually, they weren’t that happy really. This season’s team is so much more complete and well rounded (and I don’t just mean Gomez in the front row). We’re scoring tries, producing backs’ moves and defending our own line. ‘Nilling’ Bath – now that’s progress, even if they have gone backwards faster than last season’s scrums!

Interestingly, talking of clean sheets for tries against, did you also notice the weekend’s other scores? I appreciate that the weather conditions played a part (providing an excuse for the forwards to keep the ball and play by themselves) but even so:

Glawster and Northampton scored 27 points without a solitary try;
Leicester Cheetahs and the Waspies shared 15 points – no tries;
Oirish failed to score a try and Falcons managed only one, despite racking up 40 points between them.

Only Sale managed more tries than Harlequins this weekend, with three against Bristol. Salaries and Leeds each scored two, as did we.

Looking at ‘defence’ more broadly, including points conceded from what referees deem infringements and drop goals, only three clubs – Glawster on 131, Cheetahs on 139 and Saints on 149 have conceded less in the ZP to date, although in fairness, our 159 (tied 3= with Tykes) is with one less game played. Still, our nearest challenger is Bath on 184.

Further credit to the way we’ve tightened up our overall game is to be found in the fact that Quins had conceded the joint-least penalties in the league (prior to last Saturday) – 63. And that’s with Ace Tiatia in the starting line up, playing his full 70 minutes…

I’ll leave you to have a look at the league table and do the mathematics from the point of view of points scored, but suffice to say we “could do better” as my school reports used to say.

This brings me neatly on to one of the reasons we are not scoring enough points and the reason why, unless we get a fit Paul Burke back soon, we are going to lose some of the close games instead of winning them. As everyone knows, you can’t win matches consistently at this level without a metronomic place kicker. Slemen’s ‘less than 50%’ and Williams’ ‘3 from 7’ will not cut it. I accept that Slemen can do a lot better and that Williams is only doing it because there’s no-one else, but it’s a worry.

I would be surprised if ME is not seriously thinking about the situation.

And finally…

A word on Matt Moore. Prompted by a posting on the board (thanks for that, by the way, Matt) praising the guy – “Matt Moore, surely one of the most underrated wingers in the country”. I tend to agree, in that he has performed consistently well for Quins, and is a brave and dangerous attacking player. Where, I think, he lacks sometimes is in his attacking lines. He should have scored a try on Saturday when he got the ball in open territory on halfway, up against Malone (fly half) and a covering Perry who was some distance away. By failing to go around Malone and getting slowed by his half-tackle, he gave Perry time to get across and make a good stop. I don’t think pace is the problem it’s more decision making on angles. When Quins ran that excellent backs’ move, again, he could and arguably should have scored, in space with a one-on-one.

I think these factors, plus the fact that he’s more fly-half size than back-row size (the modern specification for a winger) is all that holds him back. But I’m very glad we’ve got him, and I respect him a lot as a player. At least we’ve not heard any whines recently from the ‘Keep Daren O’Leary’ faction. I seem to recall Matt’s arrival co-incided with Daren’s departure. Daren was a great servant of Quins over the years but I am afraid that, of late, he had lost his edge. It was a case of exchanging carthorse for racehorse at the end, and I think ME did the right thing in bringing Matt on board.

See you in Watford.