Harlequins
Saracens 26-14 Harlequins
By poorfour
December 6 2010
Something special is happening at Saracens. Sadly for Quins, the something in question is Owen Farrell's emergence as a player of considerable quality. In a game strewn with errors on both sides, he stood out as having an astute head on his young shoulders, and his tactical kicking in many ways detemined the course of the game. Injury might have ensured that Rugby Union never saw the best his dad had to offer, but on this evidence Farrell junior has similar potential.
As for Quins, well, the term Something Special could also have been applied to them today, but only because I am the owner of two small children, and Quins put me in mind of the CBeebies show of the same name and its inept clown Mr Tumble. Barring the second half against Sale, this was Quins' weakest performance of the season, and the first in which we have failed to salvage at least a bonus point.
It began brightly enough. After an initial exchange of turnovers, The ball bounced loose from a Sarries attack and Tom Guest gathered it, then flipped a cheeky inside pass to George Lowe, who ran in from just over half way. Nick Evans missed the conversion, but all looked set fair.
The first scrum came from a knock on at the restart, and was won untidily but fairly comfortably by Quins. Evans cleared, and Quins won a penalty when Sarries crossed running back their lineout take. The resultimg Quins lineout wasn't straight, and Quins then conceded a penalty for collapsing the scrum. Farrell duly slotted it.
At the next scrum, it was Sarries turn to go down, but they got hands to the resulting lineout and Farrell put a clever kick over the defence to force a lineout inside Quins 22. Robshaw caught the throw safely, but Evans didn't find touch with his clearance and Sarries attacked in force. Strettle, who would prove a nuisance to his former club all afternoon, broke on the left but good goal line defence brought him down. Sarries went through several phases but looked to be contained, until the ball reached Strettle in midfield and enticed Tom Guest off his line. Strettle danced past him and under the posts. Farrell converted easily. 10-5
Farrell's next intervention was a low, scudding kick to tidy up after a messy take at the kick off. It just cleared the heads of the defenders then skipped through the arms of Mike Brown to give Sarries a lineout in Quins territory. In the next act, Farrell tried the same kick, but this time Williams gathered it and set Mike Brown on a rampaging run from behind his own tryline. Having beaten three defenders, he was clattered by Michael Tagicakibau and spilled the ball forward. I have to say I didn't see much use of the arms in that particular tackle, but the ref gave a scrum. Sarries failed to make much use of the resulting attacking ball, but somehow when they lost control of it in the next passage of play it was another scrum to them. Eventually the pressure told, and Quins conceded a penalty, duly converted by Farrell. 13-5.
Farrell also cleared from the kick off, but Lowe took a quick lineout to Evans that led to Quins first concerted attack of the match. Breaks from Nev, Guest and then Nev again took Quins deep into Sarries territory, but at the cost of a serious injury to Ollie Smith, who left the field on a stretcher. From his movements, it looked like a lower leg problem. I hope it's not as bad as it looked it might be. Camacho replaced him, Lowe moving to OC. The game restarted with a scrum, from which Quins won a penalty and Evans converted. 13-8
Camacho gathered from the kick off but Sarries recovered the ball at the breakdown, won a penalty and inevitably went for a lineout, rumbling the resulting maul over for a try to Brits. This was pretty much the story of the afternoon for Quins: failing to make anything of possession, giving Sarries field position, generally defending well but losing focus at key moments. You can guess who added the extras. 20-8
There followed an exchange of penalties and turnovers on both sides, which eventually gave Nev a shot at goal. 20-11
The half ended with Sarries winning another penalty from the scrum, which Farrell failed to convert from just inside his own half, falling a few metres short.
The second half began in scrappy fashion with knock ons, penalties and turnovers from both sides. Care and Easter (replacing Skinner) had come on at half time and Quins seemed to be playing with a little more purpose, but our tactical kicking had gone to pieces. Poorly executed or just pointless kicks from Care and Robshaw handed the initiative to Sarries, with Farrell generally returning the ball with interest, into space and securing threatening lineouts. From one of these, Quins began the first decent attack of the half, but were stopped illegally on half way and Mr Small stopped play for a penalty.
Meanwhile, behind him, a big punch up had begun. It wasn't clear from pitchside what had started it, but about half the players were involved and I'll be surprised if no-one gets cited for it. On the pitch, Marler got a ticking off, as did one of the Sarries. Kohn and Lambert came on for Vallejos and JJ. Unfortunately, the immediate impact of this was Lambert knocking on from a promising attacking position.
Sarries won the scrum and Brown fielded the kick, passing to Care, who threw a hospital pass - not for the last time, though he was struggling with a wrist injury for much of the last 10 minutes. Williams somehow fielded it - not for the last time - and scrambled from the 22 to the 10m, but was forced into touch. Quins gave away a penalty at the lineout, which Farrell punished. 23-11
More scrappy play followed, with an exchange of dubious penalties. Sarries could reasonably feel aggrieved that they were pinged for grabbing Care in a ruck (23-14), but it was also a bit harsh that Quins were pinged en masse for being offside in defence when de Kock made as if to pass and they collectively moved up but checked. (26-14).
These proved to be the last points of the match. The last few minutes went more Quins' way, but they still lacked the ability to hang onto the ball at the crucial moment. In all honesty, we never looked like scoring. This was a huge step back from the Leicester match, where Quins made all the running but repeatedly failed to capitalise. Sarries didn't do anything spectacular, and probably made as many mistakes and fewer breaks. But they did the basics well, maintained pressure and made it count. Farrell, who played a large part in keeping them in the right parts of the pitch, was deservedly man of the match.
Where next for Quins? As the weather gets colder, they either need to get better at hanging on to the ball or adjust to a game that plays the percentages a little more. Unfortunately, while Nev's kicking is up to that, our lineout probably isn't. I think we probably need to start with Kohn, Robson, Guest, Robshaw and Easter, which gives a better balance of players who can attack the lineout and grunt for the scrums. Things got noticeably better - as they often do - once Easter was on. He has to play, but I don't think we can ignore Guest or Robshaw's form either.
Dickson looked better than Care today, and Smith's injury will probably mean that Lowe can move back to the centre. I didn't think JTH looked as bad as some of the posters on this site did - he made some good runs today when given space. Worth his place for now, but Casson should be on the bench. Camacho looked a bit lost - full of invention but also full of mistakes. Given that Mike Brown has found both speed and guile in his running this season, I wonder if Chisholm deserves a chance? And for me Tom Williams earned his place - as he regularly does - by being the guy with enough wit to clean up his team-mates' mistakes. While we are misfiring like this, I think we'd miss him if he weren't on the pitch.
Overall, though, not what this team is capable of.
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Stumbleupon06/12/2010 11:27
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The game's afoot;
Follow your spirit: and upon this charge,
Cry — God for Harry! England and Saint George
Watching the game on ESPN was a deflating experience.
Quins got bullied in the forwards and at the breakdown, plus somehow too few of those 'go to' players we normally rely upon for inspiration were on song. Even Tom Guest's 'cheeky inside pass' to George Lowe only reached him by chance, though the boy done good to get home for the touchdown.
Hats off to Owen Farrell and Sarries. On the day the better team won at a canter.
Fingers crossed for Ollie Smith ...
Quote:deadlyfrom5yardsout
.. "Failed Error -5" what does that mean?
It means not recorded, content liable to inflict terminal embarrassment.
