Harlequins
Harlequins 37 Sale Sharks 14
By Quin Kong
September 17 2012
There is something about Harlequins at the moment. The stadium this early in the season has a real buzz with record breaking numbers of season ticket holders helped with the tag of Quins the Champions helped by two bonus points victories in the first two rounds including an unlikely comeback in the season opener . The optimism that this young team can win anywhere against anyone is as dangerous as it is euphoric. Luckily with the management there are a group of people who can keep these young players’ feet firmly on the ground.
Kicking off into the sun Quins won the ball and so began a tidal wave of multi-coloured shirts bearing down on the Sale line. With less than two minutes gone Ugo crossed for the opening score with the extras added by Nick Evans. From here the game began to get a bit sloppy although from the restart and two knock-ons Quins won a free kick from the scrum however conceded a penalty for crossing which Danny Cipriani duly missed although a few minutes later he managed to get a second chance and this time he converted.
At this point my notes say Quins more of a threat but sloppy, Danny Cipriani more sloppy than Quins. Make of that what you will. However with the twenty minute mark almost up Sale were looking rattled whereas Quins were looking at pushing any and all perceived chances of a break. A penalty to Sale just inside the Sale half (although Tom Williams seemed to have been tackled when no-where near the ball) was again unsuccessful .
Sale picked up a gear and decided to off load for a time creating an overlap and a try for Sale by Richie Vernon. Again Cipriani missed although it did bounce off the post. Quins however got a penalty which went for touch. At this point I felt that Nick Evans was not having a good day with the boot, so what does he do but make a searing break. A lovely offload to Jordan Turner-Hall and JTH is over the line (with at least two Sale players hanging off him). Nick Evans conversion was good.
A couple of scrappy periods of play and its half time. Quins leading 14-8.
The second half kicked off with Quins again on the attack. And within three minutes Evans slotted another penalty. Sale put in an attack which is beaten back. It is now the scrum comes into its own as with an attacking scrum Quins get yet another penalty in front of the posts which is duly converted. Sale at this point start try a series of attacks. Finally they get a penalty which was duly converted.
As much as Sale could attack Quins could match it and it seemed that Evans had crossed for another score only for it to be ruled out by the referee who bought play back for a previous Sale transgression in front of the posts which was duly converted by Evans as the game approached the final quarter.
Quins scrum (as was now the norm) won another penalty (duly converted) only for Sale to negate this with a penalty of their own. This ended the Sharks point scoring for the day on fourteen. Quins looked good for four points but they had other ideas. First George Robson scored (according to my notes) a dashing try by the posts which was duly converted. Then Quins went on the attack again. With time pretty much up a penalty was taken as a quick tap and after a series of passes Mike Brown got his hands on the ball and went over for the bonus point with the final kick of the game being a successful conversion for Quins.
At the post match press conference there was great interest in Gray and Marler in particular. Conor said that Gray was one of the best Line-out throwers in the club game with a superb work ethic at the moment and hoped he had the opportunity for international honours. As for Marler, at twenty-two he said he is only going to get bigger and stronger – a terrifying thought for any opposition. With the current ERC v Prem showdown he said it will sort itself out and that everyone wants to see a top competition with the best clubs.
For me the last three games have been very interesting to see how the team has progressed. I have to admit to being uneasy insofar as our defence has been very leaky which could be a real problem against stronger teams. The fact that we have fifteen points from a possible fifteen is truly excellent but it does seem that at times the teams expansive and open style of play has been followed by it being too forced and leading to turnovers/points conceded in periods of each game. As too sir, well the team are probably going to get even more partisan/subject to strange interpretations refs over the course of the season so if they can get a bonus point win when the penalty count is twelve points to ten now there is hope for a narrow victory over anyone no matter whom or where.
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Stumbleupon17/09/2012 18:06
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O Fortuna, velut luna statu variabilis,
semper crescis aut decrescis
Wyddy
