By KevT
January 3 2003

NEC Harlequins take on Bristol Shoguns at The Stoop Memorial Ground on Saturday (Kick Off 3.00pm) following a desperately disappointing 23 – 9 away defeat against Bath at The Rec last Saturday. Quins make two changes to the team that lost against Bath. Jon Dawson starts at Prop instead of Laurent Gomez who tragically broke his leg in a training accident on New Year's Eve. Laurent will be missing for four months. Ace Tiatia comes in at Blind Side Flanker and Andre Vos moves to Open Side to replace Pat Sanderson who has a shoulder injury.

Quins' winger Rob Jewell was disappointed with last week's result. "It was a big let down. We've been building up momentum in the League. We had hoped to cast aside this away problem. We realise we've got to beat the team below us to move on."

Rob will start for the third match in a row keeping Matt Moore and Ben Gollings who started the season out of the side. "My form is steadily improving. I'm chuffed to be in the side with all of the wingers fit and Dan (Luger) back."

I commented to Rob that Bristol have good half backs and an in form Daryl Gibson playing for them. "Mark (Evans), John Kingston and Paul Turner have done their usual analysis of the opposition. We think player for player we can outshine them. If the weather conditions are good we hope we can play more of an expansive game. On the plus side we've been retaining the ball better. Bristol are a team we must beat if we are going to progress in the league."

Your reporter was about to thank Rob for his time and wish him luck on Saturday when he interrupted. "I'd just like to say that the support has been magnificent and makes a hell of a lot of difference. When I joined the club it was very quiet with about 2,000 fans at each match. I had come from Gloucester where The Shed made a big noise. We now have a real hard core following. The number of supporters who travelled to France and other away games is fantastic. The support and noise of the crowd is one of the main reasons why we have been playing so much better at home this season."

This season's match at The Memorial Ground was postponed because of high winds. In the corresponding match last season Quins lost 32 - 38 to two tries from Jason Little and one from fellow Aussie Shane Drahm who scored 18 points in total. Ben Sturnham completed the try scoring for Bristol. Quins lost despite scoring four tries themselves from Scott Bemand, Dan Luger, Paul Burke and Nick Greenstock.

Bristol arrive at The Stoop full of confidence after an 18 - 6 victory at home to the Sale Sharks in terrible conditions. Fly Half Felipe Contepomi converted six out of six penalty opportunities to see them home. Their forwards dominated the match in scrum and line out. The return of Julian White from suspension has helped and Andrew Sheridan is an enormous young loose head who played his first 80 minutes last week.

Bristol have former England International Gareth Archer as captain and he and Alex Brown have been performing well at second row. Their inexperienced back row have done a great job defensively recently and turned over a lot of ball.

In Pichot and Contepomi, Bristol have an excellent Argentinian international half back pairing. Pichot has a good pass and is very quick from the base of scrums and rucks and in open play. Contepomi is a good kicker and can control a game well in wet conditions. Bristol have pace in ex Quins player Brendon Daniel and England International Phil Christophers. Lee Best has returned from injury and is likely to keep out Aussie Shane Drahm. Shane was a team mate of Nathan Williams in the Queensland Reds side.

Coach Peter Thorburn has also been very impressed with their defence. "The defensive effort since our victory over Leicester in September has been outstanding. The players have a great attitude towards it," The arrival of Daryl Gibson in the midfield has really helped Bristol in this regard. He plays on Saturday.

Ben Sturnham, the Bristol back row forward has a serious knee injury and will be absent. Second Row Craig Short has not started training yet. Hooker Neil McCarthy is injured whilst replacement hooker Saul Nelson also missed last week's match.

Quins have suffered in the past two matches from players in key positions being out of form. Tani Fuga at Hooker, Nick Duncombe at Scrum Half and Paul Burke at Fly Half had not had their best games. Quins cannot afford to play a tight game given the way Bristol's forwards have been playing. Bristol forwards are excellent in the set piece but perhaps not quite so quick around the park. A move to a more expansive and quicker game could bring the best out of the excellent Quins back row of Vos, Diprose and Tiatia. This could create more space for Greenwood, Luger and Jewell. Nathan Williams kicking has not been that good in recent weeks but he has shown recently that he can run well with the ball. A wider game, of course, will be dictated by conditions.

Quins have won their last five home Premiership matches in a run which stretches back to a 23-33 reversal to Leeds at the Stoop on 14 September. I think in front of a home crowd they will play with more confidence than we saw last week. A lot has been said about last week's disappointing performance, but Quins defence was good and they secured a lot of possession in the second half. A sharper team this week could put the Shoguns to the sword. I predict a Quins win but by less than a converted score.

NEC Harlequins: 15. Nathan Williams; 14. Rob Jewell; 13. Will Greenwood; 12. Chris Bell; 11. Dan Luger; 10. Paul Burke; 9. Nick Duncombe; 1. Jason Leonard; 2. Tani Fuga; 3. Jon Dawson; 4. Bill Davison; 5. Alex Codling; 6. Ace Tiatia; 7. Andre Vos (Capt.) 8. Tony Diprose
Replacements:
16. Pablo Cardinali; 17. Jim Evans; 18. Simon Miall; 19. Luke Sherriff; 20. Scott Bemand; 21. Ben Gollings; 22. Viliame Satala

Bristol (Probable): 15. Lee Best; 14. Brendon Daniel; 13. Andrew Higgins;
12. Daryl Gibson; 11. Phil Christophers; 10. Felipe Contepomi; 9. Agustin Pichot; 1. Andrew Sheridan; 2. Paul Johnstone 3. Julian White 4. Gareth Archer (Capt); 5. Alex Brown; 6. Matt Salter; 7. Rhys Oakley; 8. Ross Beattie