By Bedfordshire Boy
March 16 2016

Another match billed as a must win for both sides, needed by Bath to get them well clear of the relegation area and for Quins to improve their miserable return of 7 points from their last 6 games since the win over Saracens. Some good news for the Quins fans in that George Lowe (at long last) and Karl Dickson were named in the starting line up with other long absentees Sam Twomey and Ollie Lindsay-Hague on the bench. Will be interesting to see how Henry Cheeseman fares on the wings, not seen him play before. Difficult to understand why Bath are fairing so badly this season when you take a look at their squad and they are fielding a pretty impressive line up for this match. Particularly looking forward to the battle between the respective back rows and centre pairings. 

Quins kick off in front of a sell out crowd and are awarded two penalties within the first couple of minutes, the second for handling in the ruck resulting in 3 points from the boot of Ben Botica. Almost straight from the kick off Nick Easter intercepted a wayward pass from Bath number 10 Devoto and broke for the line. With the Bath defence closing Easter slipped the ball to Harry Sloan who despite being chased down, managed to reach out and get the ball down for a try. Botica failed with the conversion leaving the score at 8 - 0 to the home side in less than 4 minutes. The Quins fans were ecstatic if not a bit surprised if truth be known.

The first scrum of the game was inevitably reset but once in play a superb short pass put Matt Banahan through the Quins defence who slipped the ball to Agulla who had a clear run to the Quins line but a superb tackle by Chisholm brought him down inches short. With the ball eventually held up over the line Bath were back on the attack but in the end had to settle for a kick at goal by Homer in front of the posts, 8 - 3 after 11 minutes. Almost from the kick off, as so very often happens, Bath concede a penalty for offside to allow Ben Botica to cancel out the Bath 3 points from a well taken kick between the posts. Surprise, surprise within minutes Quins concede another penalty that Homer again converts to bring the score to 11 - 6 after 15 minutes. Bath are on the attack once more but the ball is eventually turned over and Lee Dickson put in a superb kick to with 8 metres of the Bath line. Quins are penalised at the lineout for pulling down and the ball is cleared to near halfway. Both teams continue to play an expansive game with some impressive driving mauls by Bath to gain territory. A great steal by Nick Easter at the end of one Bath driving maul sets Kyle Sinkler on a 30 metre run who gets the ball to Luke Wallace who is tackled on the Bath 22. Quins recycle the ball but the attack breaks down when the ball is lost forward. As Bath set up another attack, another turnover by Nick Easter sets up a dazzling attack by Quins with running lines and offloads which are almost impossible to follow and finally breaking down when Cheeseman accidently ran into Luke Wallace.

With 10 minutes to go until half time, Bath are awarded a penalty following the scrum and set up another attack only for the ball to be turned over again with Dickson making a break and getting the ball to George Lowe to carry the ball on before being tackled and penalised for holding on to the ball on the ground. Kyle Eastmond took a quick penalty, the ball is kicked ahead and gathered by Chisholm whose clearance kick attempt is charged down by scrum half cook for Mafi to gather and get tackled 5 metres out from the line. Quins clear the ball but Bath attack again but are once again stopped 5 metres out with Quins being awarded a penalty with another turnover by Wallace to allow them to clear their line. Quins win the lineout and set up their own attack with a 30 metre break down the line by Charlie Walker who is tackled by fullback Homer. The recycled ball is passed down the line for Chisholm to go close before Mat Luamanu is held up over the line in the corner. Quins press from the resulting scrum and Bath scrum half Cook is shown he yellow card for a deliberate knock on 5 minutes before the interval. Quins add another 3 points to their score from the penalty from the reliable boot of Ben Botica.  Sustained pressure from Quins with some desperate defence by Bath who are eventually undone when Charlie Walker slipped through for a well taken try. Ben Botica added the two points for Quins to go in at the break with a well-deserved score line, Quins 21, Bath 6. A really entertaining 40 minutes of rugby with both teams playing their part.

No changes to either side for the second half and it took a whole 2 minutes to pass before Quins added to their score when Charlie Walker picked up a spilled Bath ball to sprint 70 metres and dive over the line under the posts. Botica added the extra points to bring the score to a solid looking 28 - 6 after just 43 minutes. A bit of aerial ping pong resulted in Homer kicking the ball directly into touch with the help of some clever play by Chisholm giving Quins a lineout 25 metres from the Bath line. Quins set up a catch and drive to within 5 metres of the try line and eventually captain Horwill drove over the line for another Quins score, with Botica once again successful with the conversion the score moves to 35 - 6 after 45 minutes. This is not making my predicted score of Quins 25, Bath 21 look too clever. Bath now back to full strength but the binning of Cook cost them 24 points and as a Quins supporter nearby said, "Surely even Quins cannot lose with a near 30 point lead". Little did we know that this would be the last time that Quins would trouble the scoreboard!

The bad news for Quins of course is that now Bath have no option but to run the ball looking for trys and following a series of penalties Quins get a final warning about a possible yellow card from referee Dean Richards. From yet another 5 metre lineout Easter rips the ball from a Bath player and Quins get the ball out to Walker who kicks to touch on half way. Quins now have a sustained period of attack and are awarded a penalty that Botica kicks to the corner which heralds the first changes for Bath with Houston and Williams coming on for Ewers and Agulla. Quins lose their first lineout of the game and Bath eventually get the ball away to find touch inside the Quins 22. Owen Evans comes on for Mark Lambert who goes off to well deserved applause from the crowd followed shortly afterwards by Will Collier replacing Karl Sinkler. Quins continue to run the ball at every opportunity while poor old Bath suffer from a series off dropped balls and knock-ons whenever they have the ball, it never rains but it pours! George Lowe is replaced by Joe Marchant in the centre after an encouraging run out following his period out for injury. Sam Twomey replaces Merrick after about 60 minutes with Bath replacing Eastman and Lahiff with Clark and Catt. With Bath pressing the Quins line, Sam Twomey is penalised and yellow carded for pulling down in the lineout after being on the pitch for a whole 4 minutes. A well taken catch and drive by Bath resulted in a try from Mafi on 65 minutes but Homer does not convert.

Quins press from the restart but are a bit stretched with Dave Ward receiving attention and a dropped ball in midfield hands the initiative back to Bath who are now starting to look dangerous. From the counter attack following a good break by Banahan the ball is eventually passed out to Jeff Williams to run in for an easy try. Homer adds the extras and the score moves to 35 - 18 with 10 minutes left on the clock, nervous times for the Quins fans as there has been a definite swing in the game since the Twomey yellow card. Nick Easter (who was also receiving treatment during the lead up to the Bath score) and Dave Ward are both taken off the pitch and are replaced by James Chisholm and Joe Gray with Guy Mercer replacing Louwe for Bath. Another penetrating run from Banahan frees Rokoguduni to run in for another try for Bath after 73 minutes and with the conversion added by Homer Bath are now only 10 points adrift of the Quins total. That is another 3 trys given up with a team down to 14 men. Another attack by Bath is eventually halted when a penalty is awarded to Quins and this break in play allows Sam Twomey back onto the field. Quins now hold onto the ball for multiple phases but eventually lose it to Banahan who is felled by yet another great tackle by Mat Luamanu who struggles to get up afterwards.  James Horwill is rather harshly yellow carded for killing the ball on the ground and Bath quickly kick the ball to touch inside the Quins half; the unthinkable is now looking worryingly possible. Into the last minute and Bath are awarded another penalty in front of the posts and as the players seem to be readying themselves for a kick to the corner the kicking tee is sent onto the pitch by the coaching staff. The last kick of the game results in another 3 points from the boot of Tom Homer to bring the final score to Quins 35, Bath 28 and a losing bonus point for the visitors.

Well that was a pretty extraordinary game with Quins quickly gaining a try bonus point and very nearly giving away a couple of well earned points at the end with both sides running in 3 trys when the other was reduced to 14 men. What did we learn from the game? Starting with back row, Nick Easter is as good as ever, Mat Luamanu is now showing the form he showed at the start of the season and Luke Wallace is cementing himself as one of the standout sevens in the country. Quins now seem to have real alternatives in the front row as well as at lock. Despite the improvements shown by Tebaldi in recent games, Karl Dickson is a class apart and Ben Botica continues to show his real potential at number ten. Good to see George Lowe back on the field and the way that he and Harry Sloan play together. Charlie Walker demonstrated once again his lightning pace and Ross Chisholm is playing as well as he was a few seasons ago. Not a bad performance by any of the Quins players on the day and they now need to carry that form and commitment into the game against Warriors next week. As for Bath, I am no clearer to understanding the underlying cause of their problems this season but that is for others to worry about.