By sb
April 27 2003

The U21s lost their unbeaten record to top of the table Leicester in controversial circumstances yesterday at Welford Road 24-18. I may be paranoid but I always get a sinking feeling when the home crowd appear to be on christian name terms with the officials. Unfortunately, the referee and one linesman proceeded to have such an undue effect on the game that they denied the 21s the win their performance deserved.

Playing into a stiff, cold wind the 21s went 3-0 down to an early penalty for off-side about 10 metres out but they stormed back, putting the Leicester defence under great pressure. The pack won good possession and the game was being played mainly in the Leicester half as their forwards repeatedly gave away penalties under pressure. Eventually, one came within range and Adrian Jarvis slotted it home to level the scores. At the same time, the referee appeared to warn the Leicester captain about repeated infringements.

Leicester then regained the lead with another, longer distance penalty but again Quins took the game to the Tigers. Their hooker then killed the ball at a ruck and was binned. A kick to the corner resulted in a catch and drive from which Kai Hortsman ploughed over. Score Tigers 6, Quins 8. Quins were dominant and only some wayward passing stopped them scoring two or three tries.

The referee and linesman now decided to get in on the act. First, Tom Parker was binned for handling the ball on the ground. The fact that the ball was coming out on the Quins' side, was two metres away from the ruck and the ball was on the half-way line didn't seem to worry Mr Steele-Bodger (yes, the son of THE Steele-Bodger). Leicester stormed onto the attack and a ruck formed in front of the Quins' posts. Right in front of the ref and with the linesman apparently having a clear view (he was behind the referee), the Leicester No. 8 punched Sam Walton in the face. Chris Bell responded and, after a long discussion, it was Chris alone who was binned, reducing the Quins to 13 players. Leicester scored the penalty to go in 9-8 up.

The first twelve minutes of the second half saw Leicester take full advantage of their numerical advantage. First, a catch and drive gave them a 14-8 lead then a burst through the middle led to a score under the posts for 21-8, though from a forward pass.

Eventually back to 15 men (Chris Bell and Tom Parker were both kept off the field for several minutes longer than the 10 minutes of playing time due), Quins hit back through a penalty and Ugo Monye unleashed a corruscating 40 metre run which was brought up just short.

But the ref and linesman clearly hadn't intervened enough. Second row Ben Creed was binned for punching and Leicester restored their 13 point lead with another penalty.

Nothing daunted, Quins stormed back and took the game to Leicester. A wave of attacks pounded the Leicester line with the pack doing excellent work. Eventually, some sort of justice was done when the Leicester No. 8 was binned (he should have gone in the first half). From the resulting pressure, Quins scored through Henry Barratt with Jarvis converting to make it 24-18.

Quins pressed hard for the winning converted try and the last five minutes were spent camped on the Leicester line but to no avail.

So, five players binned in a game that was hardly dirty but in which the referee was determined to make an impact with a series of increasingly inexplicable decisions. Put it this way, the Leicester fans were just as critical of him as we were. To be blunt, if yellow cards had been given out in ratio to penalties conceded then Leicester would have had 5 or 6 players off the field. The distorting effect on the game of the binnings is shown up by the fact that 18 of Leicester's 24 points were scored when Quins were short (12 of them when that were down to 13) and 12 of Quins' 18 points came when Leicester were a man down. The officiating was, frankly, disgraceful and they ruined a perfectly good game of rugby.

The Quins scrum played excellently. In the game at the Stoop in September they had been well beaten up front but here they were the dominant force. Unusually it was the backs who came up short. Too many missed passes and a tendency to crash the ball up the middle cost them dear, especially when Ugo Monye was clearly the fastest thing on two legs on the pitch. One decent run in 90 minutes for a man who scored 7 tries for England in the Hong Kong Sevens is just not good enough. If he is available for the two remaining games (Gloucester at the Stoop and Northampton away) then he must get the ball more often and more quickly. Do that, and both these games are winnable.

Team: Willcocks (rep Williams), Barratt, Monye, Bell, Allan (rep Reay), Jarvis, Outon (rep Martin), Horstman, MacCormick, Guest, Creed, Parker, Storer, Walton, Hopkins.