By Keith Jenner
January 25 2004

You had a feeling before the game started that Quins were really up for this match. I caught a snippet of a pre-match interview with Mark Evans which showed him to be confident about the game and he revealed that he would be disappointed if we didn't put in a very good performance.

The team was as announced previously except for Chris Bell coming in for Will Greenwood, who was suffering from a niggling shoulder injury. The management believe that Greenwood will be fit to play in the return game next week. For Brive, the team was very different to that printed in the programme. The major team news from the French side was the confirmation that Fly-Half Alain Penaud wouldn't be starting.

As the match wasn't covered by season tickets, the crowd was rather different to usual. Many season ticket holders who did attend took the opportunity to sit in different locations and there were also a lot of non-regulars in attendance. Sitting around me were some people who seemed to know a reasonable amount about Rugby, but were new to Quins, along with a group of people who were obviously new to the sport. It was good to see that by the end of the game they were all cheering along as if they had been following Quins all their life.

Quins had the wind behind them in the first half and Paul Burke started the game. The ball was not gathered by Brive and Quins soon had the French team under pressure. The ball was sent out to George Harder on the right wing and he was over for a try in the first minute of the match.

Whilst the crowd tried to get to grips with this most un-Quins like start (early tries at The Stoop are usually scored by the opposition), Paul Burke had a difficult conversion attempt from the touchline. The kick was missed and Quins early lead was 5-0.

Shortly afterwards, after a period of pressure from Brive, Mel Deane made a good break through the middle and Quins looked like they may have another scoring opportunity, but there appeared to be a breakdown in communication with one of the supporting players and a penalty was given for crossing.

 
Valley Gorilla (Barquin Mad)

A few minutes later, another Brive attack broke down and Chris Bell appeared to have broken away, but he was called back for a knock on. A penalty was awarded to Brive following the scrum and they kicked for goal from the 22. The kick went wide of the posts and Quins retained their 5-0 lead.

On 10 minutes, Ugo Monye received the ball and ran infield. He kicked ahead and was tackled late. The penalty was awarded where the ball landed, so Burke had an easy kick in front of the posts on the 22 and he made no mistake increasing the lead to 8 points.

There followed a spell where neither team managed to create many chances. Quins were being penalised regularly at the breakdown and there was some poor kicking, including two on a row that went straight to opposition players. However, after quarter of an hour, a Quins rolling maul took play from just inside the Brive half to the 22. The ball was fed back to Burke who slotted a drop goal over from about 35 metres out.

Five minutes later, Brive got their best scoring opportunity with a break down the right wing. Ugo Monye was the final defender to beat and it looked for a moment as if he had been beaten. He managed to grab hold of the attacker and held him up just long enough for the cover to arrive. Brive were given a scrum, and after some trademark last ditch defending Quins were awarded a penalty and could clear the ball.

A good Quins attack was then stopped by a long whistle from the referee. After a discussion with the touchjudge, Ace Tiatia was called over and was sinbinned, I believe for using his shoulder (In the press conference after the game, Ace was described as having “very big shoulders”.

Big Shoulders (Barquin Mad)

Brive looked to take advantage of the extra man and once again Quins were forced to defend on their line. As has been the case all season, the last ditch defence was excellent and the forwards were managing to turn the ball over and ease the pressure. Gavin Duffy was also looking very confident under the high ball.

Quins won a penalty just inside their half which was kicked to touch, just outside the 22. The long throw was taken by Pat Sanderson who made good ground and set up an attacking position. Just a few yards short of the line, the referee spotted an infringement and the Brive number 7 was sent to join Ace in the sin-bin. Quins kicked the penalty to the corner and from the line-out it looked as though they were over for their second try, but were stopped just short. The ball was sent right and when George Harder received it in front of the post he decided to go for the line. There were two unmarked players outside him and a try would have been a formality had Harder been aware of this. However, another penalty was awarded in front of the posts which Burke kicked this time to make the score 14-0.

The scoreboard tells the tale (Robshew)

Ace Tiatia was now back on the pitch, and Brive had been unable to score whilst he was off, and it was Quins who now had the extra man.

A kick by Duffy from inside his 22 missed touch and Brive were awarded a penalty from the resulting attack. The kick was fairly wide and about 30 metres out and was once again missed. Brive were obviously missing Penaud, and had they kicked their penalties they may have been able to keep in touch.

In the last minutes of the half, some excellent work by Pat Sanderson won the ball for Quins and at the next breakdown Brive had another player sent to the sin-bin, meaning they were down to 13 men for a short time.

Is the grass a little greener over there? (Barquin Mad)

However, the final score of the half went to Brive when they succeeded with a penalty kick from their 22 after a try had looked possible from a chip and chase. The half time score was 14-3

The rain was falling as the second half started and Brive almost scored again early on when they attempted a shot at goal from a penalty 5 metres inside Quins half. However, the kick fell short and Quins were able to clear.

A Brive throw about 10 metres from their line was adjudged not to have been straight and from the resulting scrum, George Harder scored his second try following a set move which worked to perfection. The conversion was directly in front of the post and Burkes successful kick took the score to 21-3

Brive were soon back to full strength, but Quins were once again on the attack. Another rolling maul reached the 22 before it was brought down illegally. This time, however, Paul Burke sent his kick wide of the posts, to the usual murmurs of amazement from the crowd that you hear on these rare occasions.

Five minutes later, Burke more than made up for his miss when, following some good pressure from Quins, he made an excellent break from outside the 22 and sent a long pass to the left wing where it was collected by Tani Fuga who scored. The conversion was a lot harder than the previous penalty, but this time Burke made no mistake and moved the score to 28-3

Burkey takes his man (Andy Hancock)

Mark Evans then started to make some changes, bringing on Mike Worsley, Bill Davison and Tony Diprose for Ceri Jones, Karl Rudski and Ace Tiatia. Almost immediately, Quins had another scoring chance when they had turnover ball and kicked downfield. The Brive defender who was swamped by Quins players did very well and was awarded a penalty.

Brive then had a break down the left wing. The player was tackled and a penalty was given against Quins. The referee once again got the yellow card out and this time it was Andre Vos who was sent to the sin-bin for ten minutes. The penalty was kicked to the corner, but once again, Quins turned possession over and cleared.

On 22 minutes, Brive knocked on from their lineout and Mel Deane made another good break. Following some pressure, Quins were awarded another penalty which was successfully kicked to move the score on to 31-3

 
oops, the Brive Lineout goes awry (Andy Hancock)

After another couple of Harlequins substitutions (Laurent Gomez for Jason Leonard and Scott Bemand for Ugo Monye) and a few for Brive, one of the Brive wingers (there was some confusion as to which one it was) made a good break and scored their only try of the match. A new kicker was tried for the conversion but his effort went some way wide of the posts.

Brive reposition  the inflatable Ugo  (Andy Hancock)

Some more good pressure followed from Quins which resulted in another successful penalty from Paul Burke. Soon, Quins were back on the attack and were awarded a scrum. The scrum was very messy, but the ball was picked up on the 10m line by Simon Keogh who ran through the forwards and round the defence to score an excellent solo try which had the crowd on their feet. Once again, the conversion was successful and the score increased to 41-8.

Keogh gets it away (Robshew)

Brive had the best of the final five minutes of the game, but the Quins defence held out well and they never really looked like scoring. Paul Burke was replaced by Andy Dunne in the final few minutes and the final whistle was greeted by a loud cheer from the crowd.

Overall, I thought it was an excellent display from Quins and they are now very strong favourites to progress through to the semi-final. The tie is not over though and it will be very important not to let Brive get a good start next week. I suspect that Brive will now concentrate on the league, but they will be under no pressure in the return leg, and if they score early on then they will be in with a chance.

This is about to hurt (Barquin Mad)

Mark Evans felt that Brive looked like the sort of team who could score rapidly if things were going their way. However, he was confident and said that they would be devastated if they lost the tie from this position.

Evans said that he had been disappointed at half time. He felt that there was too much fancy stuff being played, and not enough sustained pressure. In the second half, we came away with points after almost every attack and he was much happier with the second half display.

George Harder's second try had come from a set move which hadn't been used for a while in the Premiership because other teams in the league get to know these moves. When playing in Europe some of these old moves can be reused as the opposition won't have seen them.

Talking about Simon Keogh's try, Evans said that Keogh was a great player who can pull that sort of thing off. He also said that with players such as Harder, Monye and Keogh you know that you are going to score plenty of tries, which has been the case for most of this season.

So, all in all, it was a good day all round for the club. The team had set out to give themselves a good lead to take to France next week, and had succeeded in that aim. The tie still needs to be closed out, but we should be able to defend a 33 point lead. I do like it when a plan comes together.

 
This week's caption competition..... (Andy Hancock)