By Worried of Whitton
October 28 2005

The broad grin has still yet to wear off after last weekends’ excellent execution of Exeter. On Saturday, NEC Harlequins return to Northern climes where they meet ET. ET? extra terrestrials? possibly so, this is the club once known as Rotherham and now named Earth Titans, after their main sponsor.

The match kicks off at 15.00 at the “Earth Arena”, which sounds even more contrived than our own Twickenham Stoop!

Last weekend's performance at home was truly awesome. Scotty said the bar had been raised but I was stunned at just how high the team thought it had been raised!. It is years since I last saw, or indeed anyone saw Quins score 12 tries in a First Team game at home. The last time there was such a huge win, was back in the late 1990’s, before the East Stand was completed, against West Hartlepool as I recall. I m sure I’ll be corrected.

There were many great moments for the match but I think my favourite was in the first half when it seemed as if the ref had blown his whistle or someone had hit a pause button. Play stopped completely with Masson in possession, he suddenly restarted almost breaking the line for a try. A great dummy was sold! Masson played very well in the centre his passing was sublime at times and he also sent Ugo away a number of times, down the wing. Only the kicking of Mehrtens from the spot was a let down, missing a number of conversions that could have added another 14 point, however his vision was wonderful, and especially that cross field kick to Keooogh! for his try. Kevin Burke’s single-handed pulling the maul like he was a shire-horse, was also a delight to see.

All in all it was an absolute superb team performance, all the players were outstanding, the pack excelled and Fuga picked up man of the match. My man of the match was Easter he was awesome and must have run Tani a very close second, and of course Ugo’s 5 tries they were incredible. In addition a crowd of just under 9,200 for a National Division One match speaks volumes about the “new air” around the Stoop at the moment. By comparison Earth Titans had just 927, for their thrilling home match against Newbury, maybe there was difficulty in finding the venue. Not surprising therefore, with Harlequins in town, the Titans have said that they will raise their game to match their club raising the entrance fee on the gate. Despite this, Rotherham are expecting a capacity crowd of 3,500 – 4,000 as they cash in on Saturday’s revenue opportunity. "We are playing a Premiership side spending a season in National One," said a club spokesman. "Spectators will see a standard of rugby not seen for a while." They can certainly count on some strong vocal support from Harlequins.

Rotherham have been building the hype all week and their centre Greg Mitchell, who is expected to keep his place against Harlequins, believes that they can preserve this seasons unbeaten home run. “This game will be a big test and will tell us a lot about where we are in our development and we believe that we can be the first team to topple Harlequins,” said Mitchell. He added “We’re approaching the game positively and I hoped that they would come here undefeated because it would be great to take that record away from them. We’re on our own pitch and we’ll have our crowd behind us and you never know what might happen. We know that our home record will have a massive impact on how we do and we have set ourselves the target of being unbeaten at home this season. We know that if we pull this result off at the weekend then we are more than capable of achieving that. The whole squad has gelled together and we’re close as a unit. We’re a very young and ambitious set of players and we all know what it would mean to a lot of people if we were to beat Harlequins.” However their supporters don’t appear to be as confident as the team, this week one of them initially posted last Saturday, “Great win for the boys and a bonus point as well. I really think we can push Quins next week.” but after seeing the result from The Stoop, he added ” After Quins hammering of Exeter, I think I might take back my earlier comment. To get anywhere near Quins would be a great result.” Some in South Yorkshire believe that the Quins win was so high because Exeter capitulated, but those who watched the match will know the truth, Exeter did not give up.

Rotherham have put in a string of home wins so far this season, although apart from Newbury the winning margin has not been that great. There are, however, currently fifth in the division after four wins and three defeats. Wins at home against Plymouth, Exeter, by just seven points and last weekend against Newbury where they ran out 38-23 winners. Such wins have given their improving side greater confidence, which by all accounts was apparent against an enterprising Newbury side.

In a lively game Rotherham scored four tries through hooker Neil Hannah, winger David Strettle, flanker Scott Donald and their captain and centre Lee Blackett. Strettle, was reported as being in outstanding form, as he “tormented” Newbury's defence throughout the match, and his try from 40 metres out was by all accounts quite superb. This week Strettle will be up against winger Ugo Monye, and this battle in both defence and attack will play a part of the contest. Titans believe this will be a crucial role in the game as they recall Monye’s last visit to Clifton Lane, when the two sides meet in the Premiership. His sheer pace destroyed their defence, and after his five try bonanza last weekend he will be very hungry for more.

Rotherham have another sprinter in the form of 2^nd row Scott Donald. His try for Rotherham last week was the result of a 50 metre sprint to touch down under the posts, and “such is his pace and power, the New Zealander outran the supposedly quicker Newbury back-line”. It appears that Streetle and Donald will be the men to watch, as Titans are expecting a repeat of their high-quality performances to be essential, if they are to beat Harlequins. In addition their number eight Chris Hala 'Ufia from Tonga is billed as, Rotherham’s most dangerous forward and fiercest tackler, He was binned for 10 minutes late in the second half as Newbury tried to build on their recovery which initially slashed Roth's lead from 25-5 to 25-20, but remarkably the tiring Newbury side did not score during the time he was off the field, as Rotherham soaked up the pressure, and eventually won. Rotherham supporter Tony1, warned in his posting on CAW “Our number 8 Chris Hala’ufia has got a reputation of sometimes channelling his aggression in the wrong direction. Already this season he’s had two yellow cards, been cited and been banned for three games. I don’t think it’s a matter of if he’ll get a card, but more like which colour!”

While Rotherham's defence was slack in giving a relatively soft try to Newbury after 8 minutes, overall their defence and tackling were solid enough. Despite the confidence and bravado issuing forth from Clifton Lane this week, I can t see them being able to stop the Mighty Quins, and as their own board reported “Harlequins, scorers of 12 tries against Exeter, possess the skill to inflict damage on any side in National One, however well organised their defence is.” Despite the hype from the Yorkshire side it has to be an eighth consecutive win for Harlequins, although the size of the win will probably not be as great as last week. The bar has been raised, Quins have shown they can meet that challenge and a four try bonus point is expected, as Quins ”Titan” their grip at the top.

I understand that gummychesterquin will be “phoning home” to ensure those who are unable to travel are kept update as to the state of play. For those of you traveling to Clifton Lane, enjoy the match.

Come on you Quins!

 

NEC Harlequins:
15. Gavin Duffy, 14.Simon Keogh, 13. Tosh Masson, 12. Mel Deane, 11. Ugo Monye, 10. Andrew Mehrtens, 9. Steve So’oialo, 1. Ceri Jones, 2. Tani Fuga, 3. Ricky Nebbett, 4. Jim Evans, 5. Simon Miall, 6. Andre Vos (c.), 7. Luke Sherriff, 8. Nick Easter,
Replacements: 16. Jimmy Richards,17. Lorne Ward, 18. Kevin Burke, 19. Chris Robshaw, 20. Ian Vass, 21. Tom Williams, 22. Mike Brown

Earth Titans: expected to be
15 Carter, 14 Strettle, 13 Mitchell, 12, Blackett (Capt.), 11 Claasens, 10 WP Strauss, 9 Bedford, 1 Carey, 2 Hanna, 3 Hopcroft, 4 Bornman, 5 McGowan, 6 Donald, 7 Cochrane, 8 Hala’ufia.
Replacements:16 Kirkwood, 17 Whitehead, 18 L Strauss, 19 Golding, 20 Conroy, 21 Rawson 22 McComb

Match officials:
Referee: tba
Touch judges: Tim Wigglesworth, Steve Makinson