By Worried of Whitton
April 28 2006

So long, farewell, auf wiedersein goodbye… as ND1 Champions NEC Harlequins play their last ND1 match at The Stoop. They meet fifth placed Plymouth Albion, for the third time this season, kick off at The Stoop is 15.00 The two teams have meet previously this season in the League ay Brickfields where Quins won a hard fought match 23-16 and again four weeks later in the Cup at the Stoop with Quins winning by a more respectable 37 -24.

A full house of 12,500 has been engineered to break the ND 1 attendance record this weekend, as I believe the Quins RL are playing on completion of the Unions’ side very successful season. It is very important that Quins finish the season on a high, and it would be great if they could break through the 1000 points barrier for the season. After last weeks match against Bedford Quins now only need to score 38 points in their last game. Ironically 38 points is their average score this season, so It is not impossible. Plymouth come to The Stoop on the back of a 55-7 thrashing at home to bottom placed Sedgley Park. Like every other team we ve played this season they too will be keen to put one over Quins and be the first to record a victory at The Stoop. Plymouth s average score this season is 25, so they may get a bonus point, but Quins will be too strong for them, as they re13th Home league win .

Saturday is also the day we say farewell to two Harlequins legends as they start their retirement. Will greenwood and Tony Diprose take their bows. Since Greenwood announced his retirement his game in recent weeks has gone thorough somewhat of a renaissance, with no pressure on him he has been more relaxed and the rugby has flowed, I guess he wishes he could be that bit faster in trying to keep up with Keogh. He was involved and instigated a number of great plays in recent weeks, and has rediscovered his knack for scoring tries. Although hardly featuring in the Fist team games this season Tony Diprose has been a stalwart in the “A” league games, and we were all disappointed that the result didn’t go our way last Monday night up at Welford Road. Defeat was no disgrace and from reading the comment on the Leicester board they have bee surprised by Quins achievements this season. May I take this opportunity the thank Will and Tony for their Commitment and Loyalty to Harlequins these past few years and I wish them well for their future careers. Both appear to have made an impression as Sports pundits so maybe we will still hear from both of them on a regular basis. Good luck guys.

According to the Plymouth Board, their match against Sedgley Park last week was their best game of the season with their team scoring nine tries. The win consolidated their fifth place in the Divison, but also moved them to within one point of Rotherham in fourth place. A win for Plymouth on Saturday and a loss for Rotherham would see Plymouth finish Fourth, but as they are away to Harlequins and Titans away to Sedgely Park, I think their final league position is already secured. However Sedgley Park went into this match have only lost once, to Quins in their previous four matches. Plymouth crossed the line within four minutes with Van Eyk scoring in the corner, which started a sequence of try being scored, enabling Plymouth to go in at half time with the bonus point secured. Park had hit back during the half but it was their only score of the match 29-7 at half time. Albion came out fighting in the second half but took nearly fifteen minutes before finding the try line again. The second half was essentially one way traffic, especially as Sedgley Park did not having to worry about relegation the points were piled on as Plymouth won 55-7.

So on Saturday our journey, indeed our mission in ND1 comes to an end. I m sure there is much relief that promotion was accomplished but I m sure it is tinged with a little bit of sadness and all those fond memories of Harlequins most successful season in years., and it is right to say a big thank you to all the ND 1 clubs for their hospitality this year. The travelling support held up and at a lot of matches was probably greater than visits to Premiership grounds I m not being arrogant when I say it is unthinkable that there will be any barriers preventing our return to the Premiership next season.

So as the players take a break for their well earned and well deserved holidays. Thank you for reading my weekly reviews or is that ramblings? and may I wish you all a great Summer and see you in September!


Come on you Quins