By Mark H
November 6 2003

Down from a high or heading higher? This Saturday’s excursion of the gold, black and green army takes us to the Stoop, and my surprise team of the season Harlequins. Why not Bath, I hear you say? Well, Bath had such a high turnover of players no-one knew what they were going to do. Quins have not had such a high turnover, have recruited players who are ostensibly (with the possible exceptions of Mike Worsley and George Harder) not big names, and were building on what has proved to be a not too successful base from recent seasons. Their two best known (and some would say best) players have also been helping the English cause in Australia.

One of the goals laid down for them by their chief executive/head coach/general dogsbody Mark Evans at the start of the season was to get off to a good start, given their poor starts of recent seasons and consequential games of catch up. Well, it looks like the Quins of 2003/04 vintage were actually listening this time round, as they started off with three wins on the bounce, sandwiching a big victory at Rotherham between home successes against Wasps and Irish, and were consequently setting the pace with Bath. They may have slipped since - defeat at Sarries and home losses to Gloucester and Sale - but are coming into the game of what was described on BBC Radio Leeds as a workmanlike 30-16 victory over the Tykes last Friday.

They may be sixth at the moment, but are only four points below Saints, such is the tightness of the Premiership this season, and are now certainly looking at their best finish for years and a place in next season’s European Cup.

Now I must confess to not knowing an awful lot about a large number of the Quins team, but they have got one player who I am looking forward to seeing. Looking forward to seeing him kept very quite, that is. Ugo Monye, the Zurich player of the month for October, came into the season on the back of some impressive showings in the England sevens team at the end of last season, but no-one could have expected him to make such an immediate impact this time around. Two tries against Wasps were followed up a week later by a hat trick at Rotherham, and a star was born in the eyes of the multicoloured ones. Ironically, he hasn’t crossed the line since, but has missed games with a knock, and has come back to find that those five tries keep him at the top of the try scorers chart. Just as they did with James Simpson-Daniel last week, the Saints defence will have to keep him quiet to maintain their ambitions of grabbing the four points.

Bill Davison is still in the second row, and Saints fans with long memories will have memories of his meeting with Daws two seasons back when our man was carried off after five minutes. It’s somewhat ironic that both have their testimonial seasons this term. Lordy and Rob Hunter will know that they are in for a tough time with this loyal and uncompromising Quin.

The likely back row is just as impressive. Pat Sanderson is a dependable and strong blindside flanker, maybe not as celebrated as Alex up at Sale, but another who can cause a lot of damage on his day. Andre Vos is on the open side, and I must admit that when he signed last season I thought that he was another southern hemisphere player who had come north to further their pension plan. I was totally wrong. Vos has been their best player this season, a driving force as influential for Quins as AB is for us, and liable to give James Brooks a severe test of character. It is excellent for the Premiership that players of this quality are not only wanting to come, but are then bleeding for the cause when they get here. At number eight will more than likely be Tony Diprose, who seems to have been around forever but is still only 31. An ever-present this season, the former England captain can always be depended upon to put in a big performance when needed.

Of the other Quins players, the fly half spot seems to be up for grabs between Andy Dunne, one of the three summer signings from Leinster, and Paul Burke, torturer of Tigers in cup ties year in year out. Simon Keogh, on the right wing and another ex-Leinster man, is their second top try scorer this season with three tries, and Josh Taumalolo has opted out or the Celtic League after winning the title in Wales last season with Bridgend.

But what of our boys - those that are left standing after the physical and mental battle of last Saturday. Well, this was the team named on Wednesday:-

15 Nick Beal
14 Jon Sleightholme
13 Chris Hyndman
12 John Leslie (c)
11 Bruce Reihana
10 James Brooks
9 Mark Robinson
1 Brett Sturgess
2 Dan Richmond
3 Chris Budgen
4 Matt Lord
5 Rob Hunter
6 Mark Connors
7 Darren Fox
8 Andrew Blowers (c)

Replacements from:
Matt Miles, Robbie Morris, Jon Golding, Jon Phillips, Grant Seely, Oriol Ripol, Mark Soden, Johnny Howard, and John Clarke.

John Leslie and Chris Hyndman have recovered from the flu that kept them out last week, and return for Oriol Ripol and broken jaw victim Mark Tucker, whilst James Brooks comes in for the injured (and it’s not surprising that he is) Shane Drahm. The big questions raised on the message board at the selection were mainly around the fly half role, but surely that is a credit to the class that Shane has shown so far this season that we immediately feel that he is irreplaceable, and have doubts about the man filling the shirt. All I can add to the debate is that I am sure that he will not let us down.

A five point win could put us level on points at the top with Bath, and set up the game for next week very nicely. Saints took all five points here on a manic Friday night in May, with Mark Tucker taking advantage of Dan Luger’s hesitation to score the crucial fourth try in the 87th minute. That was the try, ultimately, that put Saints into the playoffs last time round. Tucker’s not there this time, but I just have a sneaky feeling that the five points might be. Saints to win and get the bonus point in a 60 point plus thriller.