By Chris Chaplin
October 13 2004

Trips to the Stoop have always been occasions where the first things that visiting Tigers have to look for are banana skins and regardless of the respective league positions of this weekend’s combatants Tigers will need to be wary. Strangely enough the Stoop has always been one of those venues that makes me nervous and often with good reason.

It is true of course that Quins are currently firmly anchored at the foot of the premiership while Tigers are at the zenith but while it’s a cliché much loved by the directors of rugby and coaches it is nevertheless true that any of the teams in this year’s competition can beat each other on “their day”.

Unfortunately last Saturday at Kingsholm was not to be Quins day when they again got pretty much beaten up in the forwards after an encouraging opening foray during which time they actually had rather the better of things but they then gave way to the power of the Cherry and Whites pack which as well as having the giant Christo Bezuidenhout also had Phil Vickery restored for the closing exchanges after the South African had taken his leave.

In what turned out to be a quite close scoring match the Londoners got a badly needed and well deserved losing bonus point and it showed that Quins, behind the pack at least, still have plenty to offer when on the attack although their defence does leak in the midfield and around the tackle area.

While Quins were enduring something of a torrid time in Gloucester Tigers were giving a similar lesson to the Cherry and Whites’ West Country rivals up at Welford Road where in spite of destroying another front five at the scrum, I counted Bath’s Duncan Bell slipping his binding and standing up on seven separate occasions before I tired of the exercise, Bath only suffering a series of free-kicks, penalties and resets but not what should have been a least one Yellow Card. This cleverly blunted Tigers’ main weapon and while I can’t blame Bath for their cynicism I can and do blame the match officials for permitting it to go largely unpunished.

In the end though Bath secured a draw by way of a try scored by Lipman from a forward pass from Fleck so outrageous that the Bath open-side was forced to twist back to collect it and yet it escaped the notice of the hapless match officials. So clear was the transgression that the endlessly biased and increasingly ridiculous Barnes on Sky was eventually forced to admit that it was indeed forward. I wonder if he’s heard about denial therapy and that WMDs really don’t exist either!?

In the end though it was the boot that decided matters with young Broadfoot missing two penalties and a conversion and Geordan Murphy also missing a conversion.

Some of these opportunities were not easy but the fact remains that ten points were missed from the kicking tee whereas at the other end Barkley converted two of his three penalty attempts adding the conversion of Lipman’s try and a drop-goal for good measure and prodcued what was a replay of his performance against Gloucester the previous week when Henry Paul missed four penalties while Barkley was again nigh on perfect.

On such things do matches turn and from that perspective it’s good to see old cool hand Luke; Andy Goode restored for Saturday in a match that could be a lot closer than many pundits may think.

Quins’ head honcho Mark Evans has acknowledged that he has problems in the pack where only the admirable Andre Vos and Tony Diprose are seemingly earning their corn.

Certainly the Quins’ front row of Ceri Jones, Tana Fuga and young academy player England U19 tighthead head Mark Lambert who has latterly been pressed into service following an injury sustained by close season signing Maurice Fitzgerald in the game against Bath, have struggled.

I don’t know what the news is on Fitzgerald but I rather think that if he’s still not fit the more experienced Jon Dawson is more likely to start against Darren Morris who takes a turn at loosehead for Tigers but quite what the Quins’ coaches are going to do about Ceri Jones having to pack down against Julian White I don’t know.

I’m not sure where the experienced Mike Worsley is and can only assume that he too is injured and if so it looks like the ex Newport man will have the dubious pleasure of meeting up with Whitey who is reported fit after leaving the fray against Bath and then being subjected to the “Full Metaljacket” known as EPS training!

As far as the front row is concerned I can’t think that anyone thinks that the Quins trio are likely to gain an upper-hand over Tigers trio even though Morris has not had much game time so far this term and we can only hope that the match officials this week feel disposed to referee the scrum in accordance with the laws.

While Tigers only gained parity against a fine performance from Grewcock and Borthwick I think that Johnno with Ben Kay will prevail at the set piece at the Stoop, Louis Deacon’s injury having not cleared up with James Hamilton replacing him on the bench, although the Quins’ locks are good around the park and will ask some questions around the breakdown.

Mark Evans has acted in making an emergency signing until the end of the season but the arrival of All Black lock Simon Maling not due for a few weeks yet so it looks like it will be down to a combination of England A player and sometime lock Roy Winters, Simon Miall and ex Cherry and White Karl Rudzki with the latter two probably the most likely partnership.

Also lock is another close season signing, 38 time capped Samoan international Opeta Palepoi, who has only thus far made a single appearance from the bench yet I would have thought that his experience and robust approach would surely be brought into play sooner rather than later to give some more grunt in the Quins’ boiler room.

However talented a back row may be they still have a tough time imposing themselves if their tight five is struggling as has been the case at Quins this term.

In Tony Diprose they have one of the finest all round footballers around partnering the still inspiring Andre Vos, they initially joined with ex Orrell flanker Nick Easter against Gloucester, who made his first team debut. Nice place to choose for a debut is Kingsholm!! Easter gave way to the very mobile Luke Sherriff for the closing exchanges and yet again I am left to wonder where Maama Molitika is. The ex Celtic Warriors Tongan international having made just one start and two appearances from the bench.

The Quins backrow looks mobile and possessed of good handling skills from what I’ve seen and with Vos likely to be the first at the breakdown in a dead-heat with Neil Back Molitika’s grunt could be what’s needed to combat the hard running Martin Corry, who is playing as well as I’ve seen him and this week moves to blindside, at least until Lewis Moody makes his return having successfully negotiated a couple of pipe-openers. That famous grafter Will Johnson starts at #8.

If the Quins’ tight five could get some go forward then I’d be even more wary than I am of the talented back row on display from Quins but as it is I think they’re likely to be on the back foot against a vastly experienced Tigers trio.

To be honest I can’t really see the Quins’ eight prevailing where nobody else has since last Winter.

At scrum half close season signing Steven So’oialo also joined Quins from Orrell and I have to admit that I’ve been a bit disappointed by what I’ve seen of him, his seemingly lacking enthusiasm and not showing that which should be expected from a 32 time capped international #9.

Again though Mark Evans has acted and brought in Wallaby Matt Henjak on a short term contract. The twice capped Australian #9 also made his debut at Kingsholm and got a bit of a roughing up by way of a routine enough welcome from Kingsholm! Before that though Hejak put up a lovely kick for Monye which led to Quins’ opening try by Gavin Duffy.

An intelligent youngster Henjak learned his craft at Brumbies at the knee of George Gregan and will give Tigers and Scott Benton, who replaces Harry Ellis who’s having a bit of a breather on the bench, plenty to think about given half a chance. However with a background in Super 12 where the scrum is used as a vehicle to restart the game rather than an offence tool he’ll be having to get used to the lack of space in the English game and with Benton likely to get good service from his pack he should be able to make his point to his erstwhile employers.

As part of a new half-back pairing ex Munster player Jeremy Staunton has moved from his Munster position of Full Back and has shown some good skills and tactical kicking. Staunton will be a real threat if he gets some decent ball from his new partner and will face Tigers’ returning Andy Goode.

With the Quins pairing still settling and unlikely to get much go forward ball then the Tigers’ duo should be able to get the better of things but they’ll need plenty of protection from the Quins’ loose forwards.

With Greenwood and Harder in the centre Quins have a perfect combination of subtlety and brawn and while Greenwood was not entirely on his defensive game at Kingsholm he scored one of those trade mark Will Greenwood tries when he seemingly moves though a gap in the opposition defence that isn’t actually there for mere mortals but is for Mr Greenwood. George Harder on the other hand has a somewhat more direct approach and the Tigers’ centres will have their work cut out against these two if they get any space.

Quins may stick with yet another new boy, the vastly experienced Welsh international and British Lion Dafydd James, in the centre but for me though I think that George Harder is an even bigger threat at centre than he is on the wing and so I’d play James out wide to partner the exciting Ugo Monye.

Ollie Smith unusually missed a couple of tackles against Bath, for whom Tindall had a good match, and he’ll not want to repeat that against the Quins pairing..

In fact I thought that Rabeni looked a greater threat at outside centre when he played at Kingston Park and had hoped that Ollie would get a chance to repeat that bravura performance by starting at 12.

Seru Rabeni ended looking distinctly lame last Saturday but seemingly has recovered and could continues at inside centre with Daryl Gibson still not recovered from his training induced hamstring injury, which has also sidelined him for the last two games. If Rabeni is not able to start the only other option is young Dan Hipkiss who will have an interesting time against the experienced Quins.

Similarly on the wings Austin Healey has been hamstrung (so to speak) and young Holtby paired with Murphy last weekend. Holtby is a good young player who is strong in attack and defence but unlike Healey he rarely does the unexpected and is too often neutralised and so it’s good to see our very own piece of fun restored to give some variety.

This has permitted Geordan Murphy’s return to Full-back from enforced wing duty where he is too often closed down when in those closer confines and with Healey in close attendance we may see something special as the (surely) new British Lions’ full back makes the most of the extra space.

Quins have the excellent Irishman Gavin Duffy as their last line of defence and what a busy and depressing season he’s having. Another player with tremendous pace, a good eye and who has benefited from his exposure to the premiership since he joined Quins from Connacht and with whom I was impressed last season as I was with his countryman Keogh but likely starter Ugo Monye continues for me to be one of the most exciting players in the premiership and if he does get a sniff of the ball he’ll be away and over the whitewash.

If Quins were able to get a good supply of quality ball then their backline has tremendous scoring potential although this has to be balanced by a predisposition to crack open when in defence and given that their pack is likely to be under tremendous pressure I think that Tigers will be disappointed if Quins stop the rot at home this weekend which I don’t think they will and that Tigers will, come Saturday evening, still be at the top of the premiership.