By Worried of Whitton
September 7 2006

The Guinness Premiership returns to a remodelled Stoop. We all knew this would be a tough return to the big time and it doesn’t get any easier as Harlequins have been drawn to meet each of last season’s top five teams over the first five weeks of this season. This weekend, NEC Harlequins take on Gloucester Rugby on Saturday September 9th. Kick off at The Stoop is at 15.00.

The pain and frustration of throwing away a win last Saturday is beginning to subside. It is tempered by the fact that this bitter defeat by only one point see Quins currently in seventh position just one place below London Irish, however giving away yet another foolish penalty cost us dearly, and Quins should have held on for four points. From the other results last weekend, Worcester and Leicester aside, there were a number of very close games with the winning score being less than seven points.

If you had read Paul (H)Ackford’s poor match report in the Sunday Telegraph you would think that Quins season was over, before it had begun. Yes, there are areas to work on particularly in the line outs, and giving away far too many, needless penalties, as emphasized by the one that lost us the match. I’m sure that these areas will have been worked on this week and the team will be anxious to return to winning ways. As we prepare for this second round match, Harlequins are not in as bad a position as Mr. A would like us all to believe. Maybe Quins were on the wrong end of a number of decisions but maybe no one told them that the rules have changed in the past year. High tackles now seen to go unpenalised, or given to the offending team, there appears to be no time limit in which to take penalty kicks, and there no longer appears to be a properly policed offside rule. I’m sure that Mr. Rose will already be looking forward to his reception the next time he officiates at The Stoop.

There were positives from last weekends match, and I’m sure London Irish were surprised by the quality of their opposition. The loss was by just one point, the pack held well, there were some solid tackling and there were some good performances by Abbott, Luscombe, Volley and of course Vos. Brown had a good first half but faded in the second and probably should have been replaced early in the second half as well as bringing on Keogh much earlier for Harder. Jarvis performed well too, although that gusting wind took its toll on some of those kicks. The “A” team had a good result on Monday against Wasps with scores for the new boys Strettle and Care and so the squad have bounced back from Saturday’s disappointment.

Whilst Quins were at HQ, this week’s opponents Gloucester were playing Bath at Kingsholm in another derby game. Gloucester won the match 24 – 19 and continued their sequence of winning every opening day of the season match; this run stretches back to 2000. It was a typical West Country affair, short on attacking flair but hard on “grunt”. If there were any indicators for Harlequins it would be that whilst the teams were level on the try count, Gloucester’s goal kicking, from new signing New Zealander, Willie Walker. He made the difference early on, despite missing his first kick, he kicked a total of fourteen points, and so Quins will need to be wary of giving away penalties. Bath fans were disappointed with the way Gloucester stretched them out wide for their tries. Gloucester kept a couple of players in the wide channels to pose action that threat and Bath were unable to defend it. In addition Gloucester took most of their line outs quickly whilst their opposition were still trying to organize, securing quick ball to disrupt the Bath game plan; Gloucester’s win was achieved without a number of key players who were carrying injuries, these included Mike Tindall, Carlos Nieto, James Simpson-Daniel, Ryan Lamb and Jake Boer.

Gloucester, who finished the premiership in fifth place last season also won the European Challenge Cup (Parker Pen), have strengthened their squad over the summer, in an effort to have an even more successful season this year. Perhaps their highest profile signing is Iain Balshaw, ex Leeds and Bath; they have also strengthened their pack with two Azzuri signings in lock Marco Bortolami and prop Carlos Nieto. They are joined by Christian Califano from Agen, and also from Cornish Pirates Will James. In addition to these signings Gloucester have a quartet of gifted youngsters who are a product of their academy programme, with Ryan Lamb at fly half, centre Anthony Allen, Jack Forster at prop and full back Olly Morgan. Thus head coach, Dean Ryan, has built a very solid all round squad of players at Kingsholm. Recently Ryan was reported as saying “Our ambition is to be at the top end of Europe, but it is just a question of how far along that journey we are at present”.

Gloucester will certainly remember the last time they played this Premiership fixture at the Stoop back on February 4th 2005. This is not because they were welcomed by a cherry and white coloured hoarding, which sealed off the site of the recently demolished West Stand, but by the result and the nature that the result was achieved. It was arguably one of our better performances in the 2004/2005 season. Quins won emphatically, providing a demolition of there own. The final score of 38-9 was significant in itself but the win was all the more remarkable as Quins were reduced to fourteen men for 50 minutes of the match after Tiatia had been sent off.

Emblazoned across that “cherry” wall, (or was it raspberry or cranberry or even mulberry) painted in white was the strap line “Coming Soon a New Era”. Well that New Era is now here albeit in some respects delayed by one year. The new west stand is just about to start its second season of use, two new scoreboards, with count down clocks get their debut this Saturday along with an improved PA system. Quins also have a New Director of Rugby, a new squad, renewed vision, and nearly 6,000 season ticket holders who will take their seats this weekend, as the club set out to ensure The Stoop provides the “Best Match day Experience in the Premiership”, both on and off the pitch. The Stoop is well on the way to being one of the best Rugby Union venues in the country, and a new South Stand is planned for 2008 season. This is all positive but we need to turn it into a fortress against the Premiership clubs who visit, with strong, vocal home support. Let us not forget that this week Quins will be defending an unbeaten at home record, which includes one International match against Samoa and one ND 1 “Away” match against London Welsh that stretches back to last September.

So what of the match prospects? For their first home match back in the Premiership, Harlequins face formidable opposition, at least on paper. An update on the Gloucester injury list has not been forthcoming, but whichever team Ryan picks we can expect another very close game and if Quins keep their heads they should be able to pull off a narrow win, and a bonus point will be on offer for the looser. Our home support will need to be exceedingly vocal, with everyone getting behind the team, and NOT leaving before the end of the match. We can certainly help influence the result to be in our favour. Gloucester supporters see this as a tricky fixture, “Their backline is looking very good with Abbott, Luscombe, Moyne and Strettle provide a great blend of creativity, power and real pace.” was one comment on their website this week, another adds “Our pack will have to really take it to the Quins 8 because if they get any sort of platform they will be very dangerous IMHO”. Gloucester captain Marco Bortolami believes that his team needs to put as much pressure on Quins as possible given that it is their first game at home back in the Premiership. He also believes that Quins might not have re-adjusted to life at the top club level; however he’ll soon realize on Saturday that is not true.

At the time of publication neither side had announced their teams; however for Harlequins I would expect a similar line up to last week, but with Keogh starting instead of Harder, probably Williams at full back and Mehrtens instead of Jarvis. I think we may also see Strettle and Care play some part in the match.



Come on you Quins


Referee: Roy Maybank
Touch judges: Peter Huckle, Andy Watson

Note: Roy Maybank referred the other London Double header match last week, whilst Andy Watson ran the line for our match against London Irish.