By AlanQuin
March 4 2007

Despite a valiant effort, Harlequins lost to Leicester Tigers by 27 points to 22. It was n a match which, had they taken their opportunities, they might have won. Instead they had to be content with a losing bonus point.

In a first half in which the Tigers’ lineout fell apart and Harlequins had the bulk of possession, the visitors were unable to drive home their advantage to register points.  It took precisely twenty-three seconds for Quins to be awarded the first penalty of the match and very few more than that for Adrian Jarvis to put Quins 0 – 3 onto the lead. 

The next five minutes was spent watching the amazing sight of Tigers losing three successive line-outs keeping Tigers off the ball.  Olly Kohn stole the first, the second was overthrown by Buckland and scooped back by Volley. The third went directly to the Quins’ skipper.  Only the long kicking of Goode pushed Quins back.  A penalty at a scrum gave Quins a line-out but it was almost lost and only a knock-on saved Quins.  But at the succeeding scrum a penalty for the Tigers allowed Goode to push Quins deep into their own twenty-two and a penalty against Quins for an offence at the line-out.  It was in a kickable position and Goode made no mistake in equalising the scores after eleven minutes.

Almost immediately, following a good up and under, Quins had a penalty in a kickable position, thirty metres out in front of the posts, only for Jarvis to miss badly with his attempt at goal.  Quins redoubled their attempts to put pressure on the Leicester defence, the forwards driving round the fringes of rucks and pushing their opponents back until a knock-on ended the attack.

Then when Quins went offside as Leicester attacked, Goode added three more points to give them the lead at 6 – 3.   A clever kick through for Keogh to chase was put into touch by Geordan Murphy, but the line-out was lost and another of Goode’s massive kicks found touch in the Quins half.

Another fine Jarvis kick to the left corner pushed Leicester back to their five metre line and yet again they lost the line-out, the ball going straight to Olly Kohn whose drive for the line was halted by Julian White holding him back inches short of the line.  Quins recycled the ball and another dart for the line by Gomersall almost succeeded but was held back by the strong Tigers’ defence.  Eventually another knock-on robbed Quins of possession and a free kick to Leicester at the scrum cleared their lines and opportunity was lost to Quins. 

A long kick fro Jarvis went dead to give the Tigers a scrum on Quins ten metre line.  A penalty for Quins on half way gave them a line-out.  A rolling maul drove on and a cross kick for Strettle was well taken by the winger but he had no room to manoeuvre.  A dart for the line by Gomersall was stopped short and then Quins had a penalty which Jarvis put over to equalise at 6 – 6 only for Tigers to have another penalty from their next attack to put them back in front at half time. 9 – 6

For the second half Tigers brought out George Chuter in an attempt to correct their line-out problem and Corry also to strengthen their defence.  They also pushed up the pace of their game and went on the attack.  Luscombe came off with a blood injury and was replaced by Jordan Turner-Hall.  Tigers were now at their most ferocious as they drove closer and closer to the Quins’ line.  Gibson almost got across and then Rambeni was able to jink round and stretch out to touch the line and score the first try of the game. Goode failed with the conversion. 14 – 6 after five minutes of the second half.  Strettle was replaced after a dead leg by Tom Williams. 

It took very few minutes for Harlequins to hit back. A half break by Mel Deane was stopped but Jordan Turner-Hall came away with the ball and his pass to Mike Brown saw the full-back tripped just short of the line but Turner-Hall following was able to pick up and dive over for the try.  Jarvis had a simple conversion as he brought the scores to within a point at 14 – 13.

Luscombe returned to replace Mel Deane. Leicester’s response was immediate as the ball was moved right on a fine run by Tuilagi stopped by a good tackle near the touchline. But Hipkiss picked up and brushed off two tackles to run through for the try.  This time Goode added the points and Harlequins were again trailing 21 – 13. Gomersall was replaced by So’oialo.

Another kick from in front of the posts was missed by Jarvis.  Then the Tiger’s scrum-half clattered Mike Brown late and without using his arms to give Jarvis another kick at goal which the fly-half duly slotted for 21 – 16.  A yellow card for Mike Brown as the full-back came out of a ruck to knock the ball from Leicester hands gave Goode another successful penalty kick.  But again it took very few moments for Jarvis to reply with a fine penalty from the left touchline. 24 – 19

A kick for Keogh to chase was carried over the Tiger’s line by the scrum-half, Murphy, gave Quins an attacking scrum but they were unable to take a score from the position. James Hayter replaced Tani Fuga.  The forwards continued to battle and Brown returned from the sin-bin without Leicester having gained on the scoreboard. With three minutes remaining another penalty opened a gap to 27 – 19.  Volley and Evans were replaced by Hala’Ufia and Spanghero.

Time was being run down as Jarvis missed an easy drop goal as Quins continued to press and then with seconds left, Jarvis had another difficult kick from the touchline securing the bonus point as the final score became 27 -  22.

Dean Richards was in reasonably jovial mood after the game saying there were huge positives to take from the game, particularly from the scrum and line-out. He agreed that they had missed a few kicks but added: "We missed a few opportunities in the first half, but we would have been happy with taking a point from Leicester at the start of the season. We came here with nothing to lose and came away with a point. We have to be happy with that and we might have had more if we had taken our chances. The boys have had a few disruptions with injuries in the last couple of weeks, but I have confidence in my players and they worked extremely hard."

Leicester: G Murphy; S Rabeni, D Hipkiss, D Gibson (S Vesty, 71), A Tuilagi; A Goode, F Murphy; M Holford (M Ayerza, 71), J Buckland (G Chuter, 40), J White, J Hamilton (L Deacon, 65), B Kay (capt), L Abraham (M Corry, 40), B Deacon, S Jennings.
Replacements: George Chuter, Marcos Ivan Ayerza, Louis Deacon, Martin Corry, Harry Ellis, Sam Vesty, Ollie Smith

Scorers: Tries: Seru Rabeni, Dan Hipkiss; Conversion: Andy Goode; Penalties: Andy Goode (5)

Harlequins: M Brown; D Strettle (T Williams, 46), H Luscombe (J Turner-Hall 42-51), M Deane (Turner-Hall, 51-75), S Keogh; A Jarvis, A Gomarsall (S So'oialo, 54); C Jones, T Fuga (J Hayter, 71), M Ross (R Nebbett, 78), O Kohn, J Evans (N Spanghero, 79), A Vos, N Easter, P Volley (capt; C Hala'Ufia, 79).
Replacements: James Hayter, Ricky Nebbett, Nicolas Spanghero, Chris Hala'ufia, Steve So'oialo, Jordan Turner-Hall, Tom Williams

Scorers: Try: Jordan Turner-Hall; Conversion: Adrian Jarvis; Penalties: Adrian Jarvis (5).
Yellow Card: Mike Brown (57 mins)

Referee: C White (Gloucestershire).

Attendance: 16,815