By KevT
October 25 2002

Harlequins take on the Bristol Shoguns at the Memorial Ground on Sunday (KO 3pm) in a game that is very important for both clubs. Bristol are sat firmly at the bottom of the League and a win would take them off the bottom. A win for Quins would move them into mid table away from the relegation area. Quins make two changes to the team that started against Caerphilly last Saturday. Alex Codling replaces Jim Evans. Will Greenwood plays his first game at Fly Half since junior days in place of Seb Fitzgerald and according to Mark Evans Quins Head Coach he was quite pleased to play there.

Mark said at the beginning of the season that his main aim was consistency. I asked him if he felt the team were getting more consistent. “I did until last weekend. Against London Irish, Sale and Newcastle, I thought we played okay in all of them. I was very disappointed with last weekend.”

Turning to Bristol Mark said “All of the Premiership clubs are good sides and have good players now. Bristol have good half backs , there’s also Archer and Darryl Gibson. I think Paul Johnstone is an underrated player. A lot of people have said that Bristol are too good to be at the bottom of the table and they’re probably right.”

“We’ve had a reasonably good week and worked on our defence. Bristol may be confident after home wins against Leicester and Montferrand but they are at the bottom of the table and I know how jittery you can get when you’re down there.”

In the corresponding match last year, Quins were beaten 43 –27. The game was in the balance after 43 minutes with the score at 17 – 15 when Bristol scored 4 unanswered tries and 26 points. Tries from Nick Greenstock (2), Keith Wood and a penalty try were not enough in a match where exciting England prospect Phil Christophers scored two tries.

Since that match Bristol have lost in the Zurich Premier final to Gloucester and seen head coach Dean Ryan leave to join Gloucester. His Assistant Peter Thorburn has replaced Ryan.

I asked Peter how important this game was. “We’re at the bottom of the table rightly or wrongly and therefore every game is important to us. We’ve picked a strong team and we’ve got a strong academy set-up. There’s a big jump between Academy Rugby and 1st XV and Dean Ryan did a great job with that. The young players have done well for us.”

I said to Peter that Gareth Archer had been playing well. “He’s been inspirational for us and he’s still only 27 years old.”

Turning to Quins Thorburn said “We spend a short time looking at the opposition, really we’ve got to impose our game on them. They’ve made an interesting team selection with Will Greenwood at Fly Half. He’s a great competitor.”

Bristol’s league position belies their ability. They have beaten Leeds and Leicester in the Premier League this season. Last weekend they defeated a strong Montferrand team at home in the Heineken Cup by 24 – 19. They have excellent half backs in Argentinian international duo scrum half Augustin Pichot and fly half Felipe Contepomi. At the beginning of the season they acquired All Black centre Daryl Gibson and have England International Wingers in David Rees and Phil Christophers. Quins supporters will not be surprised to learn that former Quins Full Back Jamie Williams is injured. Lee Best is on the bench and Shane Drahm will deputise.

Bristol have suffered injury and absence in their pack. Prop Julian White was suspended for ten weeks for headbutting Graham Rowntree and Hooker Neil McCarthy is a long term absentee with a knee injury. Ben Sturnham has also suffered a knee injury and will be out for another three weeks. Garath Archer has been playing very well at second row and captains their side and he seems to have cured some of his disciplinary problems.

This is a tough match for Quins as Bristol are starting to play some good rugby. Bristol have a great back line which will test Quins’ defence. Pichot, Contepomi and Gibson are class players. That said this is the ideal opportunity for the club to end their appalling run of away defeats in the league and register a victory which would take them out of the relegation zone. Bristol have a number of absences in the forwards and Quins should dominate up front. The clash between Archer and Codling should be interesting. A display like the one we saw against Newcastle should see a Quins victory but by less than a converted score.



Bristol Shoguns

15. Shane Drahm 14. David Rees 13. Andrew Higgins 12. Daryl Gibson 11. Phil Christophers
10. Felipe Contepomi 9. Agustin Pichot 1. Emiliano Bergamaschi 2. Paul Johnstone 3. Darren Crompton 4. Garath Archer (c) 5. Alex Brown 6. Craig Short 7. Michael Lipman 8. Rhys Oakley

Replacements:

Matt Styles, Saul Nelson, Chris Morgan, Chris Rowland, Matt Carrington, Lee Best, Peter Richards.


NEC Harlequins

15. Nathan Williams, 14. Matt Moore, 13. Viliame Satala, 12. Nick Greenstock, 11. Ben Gollings, 10. Will Greenwood, 9. Nick Duncombe, 1. Jason Leonard (Capt.), 2. Tani Fuga, 3. Laurent Gomez, 4. Bill Davison, 5. Alex Codling, 6. Ace Tiatia, 7. Luke Sherriff, 8. Tony Diprose

Replacements:

16. Bruce Starr, 17. Jim Evans, 18. Karl Rudzki, 19. Simon Miall, 20. Scott Bemand, 21. Seb Fitzgerald, 22. Rob Jewell