By Nigel_B
November 18 2002

Sunday afternoon at the Stoop saw a totally awesome Quins team defeat a very good Wasps team. Every player wearing the famous Quins shirt played their part in securing the fourth consecutive victory at home.

The match had many memorable moments, for me, the most memorable was seeing “Frodo” Gollings stop Dallaglio in his tracks, a totally amazing feat!

The afternoon was bright and the ground looked in good shape for the match although the greasiness of the pitch was not immediately evident. The sell out crowd were looking forward to the match and welcomed Howley and his Wasps team mates when they took the pitch. However, the yell that greeted Quins when Andre Vos lead them out was spine tingling. Rob Jewel who had not started a first XV match this season clearly had pure adrenalin running through his veins he was so eager to get on the pitch!

The match started and Wasps immediately started attacking the Quins line and you could sense some crowd trepidation slightly exacerbated with losing Nick Duncombe after the first minute. A few minutes later and King slotted away a penalty for Wasps to go ahead 3-0.

The passage of play over the next five minutes seemed to set the whole match. Territorial kicking by Nathan Williams, Gollings and Burke kept Wasps pinned down in their half and when Wasps infringed Burke was on hand to slot away the kicks.

Line out ball a major influence and Codling’s contribution to the first try was immense, quick ball back out to Nick Greenstock allowing him to jink through the Wasps defence for Quins first try. Thereafter Wasps lineout always looked fallible.

fallible.....(pic: kwin)

The next passage of play demonstrated how totally awesome the Quins back row are. Tiatia, Diprose and Vos put in some outstanding (some try saving well done you Ace!!) tackles. My feeling was that although Andre did not lead the tackle count his presence was everywhere. I do believe Quins have finally found someone to take over David Wilson’s mantle.

Loose play was dominated by the forwards with some lovely interchanges between Davison and Codling. The front row of Gomez, Fuga and Starr rucked incredibly well.

I thought the sin binning of Bemand was harsh although have to accept that Tani’s was probable appropriate. The quality of the Quins team really showed its depth during these two passages of play when they were down to 14 players. Wonderful to have the Ace and Frodo step in to cover.

Burke’s drop goal when there was very little on pushed it to 16-3. The rest of the first half saw Wasps begin to fight back encouraged by LBND from the touchline when he and the other Wasps subs seemed to take the opportunity to warm up when there was a Wasps line out.

pic: kwin

The second half continued to be “edge of the seat” rugby with Alex King bringing down the margin to one converted try (16-9) before Paul Burke was able to slot another penalty and build another two score cushion. At this time Quins defence of Jewel Greenstock, Gollings, Moore and Williams really looked very solid. The only time it was suspect was when Greening ran over to score his try which made it 19-14, again another Burke pen and once again a two score cushion. After this sustained pressure from the Quins kept Wasps pinned back, but the real party started for the Quins supporters when Paul Burke charged down and touched down 27-14.

It is hoped that the injuries sustained yesterday to Duncombe and Greenstock do not keep them out of action for too long. For a short while it means the selection for the centres is a little bit easier.

After the match the players were appreciative of the supporters and you could see their delight. Evs was ever so humble. “This is about re-invention and we are getting there, it has taken some three years but we are now getting it right”. During the post match TV interview he added the result was small steps in the right direction and ended with the cliché “one game at a time”.

Yes Mark, one game at a time – but supporters will now expect a performance like that every time. Me I cannot wait for the next home match against Saracens, before then, however, next Saturday’s match against the Saints will hopefully allow the team to win their first ZP away match for over a year.