Mike Schmid, Titans’ softly spoken head coach, didn’t try to hide in the post match press conference. “We knew it was going to be tough.” He went on to talk about his disappointment and deflected questions about how the injuries to players had hampered them. “Some individuals let us down badly, they won’t be on the team sheet next week.” He thought he had a good nucleus of players although I was given the impression that one or two World Cup call ups might have surprised them. I asked him about the three or four overlaps that they had had in the first half, one appeared to be three on one, yet no try had come from any of them. He said he was “… extremely dissatisfied with the execution and the speed of movement”. Earlier I had caught a quick word with Titan’s backs coach Mike Umaga, he was very frustrated and indicated with two fingers tapping the side of his head that his players had let themselves down.

Mark Evans, Quins’ head coach and smartly kitted out in his Eden Park suit, was not as euphoric as you might expect. Always keen to play events down he said about the performance “that it wasn’t that good as a team, but some individuals played very well.” He thought the game was killed off in the ten minutes before half time (when Quins scored twice). He praised Gavin Duffy on his debut, after a shaky start, emphasising what a good footballer he is. When questioned about what was different between last season and this, he said “a greater intensity had been brought to the side and a lack of injuries. At the moment we have only Bell, Karl and Josh out whereas last year at any one time we often had eight to twelve out”. He indicated that Ugo would still be released for the Sevens, thus causing him to miss three or four league games. Evs thought that was a price worth paying for his long term development.

This was always going to be a tough day for Titans. First home game, a big crowd expected, in front of Sky’s cameras they had to get everything right. They didn’t.

It’s always difficult writing a match report for a game that’s shown live (and then repeated, and I still haven’t seen it!) on TV. So I’m not going to dwell too much on the scoring facts.

The crowd was a very disappointing 3,300, a lot of work has to be done with the local community to rebuild a solid following. They will also need to look at facilities, only one outside bar available to fans, lucky it was a warm day! Limited places to get food and wheelchair access wasn’t that good either. Although the stewarding was very good, our allocated seats were well positioned and we received a very friendly welcome from the Titans’ fans.

Quins had a mixed game. In their own twenty two they have a formidable defence and are incredibly well organised. They have a back three comparable to any in the league, George Harder appears to have the ability to run through walls, so going around ex-Quin Jason Keyter wasn’t that difficult. Gavin Duffy will be pleased that his debut is now out of the way, at times he showed great awareness of position and players and the way he hit the line to set up a try for Ugo was simply brilliant. At other times he looked a trifle ponderous, perhaps he was still getting used to his playing colleagues. Ugo on the other wing now has confidence and a bit of bulk to go with his speed. He is a dramatically better player than he was at the end of last year, he’s still learning so he should get better and better.

There is clearly confidence and belief running through the team. There won’t be many games this year when both Andre Vos and Paul Burke get replaced well before the end. Andy Dunne looked very sharp when he came on for Burke and generally took his chances well. Paul Burke continues to play well, although he did miss touch again here and there. Mel Deane paired with Andy Reay punched holes in the Titans defence with an encouraging regularity. The pack competed well after a sticky start and slowly but surely got on top. Their collective ability to keep making tackles and then show patience before turning over the ball has been crucial to winning both their games so far.

One area that needs attention was the lineout. Whilst we disrupted many of theirs, helped by three on the trot being thrown to our man at the back, our own was a bit of a shambles, particularly in the first half. Whether it’s the throwing or lack of options I’m not sure, but clean ball was not won as many times as it should have been.

A mention must go to our bench. When we change the entire front row in the course of a game and Ceri Jones, Tani Fuga and Laurent Gomez enter as replacements, it means we have strength in depth. I think all of our bench would have made the Titans’ starting line up if they had been playing for the other side.

The scoring was as follows (Titans first): Lewis converted by Strange (either 30 secs or 3 mins depending on when the ball is touched down or when the try is given) 7-0; Burke pen 17min 7-3; Monye try 18min 7-8; Monye try 23min 7-13; Harder try Burke con 40+3 min 7-20; Tiatia try Burke con 7-27 40+5 min; Strange pen 10-27 40+7min Half time. Burke pen 57min 10-30; Johnson try 63min 15-30; Burke pen 67min 15-33; Dunne pen 73min 15-36; Monye try Dunne con 80+7 min 15-43. Final score 15 – 42 Quins 5 points.

(For the record Ugo Monye didn’t score a hat trick as they weren’t consecutive tries so he “merely” scored three tries!)

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