By Worried of Whitton
October 19 2003

The eagerly awaited first day of the Zurich Premiership season finally arrived. It was a very warm, late summer’s day and a strong air of anticipation filled the Stoop. The first match was a “West London Derby” against Wycombe Wasps.

Just how was the new team going to perform? had the new signings settled in after there summer warm up matches? would we be lamenting the departure of past players?   We need not have worried, as the future was bright, the future was multicoloured. And by the end of the afternoon we had a new hero whose name who was on everyone’s lips. Taking centre spot in the 2003/4 Squad photo, his own profile in the match day magazine and much attention from Jonathan Pearce, on Radio 5 Live. Just how did an oversized Cuddly Toy muscle his way through our entire team in to the hearts of the Mighty Quins? …. oh sorry wrong story line….

It was Ugo Monye a graduate from our very own “Fame Academy”, who got Harlequins season off to a flying start.

Ugo Monye started this seasons campaign where he left off in his Premiership debut up at Adams Park back in May. This time Ugo was allowed to slice his way through the Wasps defence to score two tries.

Ugo slices through da fence (Alanquin)

This was a match where history repeated itself; in May Quins came back from 10 points down, with a Monye try just before half time. In September it was from 13 points down just when it looked as if Wasps were to run away with the game. In an inspired spell, well into first half injury time, Quins began the fight back. For his first try Monye collected a speculative kick up field from Burke and ran through to touch down in the corner. Late in the second half, when Wasps were edging back, Monye scored his second from a beautifully floated pass from Reay in an attack that was started by Burke's kick and gather. This try sealed the victory for Quins.

Week 2 of the Premiership saw Quins up at Rotherham for some more Monye mayhem when he ran in three more tries at lightning speed in Quins 43 –15 victory up at Millmore.  His third try was from a well worked ball from Reay who passed out to Dunne who set Monye scorching down the pitch with ex Quin, Keyter in hot pursuit , but he could not be caught. In scoring three tries Ugo secured a £2,500.00 pay out by Zurich that was shared between five rugby charities.

London Irish the following week had done their homework, and Monye’s wings were effectively clipped. Pitted against Sackey, Monye did well but the only darting run he made all afternoon was cross-field, not down it and under pressure there were a number of handling errors. Not such an impressive day at the office, but five tries in three matches is an amazing performance especially when compared to the try drought we suffered at the start of the season last year. There is certainly a lot more to come from Ugo. We all know he is very fast but he is strong too and he can defend when he has to. After three games do not appear to be missing either Luger or Gollings.

Although not winning a CAW Man of the Match Monye did record two, second places with 16% of the vote for the Wasps match and 34% of the vote at Rotherham. He finished the month as top try scorer in the Zurich Premiership with five tries Ugo has certainly grabbed the lime light in September, ably assisted by Sky and their televised coverage of our first two matches, together with a lot of press coverage.

Paul Burke was CAW man of the match against Wasps, and a close second to Vos in the match against London Irish. It is very clear that he has greatly benefited from his time training with the Irish World Cup Squad during the summer, and has started the campaign much sharper than in previous years. Against Wasps, he had a shaky start by missing his first penalty but he more than made up for this by scoring 18 of the 33 points in that win., and he also contributed to both of Monye’s tries. At Rotherham, Burkes kicking was a little below par as he missed two of the four conversions on offer but the three penalties went over easily. With the match at won it allowed Evans to substitute with Dunne and it was good to see that he is a effective replacement for Burke should that World Cup call be made.

Against London Irish, Burke put in 100% performance of goal kicking that won us the match.

For the third time this season Quins were behind from the start and had to defend immediately as the opposition seized the initiative. With Quins looking unable to score a try in open play it became clear in the second half that we had to rely on the boot of Burke, and his penalty kicks. Burke finished the month with an 83% success rate in his kicking 15 from 18. Paul Burke is on standby as a front line reserve for the Irish World Cup squad, and having played in the 1995 World Cup, Burke admits part of him would be bitterly disappointed not to experience the thrill of the tournament just one more time. “It is disappointing not to be in Australia at the moment, but I'm also pleased still to be here. I've only been on the fringes of the international scene for the last couple of years, so it did not come as a great shock to me when I wasn't included in the initial Ireland squad.” It is very gratifying to see that he is fully committed to Harlequins as his precision boot and all-round playmaking skills have been a big factor in Quins magnificent start to the season..

Burke's Precision Boot (Pic: AH)

Burke has been quoted "If I do get to go out there it will be a great honour. But, if not, then it's clearly not meant to be and there is a job to be done at Harlequins too. Getting as many points under our belts while the World Cup is on will set us up for the second half of the season” and as Mark Evans confirmed “he is a great goal kicker, world class”

Ace Tiatia CAW and Sky Man of the Match against Rotherham, has experienced the highs and lows of club rugby in just three games. Contentious, maybe, but playing performance means he has to be nominated for player of the month in this review.   Whilst not condoning dangerous play it has to be pointed out that he has only been suspended once in the two years he has played at Quins, and that was he found innocent of previous citings. Ironically, Radio Sheffield in their commentary from Rotherham, described Tiatia as. “at 6’2” and 19 stone, Tiatia is a huge man, the like of which could be found on any club door in England tonight.”

Binned against Wasps, he bounced back and had an excellent match against Rotherham but now has been cited after the match v London Irish, following an alleged dangerous tackle on former Quins centre Greenstock.

Against Wasps Ace was superb and playing with his customary aggression and drive, but his temper was his undoing when emerging from the edge of a ruck in an angry mood he took a swing at one of the Wasps players, and he received a yellow card for his trouble. Quins conceded nine points through penalties in the ten minutes he was off the pitch and we were lucky  indeed for Wasps to have a try disallowed by the video referee. Had this try been given the result would have put the match out of our reach.. Once Ace was back the tide began to turn against Wasps, with the whole team playing their way back into the match.

Rotherham saw a different side of Tiatia who was awarded the Sky Man of the Match and also took the CAW vote over Monye. Ace scored the try that gave us the bonus point, after Harder had made all the running down the wing, Ace was their to collect the ball and put down for 5 points. His try effectively put the game beyond Rotherham.

As we are all aware Tiatia has been cited after clearing a player from the ruck, after constant infringements from London Irish. Whether he went to far is for the citing commissioner to decide although on the day the referee did not award him a yellow card. By the time this report is published we will know the result. Ace certainly provokes debate whenever he plays!

Provokes Debate (Pic: Binky)

Andre Vos CAW Man of the Match against London Irish with nearly 50% of the vote. Captain Fantastic has been awesome with his commitment, leadership and performance. In this match the Quins defence were on the back foot from the start. They were made to work very hard for this win and Vos made them graft for every inch of space to close down the Irish attack that came in wave after wave. Quins were pinned down deep inside their own territory for the first quarter of the game. Teams sometimes have to dig deep to overcome the opposition, which until now had been beyond the ability of Harlequins but, under Vos, not any more. Last year we would have lost this match. Mark Evans commented afterwards: “Vos was outstanding he must have nicked five or six absolutely crucial pieces of ball on the ground near our goal line. He has been sick all week with a chest complaint, but if that’s him ill, I’d like to have another one like that.”

Ill Man Playing... (pic AH)

Post match we are concerned that he may have picked up an RSI (repetitive strain injury) after all those autographs he signed after the London Irish match!

His presence in the opening match against Wasps was also phenomenal leading, as ever by example, and rallying the team to pull back the deficit. How South Africa deemed Vos to be not good enough is incredulous and their loss is certainly Harlequins gain throughout the World Cup, and beyond. He truly is a great leader.

Until, September 27th Simon Miall had an excellent year. Shining in the early part of the year against Natal Sharks and London Irish, down at Reading, he picked up a couple of man of the Match awards. He worked hard to become the natural successor for Codling,

Natural Successor to Codling (Pic Haribos)

Miall has become a much loved and respected member of the team. However, his picking up a freak injury by rupturing knee ligaments in a line out has taken the shine off the brilliant start to our season. With no disrepect to Evans, who has replaced him, the absence of Simon Miall could be detrimental to Quins in the coming months as we are somewhat exposed at lock. Miall is one of those players that instinctively knows what to do, but you forget he is there, until he suddenly pops up in the line out. “He adds so much around the park, in the tackle area and at the line out”  (Kev T)

Miall held his mettle against a frustrated Simon Shaw of Wasps as his season kicked off., In a pre match interview with Kev, Miall said “It will be interesting for me because I will be playing directly against him but I hope I can compete well on Saturday. You always want to measure yourself (and others measure you) against how you perform against the best players.”

Although he missed out on the Sky s Man of The Match against Wasps to Sanderson, on the CAW poll Miall collected a creditabble 15% of the vote, and again in the match against Rotherham.

It was good to hear that the operation on the injury had gone well and we all wish you a full speedy recovery back to full fitness.

Andy Reay took to the field as centre in the opening match against Wasps. Standing in for the injured Chris Bell, he had an amazing game. In defence his presence was everywhere like a terrier, sniffing out the ball. Reay, is another product of the academy and like Monye is still only 20 years old. They both have great potential. He made a spectacular start to the season and his contributions in the first two games were enormous. This is also great credit to the academy producing players who when required can step up into Premiership games, covering for those injured or unavailable.

Great Potential (Pic Haribos)

Reay is a player to watch out for in the future and based on his performance I certainly would have put him as one of the contenders for MotM against Wasps. As Kwin reported, in the second half of the match “ Wasps started strongly but our defence was holding them back when suddenly, out of nowhere, Reay received the ball inside his own 22 and broke through with Ugo on his shoulder. We all assumed that Reay had just two options - hoof it up the pitch for Ugo to chase, or just offload it to him, but he did neither and made 60m on his own as the wing covered Ugo and the Wasps defence dithered. Eventually he was caught and passed too late to Ugo who was also caught. But with Diprose and Dunne to tidy up Dunne went over to score.” From 6-19 down in the first half, Quins had come back to 23-19. I was disappointed not to see him start against Irish, his position taken by the returning Taumalolo, but he did also have a good game with Second XV’s thumping of Bath at the end of the month.

George Harder just keeps on going irrespective of how many people are hanging of him. “Harder impressed me right from the start in his attacking play - amazing how he can make seven metres with five attackers hanging from his shoulders” (Kwin)

He is a versatile player too, as he is more than capable of covering the Wing and Centre positions. His strong attacking play against Wasps, when he teamed up in the middle with Reay was very impressive and the following week against Rotherham he showed just what he could do on the wing , scoring our third try after a blistering run. Harder by name, even harder by nature, , no wonder Leeds fans were sorry to see him leave Headingley.

Harder by name... (kwin)

 He is living up to his billing as signing of the season, despite missing out against Irish following an injury to his knee ligaments, at Rotherham. We expect him back by end of October. In the pre season warm up games and in attack against Wasps he was excellent making break after break, one of these ultimately lead to one of Monye’s tries .

 

Overall this was the best start to the season we could have had, albeit tarnished with Miall’s freak injury. Despite some room for improvement, NEC Harlequins finished with three wins out of three, are sitting on top of the Zurich Premiership. The shrewd summer signings from Ireland have fitted in well and are growing in confidence match by match, and there is a great deal of potential in them to come.  Dunne’s try against Wasps was our best so far this season, and Willis is growing in his scrum half position. Duffy and Keogh also look exciting, in their matches for the Second XV.

What makes the 2003/04 squad stand out is not only have we signed to cover World Cup duties, but there is a flexibility in a number of our players, with a “mix and match” format which is inspired. Harder is equally at home on the wing or at centre, Duffy and Taumalolo at fullback or centre, and Keogh scrum half or wing. This is in addition to the tried and tested Tiatia at hooker or back row and of course Leonard as prop or wing!  In addition we have TWO first class front rows who can be swapped out wholesale or in part to provide a fresh impetus and fresh pairs of legs to revitalise a game.

Here’s looking forward to an exciting October on the pitch, and staying top!

Nominations for CAW September Player of the Month are:

Paul Burke
Simon Miall
Ugo Monye
Andy Reay
Ace Tiatia
Andre Vos

A difficult choice, but on balance my vote would go to Andy Reay.

kwin adds:

The results of the poll were

Question: CAW Player of the Month September (see front page)

Paul Burke 17% Simon Miall 11% Ugo Monye 17% Andy Reay 13% Ace Tiatia 9% Andre Vos 32%

And the player of the month for Sept 03 is  Andre Vos.