By KevT
January 21 2004

NEC Harlequins take on Montauban at The Stoop on Saturday (Kick off 3.00pm) in a match which is essentially a “dead rubber” after Quins’ excellent 43 – 8 victory in the first leg in France. Quins have taken the opportunity to make ten changes for the match. In the backs, Matt Moore comes in for Ugo Monye, Chris Bell replaces Will Greenwood at outside centre and Simon Keogh gets a well earned rest and is replaced by Scott Bemand.

The pack shows wholesale changes with Leonard, Fuga and Gomez being replaced by Mike Worsley, James Hayter and Jon Dawson. In the second row, Bill Davison and Jim Evans replace Roy Winters and Karl Rudzki. In the back row, Roy Winters moves to blind side flanker, Luke Sheriff captains the side and replaces Pat Sanderson and Tony Diprose returns to Number Eight. Quins’ options in giving some of the younger players a run out are limited by the fact that they can only register a limited number of players in this competition of whom ten have to be front row forwards.

Montauban have yet to announce their side but I have taken a view on selection. At loose head, Montauban have Philip Lacombre who is a former soldier and at the age of 32 has played over seventy times for Montauban. Lacombre was injured last week and Ben Bouhout played. He has played for Montauban over twenty times and has also had spells at Dax and Worcester. At hooker, Andre Gaubert played last week. He is a former French ‘A’ international . Montauban’s usual starting hooker is 22 year old David Roumieu may start and he could be joined in the front row by Argentinian prop Pablo Martinez who comes from Tucuman. In the second row, Russian international and captain 37 year old Serge Sergeev is something of a talisman and has played nearly 250 matches for Montauban. If he is not fit then 28 year old Cedric Bergez may play. Bergez has had spells at Bayonne, Stade Toulouse, Perpignan and Toulon. Yoganne Correa completes the second row. He has come from Grenoble. In the back row, Faycel Bouckanoucha, a Moroccan international plays blind side flanker. At open side, 24 year old Yohan Misse has joined from Castres. At number eight, Russian international Vlatcheslav Gratchev plays. He is originally from Siberia.

At scrum half the excellent Russian international Konstantin Ratchkov plays. He can play anywhere in the three quarters. At fly half Sebastien Fauque directs play and is adept at gaining excellent field position for his pack of forwards. At centre Montauban have former French 'A' international Jerome Sieurac at inside centre. At outside centre, Benoit Albert is likely to play, though Montauban went with winger Bastien Beyret last week. On the wing Montauban have the fifteen stone Cedric Bourcet on the left with sixteen stone Fijian international Ilaï Derenalagui on the right wing, although they didn’t play last week. At Full Back, former French international Pierre Bondouy may start if fit.

Normally I would concentrate much of the preview on the opposition but given that we played Montauban last week I thought it might be interesting to take a closer look at the Quins’ squad given where we are in the season and the fact that most of them will have played in these two fixtures

Despite ten changes being made to the Quins’ team, this is still a pretty strong and experienced selection. Seven of those changes have been made to the pack and reflect the strength in depth in the forwards of this current squad. The whole of the front row has been changed without a significant drop in quality. If you then add the in form Ceri Jones and Ace Tiatia to the front row mix, then this is a very strong area without calling on any academy players.

In the back row, Mark Evans can perm any one from Vos, Sanderson, Diprose, Tiatia, Winters and Sheriff. One of the pluses this season has been the emergence of Kai Horstmann at Number Eight. He is pushing Diprose hard for his place now.

In the second row, Winters and Rudzki did very well last week and Davison and Evans return to probably improve the mix. I still feel that his is the area where cover is the weakest, but with Simon Miall due back in March, this will improve the selection options greatly. Jim Evans has been immense in the line out and with ball in hand. The major problem this season has been that the line out has broken down occasionally.

In general, the forwards have performed well this season. When problems have occurred it has been when the line out has not been functioning well or when the opposition have been more aggressive than Quins in the tackle area which has disrupted our ball. There isn’t a stronger back row in the league and the options in the front row are excellent. The return of Simon Miall should bring more consistency to the line out.

Scrum half has been a problem position this season. I don’t think we have seen the best of Ben Willis so far, but the emergence of Simon Keogh has really improved the service to Fly Half. Scott Bemand has been playing well hence his selection ahead of Ben Willis this week. One of the dilemmas that will face Mark Evans is whether - given Ugo Monye’s absences with the England Sevens’ side - Keogh has more value at scrum half or as the team’s flyer on the wing.

There seems to be some real competition for Paul Burke at Fly Half from Andy Dunne and I’m looking forward to seeing a little bit more from Adrian Jarvis as the season progresses. Simon Keogh’s service seemed to add another dimension to Burkey’s game last week.

Centre was a problem position earlier in the season. The return from World Cup duty of Will Greenwood, the return from injury of Chris Bell and the return to form of Mel Deane have all helped Quins’ back play in the past few weeks. This is unfortunate for Andy Reay who has done nothing wrong when he has been asked to come in. Full Back Josh Taumalolo has seemed more suited to outside centre than Gavin Duffy when they are asked to move to this position. Academy players Henry Barratt and Tom Allen have also been racking up the points for the 2nd XV.

On the wing, Quins have looked less of an attacking force without George Harder who commits so many opposition defenders. Our backs have been a lot more dangerous following his return from injury. Ugo Monye seems to have come back from the England Sevens trip pre-Christmas with confidence renewed. Simon Keogh has been a revelation in place of Ugo. Mark Evans has expressed a preference of a flyer on one wing and a “big un” on the other. The flyer birth seems to be a choice between Monye, Keogh and Matt Moore with the “big un” being George Harder or Rob Jewell.

Gavin Duffy seems to have benefited from an extended run in the team and looks far more composed at Full Back. It appears that it has taken him time to adjust to the fact that there is a lot less space in this league. Josh Taumalolo’s injury was very unfortunate because he played well for the team in that position. I’ve seen Academy Player Tom Williams play a couple of times and he looks to be a very confident and quick Full Back.

The return of Greenwood and Harder have made a huge difference to the backs in recent weeks. The move to scrum half of Simon Keogh has produced some promising performances. The coaching of Paul Turner seems to have made a big difference to Paul Burke who seems to be more inventive and mixes his game up well now at Fly Half. Andy Dunne is also breathing down his neck which is probably an added incentive. In general, I feel more optimistic about the prospects for this team. The leadership of Andre Vos has been a major factor in a much improved team spirit and a more focused team performance. Every week Quins seem to be linked with one player or another. It may be we decide not to renew a few contracts and may strengthen the squad at second row, but I firmly believe that we now have the sort of squad, without too many additions, that can challenge for the title and can compete against the best in Europe.



15. Gavin Duffy; 14. George Harder; 13. Chris Bell; 12. Mel Deane, 11. Matt Moore; 10. Paul Burke; 9. Scott Bemand; 1. Mike Worsley; 2. James Hayter; Jon Dawson; 4. Bill Davison; 5. Jim Evans; 6. Roy Winters; 7. Luke Sherriff (Capt) 8. Tony Diprose

Replacements 16. Tani Fuga; 17. Ceri Jones; 18. Laurent Gomez; 19. Karl Rudzki; 20. Kai Horstmann; 21. Ben Willis; 22. Andy Dunne



Montauban (possible) : 15. Bondouy , 14. Derenalagui, 13. Beyret, 12. Sieurac , 11. Bourcet, 10. Fauque, 9. Ratchkov, 8. Gratchev , 7. Misse, 6. Boukanoucha, 5. Sergeev (cap), 4. Corréa , 3. Martinez , 2. Gaubert, 1. Ben Bouhout .