By Worried of Whitton
March 29 2004

A contentious title?....well maybe a little harsh, but it does reflect the result of a very disappointing afternoon’s work for Harlequins, and also reflects the tenacious antics of the Leicester No.7. In an all too familiar story Harlequins failed to capitalise on their excellent start.

It was a cold, steely grey afternoon with a whiff of dampness in the air,. It was cold enough to see ones’ breath but, the crowd of just over 7800 were warmed by a tense, exciting but very competitive match. With the lead swinging back and forth a number of times, the Quins players, staff and supporters alike were to be frustrated by the final result. This was a match that Quins had certainly targeted to take at four points from, and to maintain their push for an automatic ZP play off place. With Sale picking up five points from their win over Gloucester the previous evening Quins had been pushed down to seventh place, and so a win was to be even more vital to achieve that goal..

As the pre match tension built to the strains of “Kashmir”, the teams aptly ran out to “Two Tribes” through a seemingly endless tunnel of mini-rugby players that stretched right across the pitch. A final check by Tony Spreadbury of that famous (or is it infamous?) watch, and Jaco van der Westhuyzen kicked off for Leicester.

This immediately lead to five minutes of sustained pressure by Leicester who camped themselves in the Quins half. From the first line out there was some physical tension between Johnson and Evans, which did not go unnoticed from Mr Spreadbury’s watchful eye, and he had a quick word.

Robshew

 The ball was moved across field from a poor pass from Gibson was collected by a nervous Quin who fumbled the ball and knocked on. Quins, however did receive reward from soaking up this pressure when Monye collected the ball and began a run down the wing in front of the East Stand, it took a high tackle from Healey and a pack of three other Tigers to stop him. Penalty to Quins, which Dunne easily converted to points, with a slow spinning ball. Quins were 3-0 up after 6 minutes. Two minutes later Quins scored again after Dunne passed to Monye deep inside the Quins 22. Monye streaked off on a long curling run beating both Goode and Lloyd finishing up deep inside the Leicester 22. He was unable to reach the line before he was tackled by Healey but Willis was in support to collect the pass and cross over for a further five points and following the conversion Quins were 10-0 after 11 minutes.

Andy Hancock

Leicester began a fight back, with a Goode penalty cutting the deficit. Mid way through the first half, tension boiled over again, when Deacon infringed in the tackle and gave Quins a penalty. We then witnessed the sight of a diminutive looking Tony Spreadbury, as he reprimanded the Leicester back row of Deacon and Johnson, who at 6’ 6’’ towered above him! However, at the same time, he did miss an off the ball incident between Back and Willis, although the east stand crowd certainly didn’t! Dunne's penalty kick from this incident, missed and Mark Evans said later that this was where he felt Quins began to loose their grip on the game. From a potentially commanding lead of 13-3, Harlequins slipped to 10-6, with the ball hitting the cross bar before failing over, and then to 10-11 when Deacon scored a try following a scrum just five metres from the line. Goode missed the conversion. Quins regained the lead four minutes later following a successful Dunne Penalty 13-11, only for Tuilaigi to carve a line thorough the Quins defence for Leicester s second try. Where were the tackles? Goodes successful conversion gave Leicester a five point lead at half time.

Harlequins 13 - Leicester 18

As the half time whistle blew we wondered whether Quins had gone for the self destruct button, with their handling and tackling in some disarray.

A fired up Quins returned for the second half and began once more exerting pressure. Tamalolo cut loose and began a darting run, he dropped the ball in the tackle but quickly regained his composure and was able to kick the ball towards the wing in one movement. Keogh duly caught the ball and was off but his route was blocked by two defenders. Had he not run out of space to manoeuvre, he certainly would have been off for a certain touch down.

Eight minutes into the second half, another flare up occurred and the irreverent Deacon was ceremoniously defrocked by Tony Spreadbury when he was shown a yellow card for throwing a punch.

Andy Hancock

 With Leicester down to fourteen men, Dawson and Jones came on to replace Worsley and Gomez whilst Davison substituted Rudzki. Capitalising on their extra man advantage, Dunne’s quick pass to Deane from a scrum saw him charge diagonally cross field through the open Leicester defence to touch down for Quins second try. Dunne converted and Quins had regained a two point lead after just 12 minutes of second half play.

Leicester appear to be have been “gifted” their third try after Willis had knocked on in front to the referee From the resultant scrum Ellis pounced on the loose ball and passed out to Healey who ran in the five points for Leicester third try. Goode once more missed the conversion, leaving the door open for Quins, who continued to push forward and had their opportunities to score. Leicester, however seemed to be content with a three point margin and didn’t look like scoring again. This is reflected in the three bonus points they’ve picked up this year.

As the game moved to its final quarter, the tired old men of Leicester began to drop like flies looking for opportunities for a break, whilst injured players were attended to. Quins were anxious to get on with the game, sensing they could still achieve a result. Late in the match, after sustained pressure by Quins, Tiatia was taken off on a stretcher off, after picking up what appears to be a serious ankle injury, he was replaced by Sherriff.

Andy Hancock

Quins were awarded penalty, a successful kick would have earned at lest a draw, but Quins wanted the win and four points. A kick to touch gave Quins one final line out, some five metres out .Tani threw to Vos who quickly returned the ball to him, with the plan that Tani would run a try into the corner. Unfortunately Fuga’s foot crossed the line and the game was lost.

Final Score:Harlequins 20 - Leicester 23

Josh Tamalolo was my Quins Man of the Match today. He seem to be everywhere with some great tackles and constant probing of the Leicester defence. There was a high penalty count on both sides. Dunne's kicking record today was very good, despite that one critical miss, but he did have a much better day than Goode who missed a couple of penalties and two conversion attempts. Kicking out of hand was poor and with some poor handling Quins added pressure on themselves, which they could well have done without. I m still concerned by Duffy when he is under pressure, he lapses his concentration and slips into the “stunned rabbit in the headlight mode” enabling the opposition to capitalise.

Andy Hancock

The hatches in the press box were battened as a very frustrated Mark Evans and a very disappointed Mike Scott arrived for the press conference, and FRUSTRATION was the key word that was used regarding the performance this afternoon. It is very clear a place in next year's Heineken Cup is the goal for Evans and he would prefer to win this on merit by finishing fourth in the ZP rather than rely on winning the Parker Pen cup, which he sees as “icing on the cake”. The game today was important and targeted for a win. “with just four games to go there are four teams alongside Quins battling it out. If we finish the season strongly it will have been a good year and today would have been good to win, but that’s ifs buts and maybes … A win today was important and that is why I m frustrated because it would have put us in a strong position, to finish and not rely on the Parker Pen Cup”

Evans felt that the missed penalty at 10-3 was fairly crucial. Overall we lost confidence at key moments and at times the play didn’t gel. Evans added that Vos had made the right call at the end of the match to go for five points to win the game rather than a kick to level the score at 23 all. The prognosis on Ace was probably sprained ankle ligaments, he didn’t think it was broken but it was not good news.

In contrast a very buoyant Leicester John Wells eluded to the fact that this was to be his last week in charge but refused to answer any further enquires along those lines, suggesting that an announcement with regards to an appointment will be made next week ! He was happy with the win, but this was couched with the words “Leicester didn’t deserve to lose today”, whereas last week he said they deserved to win.

He felt that a number of decisions had not gone Leicester s way, and he thought that Deacon's sending off was “iffy” especially as Spreadbury had overlooked other infringements that occurred at the same time. Note to Mr Wells, two wrongs do not make a right.

Although there was criticism of the referee I think on balance he had a good game. I certainly thought he was the right man for the job, although the West Stand felt there was a touch of the “Lander” about him today. It is obvious with two passionate sides slogging it out, both desperately wanting a win that there will be some missed and incorrect calls

So four games left and the middle section of the table is very tight. Harlequins are down to seventh on the same points as London Irish who have won one more game than Quins. This sets us up for a “craicing match” in Reading next week. Evans reckoned that Harder had a 50 – 50 chance of being fit, next week. Burke is still recovering. With the returning players from International duties, Quins have the manpower to produce a strong finish, and overcome the frustration of today. It won t be easy.