By PerryGo
April 13 2004

What?  Can this really be happening?  The doors locked at The Stoop an hour and a half before kick off, supporters desperately trying to get into the ground being turned away by sorrowful stewards?

Yes, it’s true.  But not because it was a sell-out.  Despite the fact kick-off was scheduled for 13.00, Quins decided not to open the ground until 11.30.  Moreover, they forgot to tell the supporters. 

But the greater shock was awaiting us once inside.  Due to Sunday licensing laws, the bars weren’t allowed to start serving until 12.00!  Woe upon woe.  Perhaps the 11.30 delayed entry was to try to avoid a mutiny…

Considering the fact it was Easter Sunday and an odd start time, the crowd seemed a respectable size, albeit rather more muted than we’re used to.  Perhaps we miss the MWTM (who one assumes was on holiday) more than we thought.  His replacement was less animated – and less visible.  Where was that man?

In any event, the crowd gave Quins a warm welcome, but your intrepid reporter’s attention was immediately drawn to the officials, as they strode out purposefully onto the field, particularly to their rather vivid shade of yellow shirts – which, some may be surprised to learn, is not the national colour of Italy. 

It was pleasing the officials made a good entrance, as it was about the most impressive thing they did all afternoon.

Although Quins went behind to a Mark McHugh penalty after only two minutes, they came back strongly right from the restart, putting together some good phases of play and recycling the ball well.  Already, George Harder was making his not inconsiderable presence felt with a couple of typically powerful runs, and Quins were rewarded with a penalty 30 metres out in centerfield, duly converted by Paul Burke for a score of 3-3.  By my reckoning, Connacht committed three clear infringements on the way to that, which the referee seemed pretty easy going about.

Soon after, Quins went into the lead with a Burke 22 metre drop goal after a strong rolling maul towards the line was collapsed by Connacht.  No doubt the referee was unsighted, as he scurried from one side of the maul to the other looking completely lost.  Even with just 10 minutes played, it was already clear that some of the senior Quins players were getting seriously frustrated by some of the Italian’s decisions.

Quins were completely dominating the match at this point and if a couple of deft chips over the defence into the opposition 22 had not bounced unkindly for first Monye and then Harder, they could well have had a couple of tries to show for it (and what a different complexion that would have put on the rest of the match – and the tie).  Putting in the little kicks over and grubbers through the defensive line was a move that worked well against what seemed quite a slow Connacht backline, particularly on the turn – a deliberate tactic, it seemed, but maybe it was just smart improvisation on the day. 

In any event, Quins got the reward their quality play deserved when Mel Deane went over for a try in the corner, a decision that was confirmed by the TV official.  We were already wondering if there was any way the whole game could be refereed from the video control booth.

Harder – who was eventually rewarded with MOTM – and Monye on the other wing were both looking like causing havoc every time they had possession.  How Mark Evans must wish he’d had his first-choice wing pairing available more often this season.  Harder attracted the attention of the referee on one occasion, after a crowd-pleasing Samoan big hit, for forgetting to use his arms in the tackle – a simple error - but he managed to escape more drastic punishment. 

Will Greenwood was also looking sharp and dangerous, making a couple of breaks through the Connacht backline.  He seems to have so much time and space with the ball in hand.     

Apart from two penalty kicks at goal by McHugh, the second of which was well wide, Connacht were hardly in the match in the first quarter.  In fact, by my reckoning they did not get into the Harlequins 22 at all until the match was 32 minutes old, with a kick that bounced out of play just inside the 22 for a Quins lineout.

Six minutes from the break, McHugh attempted his third kick at goal, this time bouncing off and outside the right upright, and the score remained 11-3 to Quins.  On the run of play this scoreline was disappointing and somewhat surprising, but although Quins could count themselves unlucky for at least two or three missed opportunities, that on another day could so easily have been tries, the fact remained that if Connacht had been on form with the boot, it could equally have been 11-9 at the break – or worse. 

With 37 minutes played, the referee decided Quins had illegally leaned on the jumper at the lineout – a decision which infuriated the crowd, who felt it should have been a Connacht knock-on – and this gave Eric Elwood his first shot at goal, which the veteran Irish fly half put well wide of the right hand post.

The last ten minutes of the half were definitely Connacht’s best passage of the match so far, and the visitors looked as if they were beginning to get their act together.  They were rewarded with a penalty in the Quins 22 near the touchline, when the touch judge decided Tani Fuga had entered a ruck from the side, and decided to go for a 5 metre lineout.  From the possession, Elwood broke through Burke’s attempted tackle but was brought down just short of the Quins’ line, knocking on to concede a scrum to Quins.  Unfortunately, Burke’s clearance failed to make touch, and when Connacht ran the ball back it took an excellent tackle from Monye to avert the danger. 

Yet again, though, Quins conceded a penalty at the breakdown – and the count was by now beginning to look seriously unbalanced (which, as Mark Evans remarked afterwards, was a bit strange when you think that Quins were enjoying most of the possession).  Again, Connacht decided to go for the lineout and this time they set up a driving maul (into which they committed what looked like most all of their team, in a style reminiscent of Quins of previous seasons), which ended with a try scored by open side flanker Matt Lacey.  Elwood’s successful conversion was the final play of the half and now somehow, despite almost completely dominating the match, Harlequins were leading by just a solitary point, 11-10.  A very disappointing end to the half.

Despite that, all the signs looking ahead to the second period were good.  Quins’ set pieces had worked well, and as well as winning all their own lineout ball, they had done a pretty good job of disrupting the opposition’s too.  Connacht had rarely threatened, and when they did the defence had been solid.  The half time tackle stats quoted by SKY were interesting – Quins had made 43 tackles to Connacht’s 28, with 5 tackles missed to Connacht’s 3.  You would almost have thought, watching the match, it might have been the other way around.    

However, that last minute score seemed to have given the visitors fresh confidence that they could come away with a result, and it was they who started the stronger, having a good first five minutes that Quins did well to survive and come back from. 

The string of bizarre refereeing decisions against Quins continued, often it seemed when Quins had good attacking opportunities.  In the first 10 minutes after the break, we had Connacht first going over and lying on the wrong side of the ball in a ruck, and then coming in at the side of a maul, neither of which were recognized, after which Keogh was penalized for a knock on caused by McHugh returning slowly ‘New Zealand style’ from an offside position and impeding him …

By now the crowd had taken to calling out the decisions themselves, in the hope that the referee might hear them and actually give some of them. 

However, all that was soon forgotten, with Quins putting together some excellent back play, recycling the ball across the field, and ending with George Harder picking a superb running line and proving too strong for the stretched Connacht defence, scoring under the posts.  Burke’s simple conversion made it now 18-10. 

The euphoria was once again short-lived, though, as yet another penalty was conceded two minutes later in the middle of the park, on the Quins 22, giving Elwood the chance to make it 18-13, which he duly did.

But as if to prove what an exciting and entertaining match we were watching, it was only another two minutes, with 14 minutes played, before Quins stretched their lead further and we wondered if the flood gates might break open.  Will Greenwood made a superb inside break, drawing the last defender before putting in an inch-perfect outside pass to Ugo Monye which enabled him to cross the line and touch the ball down in the corner despite the attentions of a Connacht tackler.   Burke missed the difficult touchline conversion, hooking it slightly, five metres or so wide of the posts, but it was now 23-13.

The yo-yo scoring looked set to continue.  Just a few minutes later, Quins’ defenders were again adjudged offside and penalized with a penalty in front of their posts.  It was pretty hard for mere spectators to know quite what any of the referee’s decisions were going to be, since Mr. De Santis was prone to waving his arm up and down at random while he scrambled around the pitch, as if he were directing traffic rather than signifying rugby decisions and indicating advantage.  In fact, a few of us were worried that one of the jets passing overhead on their way to Heathrow might mistake him for the man guiding the aircraft into their parking bays.

In any event, Elwood converted the opportunity and it was now 23-16.

Half way through the second period, we had the most bizarre of bizarre decisions, with Harlequins penalized on their 10 metre line, right in front of the posts, for not releasing the ball in the tackle, when not only had it clearly been released but illegally scooped back on the ground by a Connacht player.  Despite the screams of about 3,000 people in the crowd, the nearside touch judge took not a blind bit of notice, even though the referee was looking to him for guidance.  23-19.

At the restart, Worsley was replaced by Ceri Jones and Mel Deane - who had received attention a couple of times for a back injury - by Ben Willis.  This meant Quins had to rearrange the backline, with Harder coming in to centre and Keogh dropping to wing to make room for Willis at scrum half.  

From the restart, Quins were awarded a penalty thanks to Tony Diprose rather theatrically running into an opposing lock forward, claiming he was impeded, and the referee gave him the benefit of the doubt.  Not that there was any doubt, really, of course - Burke successfully made it 26-19.

With just 15 minutes to go, we saw a moment of magic from Harder, intercepting the ball and deftly slipping it to Greenwood one-handed to create another break similar to the one from which Monye scored, only this time Greenwood delayed the pass and then threw it into space behind him, where no-one was expecting to receive it, rather than to Monye who was poised on the wing.

As the end of the match approached, Connacht began to put together some phases of possession, one of which almost led to a try, thwarted under the Quins’ posts by Gavin Duffy, who got back on his feet so quickly after the tackle to fight for possession of the ball he was able to win the penalty against the Connacht player for holding on, when his support was slow in arriving. 

Burke kicked the penalty to touch, but, as had been the case throughout the afternoon, he failed to make good distance and he was striking the all far from convincingly.  Is there a case for having Duffy or Greenwood take the longer penalties to touch?  Burke seems in two minds as to whether he’s spiraling or kicking end over end.  Is he trying to be deliberately conservative by not risking the extra distance?  Perhaps so, since Quins ambitions from penalties are generally limited (how many ‘tap and goes’ have you seen this season?  Answers on a postage stamp…)  Whatever the reason, Burke’s touch kicks were unimpressive – he missed a couple, too – and the extra 10 metres or more that one would have hoped for from kickers at this level would be very useful to Quins.  I can’t think of any team at this level that is making so little ground on average from penalties to touch. 

With six minutes left on the clock, Harder took a crash ball from a Harlequins lineout in the Quins’ half and, according to the referee, failed to release the ball, giving Elwood another pot at goal from 30 metres out which he successfully converted to peg the score back to 26-22. 

However, a minute from the end of normal time, Quins extended their lead following a good passage of play that led to a Connacht sin-binning.  Although the yellow card seemed fair enough on its merits, coach Michael Bradley understandably remarked afterwards that it seemed slightly odd with such a one-sided penalty count in their favour Connacht should be the side to lose a player to the bin.

Quins decided to go for the 5 metre lineout rather than calling for a scrum, as we thought they might thanks to the sin binning relieving Connacht of some 20 stones of lock forward.  From the resulting possession, Greenwood went through the line from Burke’s pass for Quins fourth try of the afternoon.  Interestingly, it was one try each for Quins’ starting centres and wingers, which says something about the quality of the Quins’ back play on the day, as well as the pack’s dominance, and they could so easily have had a couple more. 

Burke surprisingly missed the conversion, which we immediately thought could prove costly in two weeks’ time.  31-22.

Three minutes into injury time, Quins had one last chance to put points on the board from a penalty in the opposition half.  They decided to again go for a lineout in the 22, predictably thrown to Diprose at the tail, from which Fuga ran around to take the pass and attack the line.  The ball was quickly recycled from Burke to Greenwood and a try seemed on, but the centre’s pass this time was poor and the chance was lost.  And that was the end of the match.

Interviewed after the game, Michael Bradley said he thought Quins were favourites going into the second leg, thanks to their nine-point margin, but as Mark Evans dryly observed ‘I’d be absolutely staggered if Michael Bradley said anything else!’ 

The final score manifestly failed to reflect Harlequins’ superiority in attack and defence.  To score four tries to one, not lose a lineout throughout the match (that I noticed) and have a solid scrum platform, and yet only win by nine points, is an indicator of the extent of the penalty count against the home side – 17 to 6 at one point, according to Evs, although it evened up a bit in the last five or ten minutes of the match.  Indeed, if it had not been for a couple of wayward Connacht kicks at goal in the first half, the final outcome could have been even closer.

But surely European Rugby has to think again about letting inexperienced Italian officials referee matches of this importance?  It will sound politically incorrect to say this (I can already hear cries of ‘give them a chance on the big stage’, ‘how else will they learn?’, etc.) but the refereeing standard was well short of what should be expected at this level.  That said, it’s up to Quins’ senior players to adapt to the referee on the day. 

Perhaps the Italians were supposed to be refereeing the youth matches that were starting straight after the end of the game.  Had there been a mix-up?  We shall never know…

All in all this was a very, very good Quins performance, undermined only by the failure to make more of the domination and finish off a couple more moves which would have usefully added to the slender lead of nine points.  That, plus the ridiculously high penalty count which, at the end of the day, has kept Connacht in with a shout of winning the tie that they probably did not deserve.

It will not be easy to win away in Galway against a side that has already beaten Pau, Beziers and Narbonne to get to the semi final stage –  in the latter two cases, winning away in France as well – but on today’s form Quins should go into the match firm favourites, and deservedly so.

NEC Harlequins
Mike Worsley (Ceri Jones ,61 mins), Tani Fuga, Jon Dawson, Simon Miall, Jim Evans (Bill Davison ,66 mins), Roy Winters , Andre Vos, Tony Diprose, Simon Keogh, Paul Burke, Ugo Monye, Mel Deane (Ben Willis ,61 mins), Will Greenwood, George Harder, Gavin Duffy.
Replacements
James Hayter, Laurent Gomez, Ceri Jones (Mike Worsley ,61 mins), Bill Davison (Jim Evans ,66 mins), Luke Sherriff, Ben Willis (Mel Deane ,61 mins), Andy Dunne

Connacht
Dan McFarland, Bernard Jackman, Adrian Clarke (Peter Bracken , 51 mins), Damien Browne (Mike McCarthy , 61 mins), Andrew Farley, Michael Swift, Matt Lacey, John O'Sullivan, Mike Walls (Conor O'Loughlin , 69 mins), Eric Elwood, Wayne Munn, Mark McHugh, Darren Yapp, Conor McPhillips, Matt Mostyn (Shane Moore , 81 mins).
Replacements
John Fogarty, Peter Bracken (Adrian Clarke , 51 mins), Mike McCarthy (Damien Browne , 61 mins), Paul Neville, Conor O'Loughlin (Mike Walls , 20 mins), Shane Moore (Matt Mostyn , 81 mins), Ted Robinson