New boy: Palepoi

It was as if the summer had not existed and despite one or two changes in personnel they played with great verve; they tackled and scrapped hard for every opportunity, exhibiting excellent handling skill and considerable élan in winning by 19 points to 57.

A stiff northerly wind was blowing a half-gale straight down the pitch and Quins started with the wind at their backs.. From the start Saracens kicked for touch and immediately Quins had a lineout on the 22 metre line. The ball was well caught and the resulting drive rolled over the line for the first try, by Luke Sherriff, inside the second minute. Jarvis converted and at 7 - 0 Quins were on the road to victory with a lead they never relinquished throughout the game.

Saracens came straight back at Quins and taking the ball into the Quins half, a superb run and outrageous dummy allowed fly-half Ben J. Russell to carve through the defence and his accurate pass put Nicky Little over for the try. The conversion was missed. 5 - 7 after 4 minutes.

But now the young Quins backs started to run with the ball, full of ambition. Excellent handling and astute retention of possession eventually brought reward when Henry Barratt's fine run put Mark Lambert over for the second try although the conversion was missed. 5 - 12 after only 12 minutes.

Saracens seemed largely devoid of inspiration and although they had considerable amounts of possession their attacks met the Quins defensive wall of fierce tacklers and foundered. When Quins had possession the combination of forwards and backs playing exciting rugby eventually found the way through when a fine run by Tom Williams brought another try which Jarvis converted for Quins to lead 5 - 19 at the end of the first quarter.

Eventually Saracens managed a score when Seymour entering the line at great pace broke through the Quins defence to scotre under the posts. Little duly converted and the score was 12 - 19. But those were to be Saracens last points until almost the end of the match. In between, Quins produced another six tries.

First, an interception led to an amazing wind-assisted clearance kick from Jarvis which sailed a full 70 metres downfield parallel to the touchline before finding touch just inside the corner flag. From the lineout Quins gained possession and another fine rolling maul produced the score for Ceri Jones, to which Jarvis added the extra points. 12 - 31. But in almost the last minute of the half another attacking lineout produced a score despite a poor throw. The ball was thrown long and overshot all in the lineout. Winters managed to recover the ball before the Saracens backs could react. The ball was passed quickly and accurately left for Henry Barratt to cross for the try in the corner. An excellent conversion from the touchline from Jarvis meant that the half-time score was 12 - 31.

The wind had not abated when the players took the field for the second half. One expected that Saracens might take advantage from the wind at their backs to increase the pressure on their opponents and begin to claw back some points. It just did not happen. Instead Quins attacked and with Jarvis spraying passes across his backs with great accuracy to find them taken and used effectively, eventually James Hayter finished the move with the first try of the second half. Again Jarvis converted. 12 - 38

Saracens continued to batter at the Quins' defence. But they faced committed, fierce tackling often in tandem and failed to penetrate the defensive wall. They seemed unable to make use of the wind and never threatened the Quins line. Then a sharp interception by Mike Brown left him with a 50 metre gallop for the next Quins try which Jarvis converted to bring the score to 12- 45 although the scoreboard failed to acknowledge the conversion.

Finally Saracens mounted a strong attack along the right wing and with the linesman flagging for a foot in touch before the ball was touched down, the referee, Geraint Ashton-Jones, overruled him and awarded the try. The conversion appeared to go clearly outside the posts but the flags were raised. 19 - 45

However, that was not the end as Quins managed another two tries in the last five minutes of the match. First Nick Easter crashed over from a maul just short of the Saracens line and finally Chris Cracknell touched down and Jarvis converted to bring the final score to 19 - 57

There was a smile on the face of Mark Evans at the end of the match, clearly satisfied at what he had seen. The running and handling and combining of forwards and backs was excellent and if their seniors had produced such skills at Twickenham, the result on Saturday would have been more favourable. Andre Vos called the display of the young Quins as 'awesome'.

Opeta Palepoi had an extended run out for his Quins debut and showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the lineout. Jarvis ran and passed superbly and was most ably supported by the other backs with fine performances from Williams, Barratt and Brown.

This was an excellent team performance which gives every prospect of Quins retaining the title won last year.

Teams:

Saracens XV: 15. Ben Johnston, 14. Andy Edwards, 13. Craig Wilson, 12. Nicky Little, 11. Simon Gibbs, 10. Ben J Russell, 9. Mosese Rauluni, 1. Nick Lloyd, 2. Andy Kyriacou, 3. Ben Broster, 4. Kris Chesney, 5. Don Barrell, 6. Tom Lawy, 7. David Seymour, 8. Ben Russell
Replacements: 16. Stuart Philpott, 17. Aston Croall, 18. Aaron Lifchak, 19. Stephon Armitage, 20. Joe Bedford, 21. Adam Powell
Scorers:
Tries: Little, Seymour, Lifchak
Conversions: Little (2)

NEC Harlequins XV: 15. Tom Williams, 14. Charlie Amesbury, 13. Henry Barratt, 12. Andy Reay, 11. Mike Brown, 10. Adrian Jarvis, 9. Duncan James, 1. Ceri Jones, 2. James Hayter, 3. Mark Lambert, 4. Opeta Palepoi, 5. Roy Winters, 6. Maama Molitika, 7. Luke Sherriff (Capt.), 8. Tom Guest
Replacements: 16. Marlow Warrington-Mattei, 17. Tom Muggridge, 18. James Inglis, 19. Gavin Hart, 20. Chris Cracknell, 21. Steven Jay, 22. Tosh Masson, 23. Nick Easter, 24. Jeremy Staunton
Scorers:
Tries: Sherriff, Jones, Hayter, Lambert, Williams, Barratt, Brown, Easter, Cracknell.
Conversions: Jarvis (6)

Referee: G. Ashton-Jones (RFU)

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