Special Effort Needed For A League


By AlanQuin
January 15 2006

The Guinness A League resumes tonight at Henley R.F.C with the postponed match against London Wasps A. starting at 7.30 p.m. Admission is £5. Head coach Andy Friend, speaking about the game on Saturday, promised that there would be a strong side in Quins’ colours.

Having lost three matches in the competition to date, Quins need a special effort to win their remaining five matches to win the Southern section and qualify for their second final in the competition.  Their most likely opponents would be Leicester or Northampton, the latter being the team beaten by Quins in the final in April 2004.

The second team players have been short of game time, the last of their matches being the friendly against Northern Suburbs from Sydney NSW at the beginning of December.  Now they will again have the opportunity to jog the thoughts of Dean Richards and his coaches with a view to taking their chance along side the other former A team regulars who now feature in the first team.  The Saturday bench, too, will have a chance of a more extended game time.

On paper this should be a relatively easy win for Quins.  The home fixture in September Last was won by 32 – 13 with Simon Keogh scoring two good tries while  former Quin Jeremy Staunton, playing for Wasps had a nightmare with the boot as he missed a number of penalty kicks.

The relative league positions, too, reflect that view.  The current table is

Team P W D L F A BP P
Gloucester United 7 5 0 2 243 122 4 24
Saracens 7 4 0 3 158 115 4 20
London Irish 7 4 0 3 167 203 4 20
NEC Harlequins 6 3 0 3 193 117 6 18
Bath United 8 3 0 4 154 220 4 16
Bristol United 7 3 0 4 115 219 1 13
London Wasps 6 2 0 4 167 201 3 11

A good win with a bonus point will put Quins second only to Gloucester who they will play on 10th April at The Stoop in what could be a semi-final of the league.  There are still fixtures against Bristol and Bath, both away, and London Irish and Saracens at home to be played.

Directions to Henley:  Dry Leas Marlow Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, RG9 2JA. Marlow Road is the A 4155 – the Henley to Marlow road.   Enter Henley by A 4130 over the R. Thames and go 0.£ miles to traffic light in Town Centre.  Turn rightand continue to second mini-roundabout and take the right fork. Ground 200 yards on left.

£3.00 Car Parking. Gates Open 6.00pm. Hot and Cold Food,  BBQ and Bars available.

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