By Cornerball
November 18 2004

Back to murky old Stockport on a Friday after last week's visit to sunny Bath. Very different fortunes for the two teams involved: Cornerball takes time off from avoiding work to muse on possibilities.

Having soundly beaten London Sale 40-10 last Friday, Harlequins come up north to try their luck against the real thing. How can a Sale team shorn of international stars (England 5, France 1, Scotland 1, USA 1 plus injuries) compete with the resurgent Quins (losing Greenwood to England).

Harlequins have had a strange season so far. They have played poorly and lost. They have played well and still lost. Last week, they played brilliantly for 45 minutes and put Saracens to the sword. Former Shark Mel Deane started the carnage after 13 seconds and Quins recorded the fastest bonus point in ZP history.

Meanwhile Sale went down 27-13 at Bath, but the results do not tell the full story. Sale came back from 18-0 down to threaten Bath and the Sharks had chances to take at least something from the fixture. I don’t know if Saracens turned up late or if Quins sat back with the match won. Whatever happened, Saracens dominated much of the second half and Quins’ scrum started to creak.

I think the Quins squad is easier to predict and would expect:

1. Mike Worsley
2. Tani Fuga
3. Ceri Jones
4. Roy Winters
5. Simon Miall
6. Nick Easter
7. Andre Vos
8. Tony Diprose
9. Steven So’oialo
10. Jeremy Staunton
11. Simon Keogh
12. Mel Deane
13. Dafydd James
14. George Harper
15. Gavin Duffy


16. Jon Dawson (prop)
17. James Hayter (hooker)
18. Simon Maling (2^nd row)
19. Luke Sherriff (back row)
20. Andy Dunne (fly-half)
21. Ugo Monye (wing)
22. Tom Willams (full back/wing)

For Sale’s squad, Strinesian Saleanian’s musings are hard to beat:

1. Woodman(if fit) or Turner
2. Rodders
3. Stewart
4. Schofield
5. Day
6. Chabal
7. Lund
8. Anglesea
9. Martens
10. Hayward
11. Hanley (if fit) or Moore
12. Todd
13. CRJ
14. Mayor or Wiggy
15. Taumalolo (if fit) or Mayor


16. Bozzi or Halsall
17. Turner (if not starting) or Halsall
18. Perrett or Davies (or Carter?)
19. Caillet
20. Basil
21. Wiggy or Moore (whoever doesn't start)
22. Taumalolo (if not starting...but he must start, surely?) or Jos

If the sides turn out to be anything like this then they could be well matched. If Dougie isn’t fit then the Quins front row look to have an advantage, but Sea-Bass, Hutch and Big Red in the back row could do some real damage. Key areas will be Rodders, Schofield and Day in the lineout and how Hayward links with our back line (whatever it is).

Cornerball