By Chris Chaplin
May 13 2004

Once again it’s Quins and Tigers head to head in a cup knock-out match and with Quins getting themselves something of a reputation of late as the “come back kids” and Tigers being hailed as the form team at the end of the season it’s all looking to be an exciting Saturday evening at Welford Road.
After last weekend’s fixtures at least the makeup of the Zurich Championship money making spree is set but while the other half of the now annual attempt to squeeze every last penny from supporters’ pockets is settled in format, whether the winners of the Wildcard semis proceed to Twickenham or whether the lucky losers go instead is far from being clear. What a way to organise a professional sport!

Quins once again came back from the dead last Saturday and very nearly stole the game from under Northampton Saints nautical noses but unlike the week before, when they overturned the newly uncrowned League Champions (I know! I know!)
, they didn’t quite manage it against Saints.

By all accounts the Saints pack had the nudge on Quins all afternoon the closing score somewhat flattering the bespangled visitors, although having said that in spite of lacking much quality possession the Londoners still outscored their opponents by three tries to two with one of those being a hotly disputed penalty try awarded by Mr Maybank who we can safely say will not getting a Christmas card from departing Saints coach Wayne Smith

In the end though it was the educated boot of Shane Drahm that saw Saints safely through to another ZP semi-final at The Causeway Stadium.

Speaking of The Causeway Stadium it was at that very venue last weekend that Tigers put in their best away performance against quality opposition for perhaps two or three seasons. Some Wasps supporters may say that their team had lost focus and had key players missing but the side that Wasps put out was still full of high quality players who were simply overwhelmed by a committed Tigers’ side who ran in six tries against the home sides’ solitary excursion over the Tigers’ whitewash and that when the visitors were reduced to fourteen men.

The Tigers’ tight five had another immense game and denied the Wasps back division any decent ball for long periods whereas the Tigers backs have rarely seen so much quality possession.

Six tries to just one against the best team in the second half of the season and fifth place in the league speaks volumes for the change that the new coaching set up has brought since it’s creation following Tigers last defeat in any competition way back in the dark days of Winter on a cold Friday night at Welford Road, when a disconsolate Tigers side, not that different in composition to the one that was so widely admired last weekend, sleep walked their way out of Europe. Who’d have thought at that nadir of the season Tigers would finish fifth in the league, one place higher than in 2002/3.

I guess that Mark Evans faced a similar conundrum as did Warren Gatland last week in that does he field his strongest possible team at Welford Road with the distinct possibility of losing anyway and risk injuries to his key players or instead husband his resources for the Parker Pen Final the following weekend safe in the knowledge that even if Tigers win the encounter this Saturday Quins have two further chances to qualify for Europe by beating Montferrand or if they fail to beat the French side by Wasps beating Toulouse. I think!!!

A far trickier piece of decision making than that facing John Wells and his team who know that other than by winning the Wildcard they will have to rely on other results to qualify for next seasons’ HEC thereby placing their fate into the hands of others.

I watched Quins’ comeback against Bath a week or so back and although much of what went on was due to Bath taking their foot of the gas the ferocity of Quins’ fight-back never gave the new Champions the chance to get back into contention.

What is clear and what both Bath and Saints found to their cost is that if a lead is established over Quins there is no room for complacency or the option of trying to sit on an advantage for if Quins are permitted free rein to attack they will inflict heavy punishment.

With Tani Fuga back from suspension the Samoan international gets some game time with his regular understudy, the injury prone James Hayter, sidelined with a broken rib. So the Quins will have plenty of experience on parade with Ceri Jones and Jon Dawson standing aside in favour of Mike Worsely and the Funbus himself, Jason Leonard.

This should be a real battle but the destructive scrummaging performances that we’ve see from Julian White and Darren Morris of late lead me to believe that the front row will be an area where Tigers will just have the edge come Saturday evening.

In the second row the Quins bag of tricks usually comprises ex Gloucester player Karl Rudzki, the talented young Simon Miall and Jim Evans with the vast experience of Bill Davison sticking the whole thing together. Mark Evans has mixed and matched these in terms of his starting line-up of late and this time the youth option of Miall and Davison get to start although I would have thought that Davison’s experience would have been seen as useful in the opening exchanges.

I think it will be a big ask for them to overcome a bang on form Johnno and Louis Deacon, who’s great form has continued to keep World Cup winner Ben Kay on the bench although he could well get a start this time around, so I expect to see Tigers dominate in the set piece although in broken play the impressive Miall may make his presence more strongly felt.

In the back row the full strength, high tar trio of Pat Sanderson, Tony Diprose and skipper, the inspirational Andre Vos, are as good a combination as there is in the Premiership and potentially the Londoners could gain an advantage here if the Tigers trio are not at their very best.

If, as was the case at Wasps last weekend, my expectation of a dominant performance from the Tigers’ tight five comes to pass then even players as talented and so richly possessed of foot-balling skills as is the Quins trio may struggle to overcome the in form Tigers.

Neil Back had an outstanding game against the Premierships’ hitherto form open side last Saturday and rendered Volley all but impotent, although to be fair the Wasps back row got little to play with. Martin Corry had another storming game with Will Johnson providing us with his best performance for a long time. Although my personal preference is for Corry at 8 it would be hard to gainsay a selection mirroring that of last weekend.

With the full strength Quins back-row starting it will be a close run thing in open play with Diprose especially being more like a centre than a back row forward in such circumstances but I’d expect the Tigers trio to prevail around the breakdown and tackle areas.

Behind the pack I thought that Scott Bemand had a good second half against Bath and the ex Moseley Scrum Half duly got another airing when he came on for Simon Keogh against Saints, a spot which he deservedly retains for the trip to Welford Road.

It will be a tough assignment for him to prevail over Ellis in the Welford Road favourites’ current rich vein of form especially if his tight five again come up with the goods as they consistently have since February.

Andy Dunne, yet another ex Leinster player signed by Quins last Summer, has had plenty of game time and from what I’ve seen of him is a far more creative fly-half than the soon to depart Paul Burke and I was a little surprised to see Burke preferred this time but I guess it’s hoped by the Quins management that he’ll have his kicking boots in top form and once again tip the scales in their favour – no creeping forward behind the refs back though and nicking the odd five metres or so you little rascal!

The Irishman will also now be facing the form number 10 of the second half of the season. Against Wasps Jaco was again hugely influential, although his kicking was below his best but if the Tigers pack exerts the sway I think it will the pressure put onto the Quins half backs by Tigers pairing and their back row colleagues should provide plenty of scope for our favourite Springbok to provide further opportunities for Tigers rejuvenated back division.

The silky skills of Will Greenwood are somewhat surprisingly to be put at risk ahead of the Montferrand game whereas I had expected to see young Chris Bell retain his starting position. The hugely talented Mel Deane will also be risked alongside Greenwood. These two are a fine centre pairing with the talented ex Sale player perfectly complimenting Greenwood’s style of play and this will be a major area of concern to me if they get any space to work in.

Tigers lost the powerful Daryl Gibson during the warm up at The Causeway Stadium but were blessed with a bravura performance from Ollie Smith who is supposedly carrying a niggling injury although he showed no signs of his power or acceleration being adversely affected against Abbott and Fraser Waters. If Gibson is fit then I’d expect him to start but otherwise either Ollie or Gelderbloom would make more than adequate replacements.

Leon Lloyd again relished the wide open spaces into which he was repeatedly put against Wasps and made some good moves in his own right but also showed some good skills in drawing his opponent before offloading, seemingly having overcome his penchant for going into contact with the attacking movement dying.

Against the likes of Greenwood and Deane I still have very real concerns as to Lloyd’s prospects of keeping them under control so I’d hope to see Ollie present in the number 13 jersey but that’s only a hope, not an expectation!

George Harder and Ugo Monye must be two of the best finishers in the Premiership and the perfect combination of styles with Harder’s pace and power complimented by Monye’s raw talent and exceptional speed. These two will be key in bringing Quins Parker Pen adventure to a satisfactory conclusion. However they are also exposed at Welford Road whereas surely the sensible option for Mark Evans would have been to move Keogh to one wing and use Moore on the other. Keogh is very quick and elusive and ex Sale winger Matt Moore has bags of experience, not all of it good his having been part of the 1998 England Squad who went down under and were duly buried!

The presence of Harder and Monye make it all the more important for their supply of ball to be curtailed and Lloyd could well find Harder cutting inside through the 12/13 channel if he’s not careful opening space for his colleague.

Geordan Murphy is certainly back to his best and it was good to see Oz showing his old predatory abilities last weekend so no change there but they have fearsome opposition and will need to be ready to tackle all afternoon if the pack do not win their battle.

Andy Goode had an outstanding game against Wasps with his confidence well and truly back as was shown when, the ball having fallen off it’s tee during a conversion attempt and with the kicking period being declared over by Rowden heralding a charge by the defenders, Goode calmly collected the ball and took the points via a drop kick instead – cool, very cool.

He looked very impressive in attack and showed great pace in out running the Wasps backs to score a try. It seems that Tigers have also worked out a back three defensive system that provides more options when the ball is kicked behind the Tigers full back so the worries here have abated somewhat but I expect to see Harder and Monye chasing some bombs from Burke so the system had better have been honed to perfection .

Yet another Irish import, this time from Connacht (we’ll have to start calling our opponents Quirish soon if this goes on!) Gavin Duffy has made the full back position pretty much his own and very useful he looks as well especially coming forward.

Even though the Quins head honcho has decided to field his first choice squad I still think that the Tigers pack will be too strong for the visitors and the visitors exciting backs will receive insufficient quality ball, as was the case in the first half against Bath and through most of their encounter at Franklins Gardens. Also the likely starting fifteen in the more important (for Quins) Cup Final in seven days time are bound to have their thoughts on that match, at least in part. Professional sportsmen for sure but human beings too and preoccupation would be natural regardless of how much the “we’re taking one game at a time” mantra is trotted out.

On balance though and given the recent performances by Tigers it’s hard to see anything other than a Tigers’ victory and a seasons’ treble over our friends from The Stoop with our fate thereby remaining in our own hands.