By Clontarf
October 18 2011

Well that’s how Gary Kasparov responded when asked if he liked Anatoly Karpov, I guess Gary never heard of Irish and Quins. On this weekend perhaps one of Churchill’s many great quotations is more apposite. “The whole map of Europe has been changed …. but as the deluge subsides and the waters fall short we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again.”

There was nothing dreary about the Stoop on Saturday but, as the great powers of world rugby were slugging it out on the far side of the world, this opening shot in the often derided LV Cup was of more importance to some of us.

Alongside this rivalry with our neighbours there are also many great friendships with supporters of other clubs and so it was that Philip and I sat down with Roger and Pat Saunderson, who have been Quins members for longer than I've known them, in Casa Mia to fortify ourselves with pasta and wine for the afternoon ahead. We discussed the rivalry thing and also the fact that although the supporters never change sides, players, former players and members of the management teams have no such problem. After Quins start to this season the name Conor O'Shea is now uttered with hushed reverence by our colourful neighbours.

When I bought tickets for the game I decided to go for the full Quins experience and got seats in the second row of the appropriately named LV Stand. This would allow me to see and hear the Quins supporters as they promenaded up and down during the game, give easy access to the bar and buying cheap seats meant that I didn't contribute excessively to the opposition's over stuffed coffers. Unfortunately this wasn't an ideal position from which to write a match report particularly as the seats were on the try line in front of the south stand. In addition the Quins players were almost totally unknown to me as were many of our own so I'm indebted to Kieran Madigan's and Paddy Lennon's earlier reports for putting names to bodies. At some point in the first half the Irish subs ran in front of us but I could only identify 5 of the 8 players.

London Irish kicked off and although we put Quins under a little pressure from the kick off a knock on allowed them to clear and take play into the Irish half. After a couple of penalties in their favour and about 5 minutes pressure a break by Rory Clegg put Ben Urdapilleta through half way between the posts and touchline and Clegg added the conversation. 7 nil to Quins after 8 minutes.

After surviving further Quins pressure Irish came more into the game in the second quarter and had majority of possession for the remainder of the half. A penalty from Tom Homer after 19 minutes made the score 7 - 3. A longer range attempt faded wide from 50m before he got his second to narrow the score to 7 - 6 after about 35 minutes.

There was an injury to a Quins player after 25 minutes and I wish to let those who complain about the public address at the Madejski know that it is the purest, most perfect, hi-fi in comparison to the system at the Stoop. I found out after the game that the injured player was Chris York and he was replaced by Joe Trayfoot. All subsequent announcements were equally inaudible and this allied to the absence of a big screen made the reporter's job more difficult.

Although Irish had good possession during this period the threequarter line showed little penetration and my impression was of the ball being passed laterally along the line from side to side apart from one neat interchange which nearly put Topsy into space.

On a rare Quins visit into the Irish half in this period Clegg kicked his first penalty to make the score 10 - 6 and so it remained at half time although Clegg hit the post with a penalty on 40 minutes when Nick Kennedy was isolated in possession and penalised for not releasing.

Bryn Evans took the ball like a classy gaelic midfielder on the restart but Quins looked the brighter in the opening exchanges and Clegg increased the lead to 13 - 6 when Irish were penalised for not rolling away. Continued Quins pressure saw a great break by Urdapilleta but the chance was squandered when the ball was passed to touch.

When the teams were announced on Friday it was apparent that Quins were resting almost all their first team players whilst Irish had a more experienced line up and I came to the conclusion that Toby had decided to target the LV as a route to silverware. If that was the case, now was the time to bring on the big guns and so it was that two of our returning world cup players Joe Ansbro and Paulica Ion came on for Jonathan Spratt and Faan Rautenbach with Stephen Shingler replacing Adrian Jarvis. There was a perceptible increase in the tempo and urgency of the Irish effort and a penalty on half way allowed Tom Homer to narrow the lead to 4 points. A further penalty by Tom brought us to within a point but a great up and under by Quins saw an Irish player receive man and ball and from the resultant penalty Rory Clegg again stretched the lead to 4 points with approx 20 minutes remaining. The Irish pack took control at this point and play disappeared down to the far end of the pitch. It was obvious even from my low and distant vantage point that the Irish pack was in the ascendant and that they had taken on themselves the job of breaching the Quins defence.

Those who want a more specific and accurate description of the next 15 to twenty minutes can ignore the following few sentences. Play moved from left to right and back again as the Irish camped somewhere near the Quins line. The usual multiple substitutions occurred around this time and it was apparent that Dodge was playing on the left wing but I'm not sure why (I noticed from other reports that Joe Ansbro came off after 59 minutes and was replaced by Ross Samson which may have caused the change). Richard Thorpe, who was on for Alex Gray, made two characteristic bursts from the back of dominant scrums but was held up short of and over the line. Eventually Tom Sissi powered his way over with the assistance of the rest of the pack and Tom added the two points to put Irish in the lead with 5 minutes remaining.

The try had been a long time coming but with a dominant pack all that was required was to claim the restart and play out the game at the far end of the pitch. Unfortunately Irish butchered a regulation restart and from the resultant penalty Rory Clegg levelled the scores at 19 all.

Shingler's restart was high and spinning but was cleanly taken by Quins who went for all out attack to try to reclaim the lead they'd held for so long. After a number of phases they lost possession and Irish who were equally unwilling to settle for a draw attacked from inside their own half. As the Irish worked their way downfield an overambitious pass out of the tackle was snaffled by Quins who attacked down the right. Tom Homer made what appeared to be a try saving tackle on the winger Seb Stegmann but he passed superbly out the tackle to Ollie Lindsay-Hague who went in under the posts to give Rory Clegg his easiest kick of the day to finish the scoring at 26 - 19.

Despite the disappointing defeat and less than convincing performance Irish top their pool in this competition with the strange rules. From my worm's eye vantage point the players who caught the eye were those whose deeds were performed in open field - Max Lahiff was prominent as ball carrier and tackler, Bryn Evans looked classy and assured and he and Nick Kennedy looked good in the loose, it will be interesting to see how they complement one another against sterner opposition. Tom Homer was dependable as ever. The absence of a player in Chris Hala'ufia's mould was noticeable in the first half when we had good possession but failed to break the line and put them on the back foot. The threequarters looked tentative but I'm not sure they've played together before.

Quins were the younger and less experienced team but showed greater composure when it was needed and deserved their win. I'm keen to see how Irish bounce back against Falcons next weekend.