By Worried of Whitton
September 22 2006

This weekend sees Quins at home to Leicester.  Kick off at The Stoop on Saturday September 23rd is at the rather obscure time of 18.15 - a quarter past six. The match is scheduled to be televised, and as such Sky have deemed that the match is played after their coverage of the Ryder Cup in Ireland.

In accepting the Murdoch shilling the timings of matches are now subject to the whim of the tv company, without any thought to the affect that it has on the supporters, especially those who like to travel to away matches The prospect of travelling to an evening match will deter many, purely because of the lateness of the return journey. Yes they can watch it on television if they have access to Sky, but that is not the issue, whilst this may favour the home side, a great deal of the atmosphere is inevitably lost, especially given the significance of this match, with Dean Richards up against his old club, and the motivation to send them home with their stripped tails between their legs. With three channels to choose from it is difficult to understand why this match could not have kicked off at the proper time of 3.00pm on Saturday afternoon. Still that is the way things appear to be going with the likes of Worcester and Newcastle who actively and cynically appear to be pursuing Friday night matches to significantly reduce the amount of travelling support, in order to increase their home advantage.

This weekend sees a few changes. Saturday is the Autumn Equinox the day that simmer officially changes to autumn. There are also some major changes in the WoW household this weekend, with my fiftieth birthday, and my son leave to student life at Cardiff University….  I did explain that they don t play rugby in Wales ;o) in one our “father and son” chats, but I think the lure of the World Cup Matches in Cardiff next year played a part. On a more serious note perhaps the greatest change needed this weekend is in the performance and discipline of Harlequins on the pitch down at The Stoop. Three games and three losses is worrying and I m beginning to wonder just where that first win is going to come from, particularly with the injury problems too. Whilst we all knew this would be a tough return to the Premiership and that it doesn’t get any easier against Leicester.

However it is the nature of these losses that is cause for concern, especially as they have all been self inflicted. Game 1 against London Irish, we handed them their win on a plate. With Flutey missing a penalty in the final minutes, keeping Quins ahead, so instead of pushing play deep down into the Irish half and pinning the opposition down, Quins saw fit to give away another penalty and gifted wrapped it by infringing right in front of the post. Game 2 against Gloucester,  Quins were in charge at half time, with a ten point lead, however, they did not turn up for the second half and allowed Gloucester to cruise through their defence time and again, with twenty unanswered points. When Quins woke up it was too late and whilst they kept play down deep in the Gloucester half towards the end of the match and we able to snatch a try, they squandered the chance of a precious loosing bonus point, by failing to kick their penalty or indeed kick a dropped goal. Game 3 against Wasps, a demoralizing defeat 42-23, This is hardly surprising with Quins playing 30 minutes of the match with just 14 men. In the against Gloucester last year with 14 players they were missing just one man for the match, against Wasps however, three separate players, Vos, Volley and Luscombe, all made the long walk back to the bench after being banished by the yellow card. Thus their game plan fell apart. Predictably it was against fourteen men that Wasps were able to score three of their five tries, and I understand that the rout could have been even greater had Wasps not had an off day however without the gift of those three tries it shows that the result would have been much closer Indiscipline certainly cost us this match too.

So after three matches we have just one point, a lot more discipline, not giving away penalties and tackles made, that should have been made it is very likely that would have resulted in at least five or six more points than we currently have. The resource is their, the potential is there but it needs to gel and work together as a team. After their defeat at Wasps Dean Richards said "I'm not that concerned because I still have huge faith in my side. There are a lot of sides who have come here (Adams Park) and been beaten, and we're another one who has come here and been beaten quite comfortably. The disappointing thing for me was how we were beaten - three yellow cards was not particularly good and they scored three or four tries in that period.  He added “It goes to show that discipline is of paramount importance." Let hope that the team learn from this before it is too late.

Leicester themselves have had a frustrating start to their season. Currently in seventh place, Leicester started with an emphatic win over last year’s champions Sale. The following week, they themselves were blown apart by a resurgent Bath, and last week they were kept in check by Gloucester and the match was drawn at 27 each, after a late dropped goal attempt by Paul Burke drifted wide. While Leicester may appear to be off the pace so far, they should not be dismissed. Not the Leicester of old, there are gaps in their play to be exploited but they are still hungry and wily and will be looking to get their season back on track against a distinctly off colour Harlequins. Leicester fans believe that the choice of referee in Chris White will adversely affect there chances of a win, if White doesn't let us scrummage it'll have a big effect on our chances.”

Whatever Richards has said this week, I m sure he would relish a win over Leicester and I guess he has been feeding the team raw meat all week. He has, however sought to tone down the media hype over this being his first match against his old club Leicester, whilst it will be the first Premiership match, Quins did meet Leicester back in May at the “A league final” so as he said “ We’re over it.. this is just one more game.” More concerning is his tone which does not sound very positive, “The win will probably be the most important thing about the day should we get it. It doesn’t matter to me against whom that first league win comes.” Commenting on this week’s clash he added that he “believed the squad would cope with the loss” but with Mehrtens and Strettle still out he has hinted at looking for fresh faces. “We are looking for cover, but no significant progress has been made” . That said it is expected that Will Skinner another Leicester old boy, will start this weekend and that Hula’ufia will also retain his place in the starting line up, based on his performance last week. This is a difficult call as the No 8 should be Easters’ shirt.

After such a poor start to the season caused to the greater extent by out own doing it is difficult to be very positive about outcome of thus weeks match. Worried of Whitton is once more becoming increasingly worried and indeed frustrated, by the results so far. A long hard season has now appeared on the horizon we all must hope that it is not coupled with a winter of discontent. One thing is for certain the team will need our support behind them tomorrow, let us make it loud as the nation will be watching.

On reaching the grand age of 50 today I shall still be celebrating on Saturday whatever but I hope that I do not wake up on Sunday morning with Morrissey’s words in my head  “ I was happy in the hour of a drunken haze  but look at me I m miserable now!”.I call upon Saturday’s squad to prove me wrong and give me a great present of a win against Leicester. Maybe I m having a senior moment, but I have to be optimistic and go for a Quins win but very close, just a couple of points in it.  If we loose then I can honestly voice my concern now that I m suitably qualified, to join the ranks of “The Grumpy Old Men!”  Speaking of which…..

Referee: Chris White
Touch judges: Peter Huckle, Ashley Reay

NEC Harlequins (announced after the preview was written)
15. Gavin Duffy, 14. Simon Keogh, 13. Hal Luscombe, 12. Mel Deane, 11. Ugo Monye, 10. Adrian Jarvis, 1. Ceri Jones, 2. James Hayter, 3. Mike Ross, 4. Ollie Kohn, 5. Nicolas Spanghero, 6. Nick Easter (capt), 7. Will Skinner, 8. Chris Hala'ufia
Replacements: 16. Jimmy Richards, 17. Ricky Nebbett, 18. Jim Evans, 19. Tom Guest, 20. Danny Care, 21. Craig McMullen, 22. Mike Brown 

Leicester Tigers
15 Geordan Murphy, 14 John Murphy, 13 Danny Hipkiss , 12 Sam Vesty, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Paul Burke, 9 Harry Ellis, 1 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 George Chuter, 3 Julian White, 4 Leo Cullen, 5 Ben Kay, 6 Louis Deacon, 7 Lewis Moody, 8 Martin Corry (captain)
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Michael Holford, 18 Jordan Crane, 19 Shane Jennings, 20 Scott Bemand, 21 Ollie Smith, 22 Alesana Tuilagi

Come on you Quins!