By Worried of Whitton
February 21 2007

After what feels like an age since our last home match, Quins return to The Stoop this weekend to play Bristol. Last week's exciting return to Premiership Rugby, saw both sides win their respective matches against two sides who are physically “slugging it out” for their Premiership survival.

For Bristol a last gasp, penalty try helped maintain their second place, but they do have a game in hand, whilst the Quins win took them up to the dizzy heights of sixth place in the Premiership. 

How Quins status has changed since the last time the two sides met at The Memorial Stadium back in October. In my match preview for that match I wrote “Quins and Bristol could not have had a more diverse start to their respective seasons. Bristol have romped away to head the Premiership undefeated, and appear to be reaping the benefits of starting their pre season training a month earlier than anyone else. As we know, the Premiership is not a sprint race, more of a marathon and so we could draw the analogy of the Aesop fable of The Tortoise and The Hare, as Bristol become the first to witness some player burn out. Quins are in the Tortoise role currently with just two bonus premiership points, and no wins”. Harlequins have certainly played their role in this fable, with a steady improvement in their league position since they re discovered their winning ways a week after the 33-20 defeat at Bristol. In the match report that day MikePW wrote “So what to make of that? It is difficult to find positives from the fifth straight league defeat. Quins did not give up and played with real spirit for the last third of the game – I just hope that spirit keeps us going for long enough to start winning games”.

My statement regarding player burn out at Bristol appears to have been incorrect. Bristol have had a fantastic season Richard Hill has been very shrewd and he and his team defied all the pundits. With just two losses away to Leicester and Newcastle, they still remain very strong contenders for finishing the season at the top of the Guinness Premiership. Forget the farce of the play offs, true champions finish at the top of the league. Heineken Cup Rugby is assured for Bristol next season. Although in second place, they are six points clear of third place, and just one point behind with a game in hand over first placed Leicester. This is a home game against Northampton, which they are very likely to win, as they have not lost at home this season, albeit they have had one drawn game against Saracens. Bristol also have the best defensive record so far this season with only 219 points scored against them.

The Guinness Premiership Table looks like this. (February 22^nd)

Last weekend the award of a last-gasp penalty try to Bristol enabled them to maintain their unbeaten home record in the Guinness Premiership this season, but by all accounts it was a desperately close-run thing. The dramatic finish was exciting viewing for the 11,000 home crowd, but Newcastle believe they were mugged, and Quins will need to be wary of these tactics this weekend from Bristol’s wily old front row.  

Bristol, however, will have been assessing the heavy cost of this victory, prior to this weeks match against Harlequins. Four of their first-choice players did not finish the game and a fifth, ex Quin Gareth Llewellyn, the veteran lock, has reported a wrenched shoulder. Brian Lima, the centre, and David Hill, the fly half and place-kicker, will not play for at least six weeks after suffering a hamstring pull and compound fracture of the little finger respectively. Alfie To’oala, at No 8 in the absence of the injured Dan Ward-Smith, has a hamstring strain while another ex Harlequin Josh Taumalolo, the full back, has a neck injury. In addition scrum half Shaun Perry will also be absent this week as he will be away with the England Six nations squad in Dublin.

After the Newcastle match Richard Hill said “Our resources and squad strength will certainly be tested in the coming few weeks, but at least our character came through again today and we managed to dig out a win that I must admit looked beyond us at 21-9 down.”  Although Hill has moved to fill the gap left by the injured Ward Smith by signing Andrew Blowers, he arrives at the start of March, too late for the Quins match. The latest string of injuries has caused concern amongst the Bristol supporters, as exemplified by some of the postings on their board;

“The first, and most obvious problem, is going to be to find a team to put out against them….. I have bad vibes about this match and the next one against Wasps and I fear that we will see two "L"s in the win/lose column after these two games. Quins have been showing considerable form recently and will be desperate to overturn the 33-20 loss earlier in the season, especially as they are eyeing up an HC spot. If we get a bonus point next weekend, it will be a bonus Quins by 10.”

and also

“I think we will lose this one too. Quins have got the knack of scoring tries at the minute and Bristol are currently going through a try drought! Its going to be another 40 minutes of soaking up pressure and fighting back in the second half, but this time we will come up short!

Harlequins’ players and supporters are still elated their third away win of the season against Northampton. This was made even sweeter by the fact that this result was the third double of the season and our first win at Franklins Gardens for 10 years. It was a very hard match and the journalists had fun in their reports. Two of the best being “ The game had all the mean spirit of a bunch of wheel clampers in a hospital car park" from The Guardian and “"There were more cheap handbags thrown about than in a high street department store” from The Telegraph. The team showed tremendous spirit fighting back after going behind after allowing Cohen the length of the field to run in a soft try. Strettle’s response was to “skin” Cohen for his try to level the points after which Quins never looked back .Unlike Bristol; Quins came away from their match relatively unscathed on the injury front. The only casualty being, Stuart Abbott with concussion that rules him out for three weeks.

Maybe I m still “drunk” with the elation of last week’s win but I m feeling very confident of a Quins win this weekend. Whilst I would not wish injury problems on any team, we have to play to their advantage of a home match against a weakened opposition, which may be their best chance of another home win. Bristol are there for the taking, they revealed their vulnerability last weekend and there may not be a better time to beat them this season. That said it will not be an easy game for Quins, but the result should make their hard work worth while.

Saturday will be Bristol’s first visit to The Stoop since January 4^th 2003 when they lost 26 -17, and visiting Bristol supporters will certainly notice the changes at The Stoop. This was the last match the late Nick Duncombe played for Harlequins. Eight weeks later on March 2^nd, at the return match at the Memorial Ground, he was remembered by all of the Harlequins players who wore his name on the back of their shirts, in a feisty match that Bristol won 48-41.That was the year Bristol were relegated.

In the intervening years both sides have benefited by furthering their playing experiences and knowledge with a spell in the National Division One.

Ironically this match is being refereed by David Rose who also was in control when the two sides met at The Memorial Ground back in October. 

Other fixtures this weekend

 

Come on You Quins!