By Heath Quinn
March 18 2007

On the long drive to Gloucester, with only some Association Football on the radio, my mind drifted to the season so far. At the start of the season, talk was of staying up only, “I’ll be happy with 11th” etc etc. After the 1st five games, I dreamed of finishing 11th and always looked out frantically for the Warriors results hoping they weren’t picking up any points. But then things began to gradually change, we started to win games, performances started to improve and we slowly started to move up the table. Talk began to move onto a top 6 finish, then with the win over Bristol 4th place didn’t seem to far away, phrases like, “Well you never know” started to be heard. The last two weeks have put paid to such thoughts, losses to Leicester and Wasps were a big reality check and I walked away from both games bitterly disappointed with the result. So I decided to try to go into this game with my feet on the ground. What should I expect?

Gloucester are in good form, beating Leicester last week will certainly have given them confidence, on top of that they are playing at home and they have lost less players to England duty than we did. Gloucester are also, in my opinion the best team I have seen play this year. If performances against Quins are the benchmark, Gloucester should be top of the table. So I wasn’t overly optimistic about our chances. I decided that I would be happy if Quins walked away with a losing bonus point. I reasoned that if we had been offered a losing bonus point from a game at Kingsholm at the beginning of the season I would have taken it. So despite the usual supporter expectation level changes, I would try to keep my feet on the ground and be happy with a point.

The game started with Quins kicking off. Even though inside the stands we could hardly feel a breeze, once you stepped outside you realised that there was a strong blustery wind blowing mainly into the city boys faces. From kick off Gloucester knocked on and Pearson played a Harlequins advantage. The play went through a series of phase, but the away team tended to go from side to side rather than breaking tackles or making ground. The period ended with the final pass missing it’s man and sailing serenely into touch, gifting the ball back to Gloucester still inside their own 22.

From the line out Gloucester kicked long down field to Mike Brown who ran it back at them with some measure of success, when the ball came back Gomersall put a grubber kick in behind the oppo, which Simpson Daniel couldn’t quite get to. Resulting in another Gloucester line out inside their own 22.

Gloucester again kicked long from the line out, the city slickers again ran it back. The wind was dictating this early passage of play. But this time we were turned over and Ryan Lamb put a lovely kick through deep into the Harlequins 22, one bounce and into touch. At the line out Tani over threw Jim Evans straight into the grateful arms of Woods, who, unmarked ran in from about six yards out, Willie Walker made the conversion. Five minutes in and we were seven points down, despite having had most of the possession and played most of the rugby. 7 – 0.

After the restarts Harlequins gained possession and went on the attack, Stuart Abbott put a little kick in behind the Gloucester defence and was blocked as he chased it, yet rather bizarrely, Pearson brought it back for a knock on by Abbott, clearly having failed to see the ball hit his boot. Gloucester attacked from the scrum, with some electrifying running from Simpson Daniel which ended with the Pimms drinkers being penalised for off side. Willie Walker made the kick. 10 – 0.

Once again the ball was kicked long by Gloucester from a few phases after the restart going into touch deep in the Quins 22. At the line out Jim Evans was nudged as he leapt for the ball and knocked on giving Gloucester an attacking scrum in the Champagne boys 22. The resulting attack put Bailey clear on the outside from a very flat pass, try. Willie Walker again made the conversion. 17 – 0, after 18 minutes played. At this point I observed to myself that if things carried on this way then were going we would be lucky to avoid losing by at least 20 points and probably quite a few more. My earlier thoughts of a losing bonus point seemed miles away.

Gloucester were again on the attack but London’s only team managed to turn over possession and Jarvis sat deep to make the clearance kick. Unfortunately he failed to spot the waiting 100m sprinter, Will James, who we will remember from last season as the very impressive Pirates lock. James covered an awful lot of ground very quickly to charge the kick down, forcing Simon Keogh to carry the ball over line and give away the 5 yard scrum.

From the scrum Gloucester were penalised for crossing and the Champagne Charlie’s got their first penalty of the match enabling them to clear their lines. The team from Twickenham now started to put together their best period of the match. Chris Hala’ufia picking up well from the base and driving well past James Forester and setting up quick go forward ball. When it came back, a lovely little pop pass from Stuart Abbott put Hal Luscombe clean through, and he was on his way to touching down under the post when Pearson called him back for a forward pass. From the scrum Ryan Lamb launched an immense clearance kick from deep inside his own half finding touch inside Quins 22. All you could do was applaud the technique.

Harlequins won their own line out ball and started to drive hard around the fringes to great effect, making two to three yards each time a recycling quickly for the next waiting forward. The West London glamour boys being awarded a penalty on about the half way line ended this. It looked like it was for a Gloucester forward kicking the ball in the ruck, but Pearson’s signal was a touch ambiguous so it’s hard to tell. But there was no doubt about the quality of AJ’s touch finder that gave Quins an attacking lineout on Gloucester’s five yard line. The city slickers won the line out and again drove round the fringes, eventually being bundled into touch by the corner flag, but Pearson brought it back for a previous offside and AJ kicked from in front of the post to make it 17 – 3. 32 minutes gone. Harlequins were much improved from a very poor opening, and seemed to have changed their game plan by using the forwards more to good effect.

Shortly after the restart Quins were once again on the attack, some nice handling created some confusion in the home defense and AJ spotted the lack of cover behind the first line to chip through. Simon Keogh gathered the ball on the first bounce and scooted over in the corner. AJ failed with the conversion. 17 – 8 34 minutes gone.

Gloucester came back on the attack and were awarded a penalty for Quins players not entering a ruck from the behind the back foot. To me it looked more like a Quins penalty for holding on, but as I said to myself in my notes, “I am biased though.” Willie Walker missed the penalty and Mike Brown took advantage of some space to take a quick 22 drop out to himself, but the defenders quickly woke up to this and caught him, but the ball came back quickly and AJ cleared long down field. Unfortunately Ryan Lamb had already dropped back, caught the ball cleanly and started to run the ball back. It was clear straight away that this was going to be very dangerous, as the defensive line pushing up in pursuit of the kick was about as straight as a corkscrew. Lamb picked his gap and then was amongst the still retreating Gloucester forwards, he was able to off loaded from the tackle to Forrester who showed good pace to carry over. Willie Walker made the conversion 24 – 8. 38 minutes gone.

So now playing with the wind in the second half, had we left ourselves too much to do? I felt that we’d tried to play to much rugby in our own half, but how strong was the wind on the pitch? Even though we’d gifted Gloucester a dream start we had fought back and if our defense had be more awake for the final try who knows? 17 – 8 down would have been a good return, would 24 – 8 be just too much?

Just before half time AJ was spending quite a bit of time nursing his left, I think, arm. So it was no surprise to any one around me that Andrew Mehrtens replaced him for the second half. Hopefully it’s nothing serious and he’ll be fit by next week.

Right at the beginning of the second half Quins came out with all guns blazing, taking the ball deep into Gloucester’s half, the ball came back from a ruck, Gomersall fed Mehrtens, who straightened and ran at his opposite number, delaying the pass long enough to commit his man, which left Mike Brown and Tom Williams with a two on one, Mike fed Tom who went over untouched, unfortunately Mehrtens missed the conversion from about 10 yards from the sideline, but the wind made it a difficult kick. 24 -13. 43 minutes gone.

After an Andrew Mehrtens kick bounced into touch Gloucester took the line out and were pulled back for the throw not being straight. I only mention this as the Gloucester line out had been rock solid all day, with two jumpers going up for every throw, and due to hang time the lifters were getting the hooker was able to pick out which ever jumper wasn’t being challenged. It was a very effective tactic. However this un-straight throw was Azam’s last contribution as Dean Ryan immediately substituted him. He clearly has very high standards for his hookers. One mistake and your off.

Now came a period of massive Gloucester pressure on the Quins line with phase after phase of the West Country team battering away. This would be followed with a penalty, which Gloucester kept kicking to the corner for the attacking line out. Clearly they were trying to turn the screw and finish the game off. But some valiant defence managed to keep the home team out and our lines were eventually cleared.

Gloucester attacked again and knocked on which Pearson signalled he had seen, but about four seconds later Quins knocked on and despite having made no ground Pearson deemed this to have been sufficient advantage. As Gloucester passed the ball down their back line Tani Fuga gave one of his trademark tackles. With the shoulder, high and his arm only used as an after thought. The shed was rightly outraged and Pearson reached for his pocket. While I love Tani’s aggression, this is something he really must cut out of his game. Walker kicked the penalty 27 – 13.

The next Gloucester break was really a lovely piece of rugby. Peter Richards got the ball right on his own try line, looked up had time to kick it to safety, but instead with a little shimmy and a burst of acceleration he went round Gomersall and ran, again he had the option to kick ahead as Quins cover was caught out of position, but he chose to keep going and wait for his support, the ball was then offloaded three or four times and Gloucester ran almost the length of the pitch. Some valiant defence prevented the try, but when the ball came back Lamb spotted that the West London Fancy Dan’s cover was lacking out wide and his cross field kick went straight into the arms Foster who ran over untouched. Walker made the conversion 34 – 13.

So with Quins down 21 points, down to 14 men, and having spent most of the last 10 – 15 minutes on the defensive, things did not look good. I felt that we would do well to avoid conceding the half-century of points and any thoughts of getting anything at all out of this game were just a distant pipe dream.

But the Quins 14 came out fighting hard and took the game to Gloucester a good period of attacking play only came to a halt when a Stuart Abbott pop pass was taken by Will James and was then cleared to the half way line. With the Fancy Boys now back up to 15, Masson replaced Abbott, So’oialo replace Gomersall and Guest replaced Vos. The west London side again started to fight back and had a succession of phases right on Gloucester’s line. Eventually Tani burrowed over to hear the boos from the shed ringing round the stadium. A noise I’m sure he loved hearing. Mehrtens failed with the conversion. 34 – 18. 75 minutes gone.

Suddenly a bonus point was on the cards, one more try, and the try scoring bonus point could be ours. Realising this Quins upped the tempo chasing the fourth try, and continued to batter the Gloucester defence deep in the home teams half. Gloucester were penalised in front of their own posts and So’oialo took the quick tap and burst right through the middle, he was tackled just short of the line but was able to off load to the supporting Mike Brown who ran over and touched down under the posts. Mehrtens made the conversion with the final kick of the game. 34 – 25. Full time.

So what to make of the game? Gloucester’s line out was very impressive, but ours was good as well, with a few notable exceptions. We struggled in the set scrum, but Chris Hala’ufia played a great game, his carries from the base of the scrum brought admiration from home supporters I spoke to later, and was definitely the best Number 8 on the pitch. Gloucester are very effective at running in broken play and we gave them far too many opportunities to do this, they also edged us out on the kicking game. I thought our defense was unusually weak, but some credit must go to Gloucester for this. Tom Guest looked good when he came on injecting pace onto the ball, and even though Mehrtens did not have a great day with his boot, either from the spot or from hand, it was good to see him back and his distribution injected something into Quins attacking play, changing the point of attack and making us look more dangerous.

So we got a bonus point and I said I’d be happy with that. But it wasn’t the bonus point I expected. It would have been nice if we had managed to make the game closer, but credit must go to the boys for fighting all the way to end and to score the at the death. Even thought the game was over by this stage and Gloucester may have taken their foot off the gas. It did give us something to cheer about.

So a point from Kingsholm, not everyone has managed that this season, hopefully this will help on our way to a top six finish.