By PerryGo
September 30 2002

Yet another game Harlequins could have won.  In this case, one they should have won.  Yet another game where the opposition came away lamenting their error rate and how badly they played.  Do we see any common themes emerging..?

 If the maddening frustration of Harlequins’ inconsistency – losing games they should win, winning games they should lose – is one of their endearing features, then Friday evening in Sale was an endearing experience.  Or was it just maddeningly frustrating?  If I feel that way, as a mere supporter (albeit one who drove for seven hours to watch it) then how on earth must Mark Evans feel?  At least we know why he’s follically-challenged – he’s ripped it out watching his team.

 In fairness to Mark, he was appropriately dignified and protective of his players in the post-match comments, as you would expect.  It does no-one any good, least of all his team, for the boss to slag off the players. 

 To quote Le Grand Fromage:

 “You can't just blame David," said Evans. "If you're going to take that attitude then you could say Viliame Satala missed a tackle on their second try and so he's to blame.

"It gets silly and it's not about that at all. It's not Viliame's fault and it's not David's fault. Collectively we came up short.

"David is a quality goal kicker but he had a poor night in that respect, and I'm sure he would be the first to agree. But otherwise he played well, got us into wide areas and his tactical kicking was good."”. 

 Fair enough. 

 Since we’re a supporters’ site, we have no desire to slag them off either, but on the other hand, we have more freedom to assess and comment.  After all, if you only want the ‘official voice of Harlequins, stick to www.quins.co.uk.  Not that I’m saying it’s less than forthcoming…the article writer would bitterly oppose any form of censorship, I’m sure…

 We should have won this match.  I believed we were going to win.  We were at least as good across the piece – backs and forwards - as Sale, for the entire match.

 Forwards – Step Forward

 Once again, the pack was magnificent.  Even when they were a player down for 10 minutes due to Tiatia’s reckless late tackle on Hodgson (When will he learn?  What did we say last week?) they held their own, and Sherriff’s late try said it all, a massive physical effort by the pack.  Apart from a few wobbles in the lineout and one important attacking five metre scrum lost against the head in the first half, Quins’ forwards generally outplayed their opponents, especially in the loose. 

 I thought Jim Evans did well - he is going to be a great player in due course – and so too Fuga and Gomez, but yet again special praise is due to the back row.  Ace tried his hardest to redeem himself once he was allowed back on the pitch and Diprose again impressed.  But I was especially delighted to see Pat outperform against brother Alex, and his visibility was the perfect riposte to my questions about anonymity from last week!  Excellent following up, like a good open-side should, to take the pass from Gollings and score the opening try.  Grounding it without going into touch was not easy, and Pat showed lots of skill in doing so. 

 The Fly Half Debate Reawakened

 Well, just to state the obvious and get that out of the way first, Friday’s match was certainly a tale of two fly-halves.  Charlie Hodgson was characteristically excellent – he accounted for all but five of his team’s points, including scoring a try that I couldn’t see either of our fly-halves being able to finish from the same position.  All-round skills on display – running, passing, kicking – that make him a strong challenger for the England slot. 

 So far as David Slemen is concerned, as Evans said, his tactical kicking was good and his general play was reasonable.  But his place kicking was, as you know, absolutely dire.  I can hardly recall a Premiership fly half missing four out of five attempts at goal. The harsh reality, that will have haunted him afterwards, whatever anyone said, is that his kicking cost Harlequins the match and three valuable league points.  Three out of five is a sort of ‘minimum’ rule of thumb that these guys should convert, allowing for some degree of difficulty.   Top kickers should be at or near four out of five. 

 I have seen Slemen land virtually everything in a Second Team match, so he can certainly do it.  But on this occasion – and not for the first time – he didn’t when it really mattered.

 I have no doubt the cry will be heard this week “when is Burkey back?” and “Burkey we love you” (etc. etc.)  because, no doubt, he would have succeeded with most of the same kicks.  But is that the ultimate answer?  Really, the truth is, Mark Evans should have recruited another fly half to challenge Burke as #1 choice.  Maybe he tried and none was available, or not at a price we could afford.  We shall never know…

 We have to be careful not to be too subjective in how we assess the Quins fly half situation.  There has been some message board debate about whether Ben or David should be back up to Burke, for example.  There has been some distress at losing Burke to injury because of how much we miss him (i.e. miss his goal kicking).  All of which may be valid, but it’s also subjective.  Let’s be objective for a moment. 

 All round, how would you rate Burke - or Slemen – in a head-to-head against the other Zurich Premiership starting fly halves?  That is the objective point, folks, since that’s the league we’re playing in. 

 Here’s the competition:

Newcastle – Jonny Wilkinson or Dave Walder

Sale – Charlie Hodgson

Wasps – Alex King

Saracens – Andy Goode

Bristol – Felipe Contepomi

Bath – Mike Catt or Ollie Barkley

Leeds – Braam van Straaten or Gordon Ross

Gloucester – Henry Paul or Ludovic Mercier

Harlequins – Paul Burke or David Slemen

Northampton – Paul Grayson

London Irish – Barry Everitt

Leicester – Austin Healey

 To my mind, all of the (‘first choice’) players I’ve listed before Burke in the table are better all round performers.  I would like to see us recruit someone of that calibre to challenge Burke. 

 When Goode came on the market, I had hoped we would get him, but no.  On Saturday, Goode’s excellent kicking turned a Saracens team who looked like they were going to lose (and should have lost) against Saints into one that managed to win – and end the game looking stronger, with their opponents in some disarray.

 In terms of those below Burkey in the table, Austin Healey is a great footballer, but a lousy fly half, as I think Deano has finally admitted.  Grayson and Everitt must be rated as good as Burke as kickers, and probably about equal on the balance of their game, so, by my reckoning, that places him equal ninth.  Until Leicester sort out their situation…

 Before everyone screams abuse at me, please accept I am only trying to be academic.  It doesn’t mean Burke has not won us games or bonus points that we wouldn’t otherwise have had.  It doesn’t mean he hasn’t been a hero.  It certainly doesn’t mean he isn’t a great guy and deservedly popular.  It doesn’t mean he’s not the best fly half in the squad.  But we’re in a harsh, competitive world.  I’m just listing and sizing up the competition.  You may disagree…please do, but make it reasoned and non-emotive.

 Scrum Half

 Boy, were Sale pleased to have Brian Redpath back!  He was a constant thorn in Quins’ side, lively, sharp and quick off the mark. 

It is something of a mystery why Nick Duncombe didn’t start the match for Quins, because fitness-permitting he is far and away the best of our three scrum halves.  He certainly made a difference when he came on as a replacement.  Expect to see him keep his place from now on, as we really can’t afford to leave him out.

 Centre

 Once again, well done Nick Greenstock, who I thought had another good game.  I was not a fan of Nick last year, but he is a complete professional - even as a semi-pro - and you could not ask for a more committed player.  His experience and sheer quality has shone through these last two matches.  Well worth his place.

 So what of Big Bill? (Or is it Vil?)     

 Well, he has yet to be the saviour everyone hoped for.  He has enough experience and has scored enough tries to be viewed as a quality recruit, but does seem to me to be struggling a bit right now.  Leaving aside that missed tackle on Cueto that conceded a vital try (and it must be said that the attempt to tackle was a very poor one) Bill doesn’t seem to have adjusted to the style of the English game yet. 

 There was one occasion Friday when he couldn’t pick a running angle to position himself for the pass from the ball carrier.  Another when he chose the wrong option, ran into defenders away from his support and lost possession.  Sometimes, he seems to wander around looking a bit lost, unsure of how he should be lining up.  Early season nerves, maybe?  A different style of backs’ play to adjust to?  Too much discipline expected of him, more than he’s used to?  What do you think?  On current form, Chris Bell is justifiably rated ahead of him, that’s for sure. 

 Errors – Our Opponents’ Curse

 Am I the only one to have noticed that when we win or come close to winning – in fact, every match so far this season – our opponents moan afterwards about how badly they played, how high their error rate was, and so on?   Not that that is not, for the most part, true, but let’s give Harlequins a bit of credit for being the opponents in each case.  Just as it can be said you make your own luck to some extent, so too you make your opponents make their mistakes to some extent.

 What Now?

 On the strength of Friday’s performance, frankly, I believe Harlequins can expect to compete against anyone in the league.  Just think how many first choice players we were without, and that puts the performance in proper perspective. 

 OK, so we lost, but I’m not being complacent.  Sale is after all one of the teams fancied for a top four finish.  (We’ve already had to play two of the teams likely to finish above them too!). 

 Folks, we outplayed Sale on Friday night.  It was a really good team performance, and we only lost because you simply can’t afford to miss that many kickable opportunities at this level.  The gaps between the teams this year are not going to be so great as to permit that – for any team. 

 I was frustrated, but still encouraged.  On current form we will be OK, probably in mid table, come next year.  I think the Baths, Newcastles and London Irishs of the world are the ones to be concerned right now… I was going to add Bristol to the list, but just look who they beat last weekend.  Stand by for a lot more unpredictability in the ZP this season than you’ve ever seen before.