By The Prof
October 17 2002

So we won again – this is starting to become a rather pleasant habit. In fact in our last three wins (London Irish, Newcastle & Caerphilly) we have racked up 149 points! This regular column is becoming easier to write and there is more to mention than there was at the beginning of the season. What positives came out of this game? Well we found out that Nathan Williams (not his identical twin brother M. or Matt who seemed to have played for us against Newcastle) can kick – he got 9 out of 11 conversions (82%) – no penalty kicks were taken. Admittedly he wasn’t under a lot of pressure (attempting a last minute penalty from the half way line to win against Gloucester is another matter completely) but it is certainly a good sign with Burkey out for another four weeks or so. Another thing we learnt about Nathan is that he can skip – exactly why he was skipping back to position after we scored I am not too sure but the nick name “Skippy “ can’t be far away!

The wings Jewell and Moore both showed their pace a number of times and Jewell especially showed his strength in the tackle. We must remember that they were up against two good wingers – Lewis and Cox who were probably the biggest threat on the Caerphilly team.

Greenstock and Satala again showed that they are a fine pairing and displayed good skills, strong defence (for the most part) and again the semi-retired Greenstock showed that his Zimmer frame is still turbocharged and he is still with it with his wonderful reverse pass to the charging Fuga. The fact that these two weren’t the first choice pairing at the start of the season shows that we have good depth in the squad with four class centres in the main squad.

The half-back partnership of Duncombe and Gollings may be the most diminutive around but both showed an attacking edge, pace and skills getting three tries between them. “Frodo” Gollings’ second half performance was better than his first with his kicking from hand being much more solid – some wit in the crowd was heard to say he must have shaved his feet at half time!

The back row had another good game with Dippy showing great handling skills – he also did a wonderful grubber kick through a flat defence for Gollings to run on to and score. Sherriff played well and he might get a lot more chances to start before Vos turns up and Sanderson and Winters are fit again. Davison and Evans were the second row and Evans impressed with his pace to score a try.

The front row of Starr, Fuga and Cardinali did well against large opposition – Fuga being the pick of the bunch with big tackles, pace and good running angles, he would probably have scored too had the referee not awarded a penalty try. Starr was his normal dependable self at loose head and Cardinali showed he was a tough chap – anyone who can be pinned by one person and be punched squarely in the face by another and still get up smiling certainly shows a certain fortitude!

The main thing about this game was that the players looked like they enjoyed it and I am not just talking about Williams’ skipping and Jeweller’s banter with the crowd. I know you should enjoy a game if you score 11 tries and win the game by more than fifty points but it is good to see anyway.

The travelling support certainly enjoyed it, the 500 or so Quins fans were noisy throughout and to see so many travelling away shows what great steps forward the club has made in the last couple of years. The people at Caerphilly RFC deserve a lot of the credit for making it a fun trip due to the warmth of their welcome.

What about the rest of the club, well the Ladies weren’t playing this week, the Amateurs’ 1st XV had a disappointing game losing to the bottom placed club – Osterley, but the Cavaliers did well to beat Wasps 36-17.

Monday night saw the second team full of youngsters play a strong Worcester United team. The seconds won with a last minute try and conversion taking their run of wins to three. The fans’ favourite – Ugo Monye – didn’t have much of a chance to show his skills, in fact I don’t remember anyone passing him the ball – he just received kicks either from the opposition or from our own side. The game was full of mistakes (or at least that’s how the referee saw it) so we never really got going. Bemand performed well behind the scrum and the other two players who stood out on the night were Tom Williams (the young fullback) and Andrew Reay in the centre who played a bit like a young Nick Greenstock (for those of you who can remember so far back). Again the few Quins fans who travelled down were given a warm welcome by the hosts. If you get a chance I would definitely suggest watching a game at Worcester – their facilities are wonderful. Let’s hope they are promoted so we can play them more regularly.

All in all a good week with the firsts and seconds both won and much fun was had by players and supporters alike which is what it is all about.