By AlanQuin
January 3 2003

Watching Harlequins over the last 10 years has provided some of the most stressful occasions. Hope, pleasure, despair, pain, fear, fury, passion and sheer numbness have all been regularly occasioned, often during the same match. There have been highlights, of course. The victories over Bath at The Rec; over Leicester twice in the Cup; the Shield Final against Narbonne. There have been low points too. At the other end of the spectrum are the loss of the Cup to Newcastle and any number of matches lost that should have been won including another Cup Final long ago lost to the boot of Barnes.

But this season I have discovered that there is an antidote to the weekly stress of watching the senior team. The disappointments of Bath last week-end and the fears and hopes for the Bristol match on Saturday have their counterbalance in the knowledge that I can go to The Stoop and watch Quins 2nd XV play rugby on Monday evening (6th January at 7.30 p.m. – admission free)

I will be able to watch almost detachedly. I can take pleasure in the skills and the ebb and flow of the game in the knowledge that there are no points at stake. I do not say that I will not be disappointed if they do not win. I will, of course.

For I have become accustomed to the 2nd XV winning. They have played 11 matches and lost only 3. They have won 7 and drawn 1. They have exciting young players with most of the team under 21 years of age. There is the opportunity to see at greater length the abilities of some such as Miall and Rudski and others who make only very short and infrequent appearances in the senior team.

This week they play Northampton and will be looking to revenge their 24-16 defeat on wet night at Franklins Gardens last autumn. They will welcome your support. The bar, uncrowded, is open in the East Stand and there is the opportunity too for good conversation and meeting friends. I hope you will come.