By R Le Quin
January 27 2003

For my latest instalment, I have chosen from matches played 5, 10, 20, 25 and 30 years ago. 1st February 1998 v Gauteng Falcons at the Stoop

This was our only friendly during the 1997/98 season and provided us with our first victory of 1998. Braam van Straaten kicked a couple of penalties to give the Falcons an early six point lead before Jason Leonard barged his way over to score our first try but Liley failed to convert. Van Straaten got his third penalty and, in between punch-ups, Luger went over for Liley to convert. At half time, we led 12-9 although this should have been more but Scott Stewart missed a golden opportunity when he knocked-on. Viljoen scored early in the second half to restore the visitors lead but we battled on and obtained further tries from Mensah and Gross, converted by Liley and Lacroix respectively. The Falcons scored their second try when bad defensive play let in Lourens. Van Straaten converted but we had the final word when Luger sent Stewart in for our fifth try to make the final score 31-21.
Quins: Scott Stewart, Dan Luger, Tulsen Tollett, Peter Mensah, Stuart Power (Jason Keyter), Rob Liley (Thierry Lacroix), Huw Harries (Nick Walshe), Jason Leonard, Keith Wood (c), Alan Yates (Massimo Cuttitta), Luke Gross, A. Gibbs, Rory Jenkins (TR Adam Leach), Steve White-Cooper (Adam Leach) and Bill Davison (Tom Billups).

30th January 1993 v London Irish at Sunbury

A week before this friendly at Sunbury against London Irish, we had dispatched Wakefield in the fourth round of the Pilkington Cup by the score of 47-18. They were looking for revenge after we had beaten them in a league encounter at the Stoop back in October by 47-24. This match will be largely forgotten except for the twenty man brawl near the end which resulted in the Irish number 8 (Verling) being sent off for stamping. With most of our big names being rested, Paul Challinor with three penalties and a try from Mike Wedderburn saw us home against two penalties from Michael Corcoran.
Quins: Kent Bray, Mike Wedderburn, Gavin Thompson, Mark Evans, Jeff Alexander (Andy Parton), Paul Challinor, Rob Glenister, Simon Brown, Paul Simmonds, Andy Mullins (c), Troy Coker, David Dix, Mark Russell, Chris Sheasby and Richard Langhorn.

29th January 1983 v London Scottish at Richmond

A week after a rousing cup tie defeat of Gosforth, we travelled the short distance to the Athletic Ground to take on London Scottish in a de-merited fixture. The reason for the non-merit table status was because the Scots had ten men missing who were playing in the Scottish inter-district Championship. We had more or less our full strength team out but only led by three Ray Dudman penalties to one from King for the home side (to give them the lead). The second half produced three tries for us from David H. Cooke, Alex Woodhouse (converted by Dudman) and Paul Jackson to make the final score 23-3.
Quins: Ray Dudman, Steve Moriarty, Jamie Salmon, Dave Hodgkiss, Andre Dent, Nick Chesworth (Graham Birkett), Alex Woodhouse, Micky Claxton, John Olver, Gary Claxton, Richard Riddell, Nigel O’Brien, Dick Best (c), David H. Cooke and Paul Jackson.

28th January 1978 v United Services Portsmouth at Portsmouth

For our first appearance in the John Player Cup of 1977/78, we made the journey to Burnaby Road, Portsmouth for a tie with the United Services. They had been regular opponents of ours since 1905 but this was to be our last meeting. New Zealand international Peter Whiting appeared for us and was an excellent acquisition. Billy Bushell kicked a penalty to get us on our way and then converted two of our three tries scored by Graham Gilbert, Adrian Alexander and Terry Claxton. The home side managed a couple of penalties in the first half to hold us to 15-6. We only scored one try in the second period and the final score of 19-6 saw us progress to the second round. We defeated London Irish and Liverpool in successive rounds before finally going out to Gloucester at Twickenham in the semi final.
Quins: Billy Bushell (c), Colin Lambert, Graham Gilbert, Graham Birkett, Gordon Wood, John Macaulay, Peter Rawle, Terry Claxton, Peter Hollis, Micky Claxton, Peter Whiting, Gary Senior, Steve Edlmann, David H. Cooke and Adrian Alexander.

29th January 1973 v Royal Air Force at Twickenham

After losing fifteen of our opening eighteen matches in the 1973/73 season, we had started to stage something of a mini revival. We had beaten London Scottish, the Army, Blackheath and Birkenhead Park before taking on the Royal Air Force. Harry Burroughs began the scoring with a try which was followed by a second from Ian Howard. Bob Hiller stretched the lead with three penalties before Howard got his second and Nigel Lewis our fourth. Hiller converted both of these to give us a 29-0 lead at half time. In the second half, Burroughs got two more and David Cooke scored the seventh for a full time score of 41-0. This was our biggest win over the airmen in 21 games stretching back to 1920 although this would be easily surpassed three years later.
Quins: Bob Hiller, Nigel Lewis, David A. Cooke, Paul Grant, Harry Burroughs, Earle Kirton (c), Nigel Starmer-Smith, Terry Claxton, Dave Barry, John Joannou, Maurice Trapp, Maurice Rocks, Alan Lewis, Ian Howard and Mike Mason.