By KevT
October 10 2003

NEC Harlequins are second in the league but facing a tough match against a confident Newcastle Falcons side on at the Stoop on Saturday (kick off 3.00pm). Quins suffered their first defeat of the season losing 39 – 33 to Saracens at Vicarage Road last Sunday whilst The Falcons bagged five tries in a 42 – 22 home defeat of last season’s league leaders Gloucester.

Quins make one change to the team that started against Saracens. Laurent Gomez replaces Jon Dawson.

I asked Mark Evans, Quins Head Coach, Director Of Rugby and Chief Executive whether was disappointed with last Sunday’s performance against Saracens. “Yes, I didn’t think we did ourselves justice. There were two areas where we lost the game. We were not intense enough in our defensive duties. Our all round defensive game wasn’t good enough until, funnily enough, the last ten minutes when we were chasing the game. Secondly, we made a high number of defensive errors. Sometimes your line out or scrummage breaks down but on Sunday we made a ridiculous amount of basic errors. We chose the wrong passing option, we didn’t make out kicks to touch, we dropped the ball and we gave it away.”

I asked Mark whether he would have been happy with three wins from four at the beginning of the season. “No, I wouldn’t.”

I asked Mark about the selection at centre which has been a hot topic for debate. In particular some of the younger players have been pushing for selection. “I think Mel Deane is a twelve and he can play at outside centre. Andy Reay is really a twelve. I thought Josh had a good game on Sunday. We have some absentees at outside centre with Chris Bell being injured and Will Greenwood at the World Cup… Andy Reay is pushing for a place.”

I commented to Mark that Newcastle’s pack is better than when they played Quins at The Stoop last year. “They are much improved from the team we played last year. They were pretty one dimensional apart from having the best Fly Half in the world.”

Rob Andrew had said that this is Quins’ most difficult challenge of the season so far. Mark replied, “It’s too early to say. I’ve watched nearly all of their matches. They played well against Leicester, didn’t play well against Sale, very poor against Saracens and although they got a great result against Gloucester their performance was mixed. We’ll see.”

The Falcons make no changes to the team that team that started against Gloucester on Saturday. EpI Taione and Dave Walder were close to selection but Rob Andrew decided to give them a further week of rehabilitation.

Speaking exclusively to Comeallwithin.co.uk, Falcons’ assistant coach Peter Walton was pleased with the victory against Gloucester last week. “Yes, we were very pleased. We hard really targeted that match and were delighted with the performance.”

I asked about the influence of their overseas signings, Mark Andrews, Mark Mayerhofler and Warren Britz. “We all knew about Andrews and Mayerhofler but didn’t know that much about Warren Britz, but he’s played incredibly well this season and Andrew Mower is going to find it very hard to get his place back when he returns from the World Cup. These more experienced players have really helped, particularly Mayerhofler with the backs who, in the absence of Jonny Wilkinson, has been someone the younger players can look up to. The backs are playing with a lot of confidence. We moved Tom May from centre to wing and he scored three tries last week. They were genuine wingers’ tries as well.”

Ben Gollings has moved from Quins to Newcastle, I asked Peter how Ben was settling in. “Ben has fitted in well and is enjoying himself here.. He’s really appreciating the move to the North East and living in the countryside. He played very well at Full Back last Sunday and kicked seven out of eight, most of which were from the touchline. We will see how he goes but he will also play on the wing for us. He could also play Fly Half but would be behind Wilkinson and Walder.”

“Quins have made an excellent start to their season. I like the club and Quins are The Quins. They have very talented players and can play good rugby. They seemed to have changed a little in that they are powerful up front and teams are taken a back by the sheer size of their forwards. They seemed to have really improved in the contact area.”

The Falcons’ pack seems to have developed a harder edge under the guidance of Head Coach and former All Black Andre Blades and Assistant Coach Peter Walton. Ian Peel starts at loose head for Falcons, he has been with the club since the beginning of his professional career as has 24 year old hooker Nick Makin. South African international Marius Hurter adds some much needed experience in the front row, although at just under 16 stone, Hurter is one of the smaller tight heads in the league. The real difference between the Newcastle pack of most of last season and this is at second row. Is there a more aggressive and heavy weight pairing in the league at the moment than Gareth Archer and Mark Andrews? They may not be the quickest around the park but they will add a bit of steel in rucks and mauls and some serious ballast at the set piece. Archer seems to have lost out in the England reckoning, which may have something to do with his suspect temperament. He has been sent off twice in his career. Andrews is great disrupter of ball and his experience as South African captain is put to great use at Newcastle. In the back row 6’ 5” and 19 stone England under 21 international Jon Dunbar starts at blind side with former Springbok (and very briefly) Harlequin Warren Britz at open side. Andrew Mower (on World Cup duty with Scotland) has been replaced by Warren Britz who made a real impact at the end of last season. England international Hugh Vyvyan completes the trio.

We are all pretty familiar with the Newcastle back line, Hall Charlton plays at scrum half. He has been earning rave reviews at scrum half, although he would be concerned at rumours linking the Falcons with George Gregan post World Cup (I’m not sure I would fancy facing a half back combination of Gregan and Wilkinson post World Cup). Twenty one year old Scottish Fly Half Phil Godman started last week in place of Dave Walder and retains the Fly Half berth this week.. He came in for some criticism from some Newcastle supporters but the backs racked up five tries so he can’t have performed all that badly. Former All Black Mark Mayerhofler starts at inside centre. He runs straight and commits defenders and adds some weight of experience to a young backs line up. The excellent Jamie Noon plays at outside centre, he would have done a great job for England had he been selected and has real pace. Watch for him waiting on the shoulder of Mayerhofler where he is able to select a great line. Rob Andrew seems to have struck on a partnership with Mayerhofler and Noon by moving Tom May away from centre to wing. May scored three tries last Sunday and is quick and elusive. On the right wing, Michael Stephenson starts and has scored a total of 18 tries for Newcastle.

At Full Back Ben Gollings plays and he has made a great start to his career at Newcastle. His has secured a place at his preferred position and has taken over kicking duties in the absence of Messrs Wilkinson and Walder. He slotted home seven out of eight kicks last week.

Newcastle will be a far more formidable force on Saturday than they were last season, despite the loss of Jonny Wilkinson. They have a bigger pack and a better back row. Quins will remember the difficulty they had in bringing down Epi Taione last season and the way Mark Andrews galvanised their side. Newcastle also have a flying back line, which are capable of scoring a lot of tries if given space as they were last week against Gloucester.

The key to the game as far as Quins are concerned must be to move the ball about quickly using their quicker pack of forwards. If Quins play a tight game then they will be playing into Newcastle’s hands. They must be more accurate with their kicking than they were last week as Stephenson, May and Gollings are good runners. Newcastle are prone to making mistakes, especially if put under pressure. If Quins can pressurise the young Newcastle backs and Godman in particular then they can force mistakes. Newcastle’s defence has never been the greatest, especially away from home so Quins may try to capitalise on this with Mel Deane, Jim Evans and the Quins’ back row running at Godman and the other Newcastle backs.

This has the potential to be a very open, high scoring game. If Quins can find accuracy with their kicking from hand and impose themselves on Newcastle in the first twenty minutes then they can win by more than a converted score.



NEC Harlequins : 15. Gavin Duffy; 14.Rob Jewell; 13. Josh Taumalolo; 12. Mel Deane; 11. Ugo Monye; 10. Paul Burke; 9. Ben Willis; 1. Ceri Jones; 2. Ace Tiatia; 3. Laurent Gomez; 4. Bill Davison; 5.Jim Evans; 6. Pat Sanderson; 7. Andre Vos (Capt.); 8. Tony Diprose

Replacements: 16.Tani Fuga; 17. Mike Worsley; 18.Jon Dawson; 19. Roy Winters; 20. Luke Sheriff; 21. Simon Keogh; 22. Andy Dunne


Newcastle Falcons: 15 Ben Gollings; 14 Tom May; 13 Jamie Noon; 12 Mark Mayerhofler; 11 Michael Stephenson; 10 Phil Godman; 9 Hall Charlton; 1 Ian Peel; 2 Nick Makin; 3 Marius Hurter; 4 Garath Archer; 5 Mark Andrews (Capt); 6 Jon Dunbar; 7 Warren Britz; 8 Hugh Vyvyan

Replacements: 16 Micky Ward; 17 Matt Thompson; 18 Dave Wilson; 19 Craig Hamilton; 20 Phil Dowson; 21 James Grindal; 22 Joe Shaw