By The Prof
November 21 2003

We were knocked out of the Powergen Cup, that is true, we didn’t score a try, that’s true too, but, and it’s a big but (think of an inflated Jennifer Lopez), it may not be as bad as it seemed to those who were not there. The weather was truly terrible, a strong wind blowing rain horizontally from one end. We turned around just a few points behind – we’ll have ‘em in the second half was the thought of the Quins fans at Headingley. Leeds did not cross our line all night, the referee awarded them a penalty try in the 4th minute of the game though.

Although Quins didn’t score any tries they made a number of scoring opportunities, in fact a lot of the players think Ugo Monye did touch the ball down, the referee decided he did not. Ugo was also on the end of a great move from the back of the scrum, he looped right, took the ball at pace, was through the defence racing for the line - the referee saw some blocking and caused play to stop. Another break was made through the Leeds defence by Simon Keogh, he took a well timed pass and looked to be through to score - the referee brought play back for what he saw as a forward pass. A number of times Burke kicked to the corner rather than for goal when we had repeated penalties just short of the Leeds line. The ball was taken well in the lineout, a rolling maul was set up, it trundled beautifully towards the try line, got to within a metre or so only to be brought down, Leeds were penalised again and again, but unlike the other end no penalty try was awarded, shame that.

Our scrum was fantastic again, Leeds were completely outplayed in the tight, their scrum wheeled 90 degrees time and time again, the referee did notice one of these and gave us the put in the next time, it’s shame the excellent play by the pack wasn’t rewarded as it should have been.

Quins made a number of scouring chances, unfortunately none of them came to fruition. We lost the game and were knocked out of the cup but remember it hasn’t effected our League position – we didn’t miss out on any points.

On the injury front, Pat Sanderson took a kick on the shin against Leeds and was substituted but he has recovered and will start against Bath (sorry Bath Rugby). Ace Tiatia, George Harder and Simon Miall are all a week closer to playing again. It is a shame that Ace and George aren’t fit for selection against Bath, an up front aggressive style might be just what we need to win the points, but it is good that the medical staff are making sure they are fully fit before they return to the field.

The U21s played against one of the very few teams that has beaten them this season, Leicester, and they came away with a hard fought win, in fact it was their first ever win against Leicester (the current U21 Champions). Tries were scored by Tom Guest, Tom Williams, Henry Barratt. The excellent results so far from the U21s (W8, L2) and the 2nds (W5, L0) has lead to the selection of nine Quins players in the England U21 training squad, they are Tom Parker, Tom Guest, Chris Cracknell, Adrian Jarvis , Chris Bell, Tom Williams, Henry Barratt, Tom Allen and Andy Reay. If you are surprised to see Tom Williams’ name there then I’m not surprised, so far he has played for Wales U16, U18, U19 but he is qualified to play for England and he has decided to choose that route which is very good news for England. The Academy would have sent 10 players to the England U21 squad but Ugo Monye was not considered for selection because he will be away playing in the England 7s team in George, South Africa.

The Ladies also won last weekend in a hard fought game against Oxford RFC with tries being scored by Leonie Webster, Sam Marshall, Alex Burbidge (2) and Chevonne Rennison.

It’s unlikely that the Bath v Quins game is the only match you’ll be watching, there is the little matter of the Rugby World Cup Final too. As we all know Will Greenwood is starting and Jason Leonard is on the bench. Last week Jase became the most capped player of all time (if you leave out his 5 Lions caps), let’s hope he gets another on Saturday.

It will be an intense day of rugby, two matches – a World Cup Final and a top of the table clash. Here’s to producing some rousing support for Quins and England, let’s not think about the sore heads and throats until they inevitably arrive on Sunday.

Come on England, come on Quins!