By AlanQuin
January 13 2005

A very young 2ndXV team ran in 7 tries to beat the Army 22–53 at Aldershot last night.  With only 2 main squad players, Henry Barratt & Joe Mbu, 18 from the Academy and 2 from the Wanderers in the side, a win had seemed unlikely before the game against an Army side well stocked with large Fijians. 

But it took only a couple of minutes for the youngsters to give clear notice of intent.  From a penalty tapped quickly just inside the Quins half, scrum-half Duncan James made a fine break through the Army line and some good handling saw the Quins backs just stopped short of the try line. The ball was retained and with the forwards in support the ball was worked to the centre where George Robson barged his way over for the first try.  Luke Cousins converted with the first of eight successful kicks and Quins led 0 – 7. 

The Army counter-attacked fiercely and for the next fifteen minutes Quins were largely penned in their own twenty-two metre zone as their opponents retained possession aided by a series of penalties many of which were for mysterious offences signalled by a referee who seemed to have escaped from a naval semaphore signalling course.  His arms whirled in all directions and usually ended in favour of the home team.  Eventually the pressure told and the ball was moved rapidly to the right where the Army created a two man overlap and their winger beat Joe Mbu, easily passing him to score in the corner.  The conversion was missed.  5 – 7.

Quins were soon running at their opponents again and once more a fine break by Duncan James with some good handling skills saw Charlie Amesbury sprinting down the wing to touch down under the posts virtually unopposed.  The simple conversion by Cousins increased the lead to 5 – 14 after seventeen minutes and a few minutes later Cousins added another three points from a penalty extending the score to 5 – 17.

By now the young Quins were well into their game.  They tackled ferociously.  They moved the ball at pace and with excellent handling skills and Masson, James, Guest, Mbu and Barratt all particularly impressive. Finally, on the half-hour, Joe Mbu burst through the tacklers and although stopped short of the line had Mike Brown in support to take the pass and score. The conversion by Cousins extended the score to 5 – 24. 

Almost from the restart, Mbu struck again, breaking clear of tacklers and then collecting his wholly improbable chip ahead to score under the posts to leave Cousins an easy conversion. 5 – 31 after thirty-three minutes. 

Once again the Army began to apply some pressure on the Quins’ defence and they eventually created a two man overlap on the left which allowed their winger to score.  The conversion kick, which missed, ended the half with the score 10 – 31.

A penalty, well kicked, in the first minute of the second half by Luke Cousins increased the lead and then after seven minutes, Duncan James made another fine break and with excellent support handling and passing found himself on the end of the move and scoring in the right corner.  This time Cousins’ kick went wide. 10 – 39.

With the wind behind them and the game well in hand the young Quins continued to run at their opponents and it was inevitable that more tries would follow.  First, Tom Muggeridge was driven over from a catch and drive at a line-out and then an interception at close quarters by Tom Guest saw him break clear and run thirty metres to touch down under the posts.  Both tries were converted by Luke Cousins and Quins led 10 - 53.

The Army managed two push-over tries in the last five minutes of the match as they found their pack begin to dominate the lighter Quins as they tired.  The result was, however, never in doubt.

There were some excellent performances in the Quins side.  Mbu, as always, caught the eye with excellent running and strength in fending off would-be tacklers but confirmed the fallibility of his defensive game.  Duncan James appeared to have recovered form and confidence and ran and played well.  Tosh Masson had another excellent game at centre.  Luke Cousins, the Wanderers’ fly-half had a good game and apart from a couple of dicey kicks from hand, was in no way outclassed by the Academy.  His personal tally of 18 points marks a promising first appearance at this level.  As always these matches are well worth the watching .

 

NEC Harlequins XV: 15. Charlie Amesbury, 14. Henry Barratt, 13. Mike Brown, 12. Tosh Masson, 11. Joe Mbu, 10. Luke Cousins, 9. Duncan James, 1. Tom Muggridge (Capt.), 2. Cameron Dott, 3. Alex Rogers, 4. George Robson, 5. James Inglis, 6. Chris Robshaw, 7. Darren Clayton, 8. Tom Guest

Replacements: 16. Matt Sermon, 17. Mark Abel, 18. Alex Ayling, 19. Andrew Hodgkins, 20. Steven Jay, 21. Kiba Richards

Scorers:
Tries: Robson, Amesbury, Brown, Mbu, James, Muggridge, Guest
Conversions: Cousins (6)
Penalties: Cousins (2)