By Worried of Whitton
January 27 2005

This weekend NEC Harlequins travel to Welford Road to meet top of the table Leicester Tigers in Round 14 of the Zurich Premiership. Whilst the “Eye of the Tiger” is firmly on winning another English Premiership title and possibly a Heineken Cup Final place.

NEC Harlequins are playing for what could be described as the “Survivor”. Cue the theme tune from Rocky!

It is true to say that this is a Top against Bottom clash, and any casual bystander, without reviewing the facts would assume that the result will be a foregone conclusion with Harlequins being soundly beaten off the park. In practice it is the final result at the end of the match that has not favoured Quins this season, but the performance, in many matches HAS gone our way. This is illustrated by the number of bonus points that have we have picked up this season. Quins have put in numerous respectable performances this year against some stiff opposition, two weeks ago we contained Munster, when everyone written Quins off. Earlier in the season, away from home, bonus points were picked up at Newcastle, Gloucester, and Wasps.( Note: this was written before Evans announced the team. We obviously see things the same way! WoW) The last time we met Leicester, was at home in October Quins lost but once again did collect a precious bonus point., going down 9-15.

Let s face it everyone loves to have a dig at Quins especially when they are “down”, but we need to put our position in context. If we look at the league table itself, we see that Quins position is easily recoverable. This time last year the bottom club were in a position they could not recover from. This year that is certainly not the case. The league is evenly split in half; those clubs above 30 points occupy positions 1 to 6, those below 30 points 7 to 12. Only seven points lie between London Irish in seventh position and Harlequins in twelfth and with nine games still to be played the debate is still wide open as to who will finish bottom. Quins have the unenviable position of being bottom at the moment, BUT we do not have the distractions of other competitions. Our focus is purely on the Premiership. Apart from Saracens whom we should have put away on Boxing Day we have still to play all the other teams with us in the bottom six. 

Just one point above Harlequins, are Worcester and Leeds who are both still in the European Shield Competition. Worcester have ruffled more than a few feathers in the Premiership this year no more so than against Harlequins back in October, and our rematch on February 19^th  will be a keenly fought contest, which could reveal the shape of the rest of the season. In football terms this could be a real “eight pointer”.

Leeds were my tip at the start of the season for finishing bottom, and from what I saw of their performance against Northampton last week I still believe this to be the case. Leeds have of course also qualified for the semi finals of the Powergen Cup, which could cause a distraction due to the opportunity of an “easy” entry into the Heineken competition wafts in front of them like a carrot in front of a donkey.

If Leeds are successful on reaching the Domestic Cup final our game at Headingly will have to be rearranged, adding more pressure.

The same could be said of London Irish, who, if they ever rediscover how to score tries will not finish at the bottom. The metronomic Mapeltoft has served then well this season, but it scores in multiples of five that they need to put away. The rematch at the Stoop on April 9^th, just a week before the Powergen Final, will be another critical match for Harlequins.

Northampton started the season very well and then plummeted spectacularly to the bottom of the table. They have recovered in recent weeks, and have won place in the Quarter finals of the Heineken Cup, albeit against Toulouse. Last Saturday saw them put in a very poor performance, against Leeds, where they were outclassed in the line out and the scrum. Whilst Leeds deserved the win, they were not much better, and sat on their lead rather than strive to extend it. Most critically Northampton now play the rest of the season without Robinson who picked up a 14 week ban for petulant play.

Certainly with Sale entertaining an off colour Northampton, and Leeds playing London Irish on Friday night Quins will have Saturday morning to view the “collateral damage” and assess what they really need to do.  With Worcester away at Gloucester on Saturday one would assume a home win but with Gloucester collapsing at home two weeks ago, Worcester are more than capable of causing an upset shows how very tight down in the basement.  Just one losing bonus points earned against Leicester, and Leeds and Worcester loosing by more than seven points will propel Quins up to tenth place. Harlequins have a more advantageous points difference, (-50) than Worcester (-125) and Leeds (-56).

No one can deny that the run in to the end of the 2004-05 season will be dull, unexciting and more importantly a foregone conclusion. Let's enjoy it! 

And so to Saturday, yes this match matters for pride and self esteem but many will have written off our chances.  Leicester at home are always difficult to beat and this weekend will be no exception.A loosing bonus point or a draw will be viewed as a great result. As has been said many times before it is the team that turns up on the day, a Quins win would silence the critics.

Harlequins face a tough opposition with no less than five of the starting line up, Smith, Ellis, Rowntree, Kay and Moody plus White on the bench,  selected by Robinson for the England Squad to face Wales the following Saturday. Leicester have made a couple of changes, they have recalled he tenacious Neil Back who is Leicester‘s top try scorer against Harlequins with eight tries. Lewis Moody moves from the open side to the blindside flanker, while Louis Deacon replaces Will Johnson at number eight. Leon Lloyd returns from injury and partners Ollie Smith in the centre.  As ever Leicester are captained by  Martin Johnson who announced his retirement earlier this week.  The goal kicking machine that is Andy Goode plays at No10 and Quins will be punished for every penalty they give away.

Quins make a couple of changes to the side that met Munster two weeks ago, Staunton starts and replaces Dunne who has a broken foot.. Of the Simons, cup tied Maling replaces Miall and Roy Winters who I though was absolutely outstanding against Munster starts ahead of Rudzki. It is pleasing to see that the injured Vos, Fuga and Harder are expected to return next week, but I believe that Diprose is the better choice for Captain ahead of Vos for this match. One recalls the cynical foul on Vos by Johnston two years ago.  I m surprised to see Duffy picked ahead of Williams, but I expect we will see him come on in a “super sub” role early in the second half. One also hopes that the lessons learnt form our performance against Munster have been heeded. We really do not want to see any more sin binning of anyone in a quartered shirt, and frustration must not be allowed to take control. We have to put in a disciplined and well drilled performance to stand a chance of a favourable result. Maybank is certainly going to be earning his salary this week.

Maybe this weekend will result in “one in the eye of the Tiger” Quins can do it. Whatever the result just think of me at 9 o’clock on Monday morning when I return to work to face my boss who is a Leicester Tiger supporter! 

Opinions expressed in this preview do not necessarily reflect the views of Bish and Kevin.

 

Come on you Quins!

NEC Harlequins:
15. Gavin Duffy,14. Simon Keogh,13. Dafydd James,12. Mel Deane,11. Ugo Monye, 10. Jeremy Staunton ,9. Steve So’oialo,1. Ceri Jones,2. Ace Tiatia,3. Jon Dawson, 4. Roy Winters, 5. Simon Maling,6. Nick Easter, 7. Luke Sherriff,8. Tony Diprose (c)
Replacements: 16. James Hayter,17. Mike Worsley,18.Simon Miall,19. Kai Horstmann 20. Andy Reay, 21. Henry Barrett, 22. Tom Williams

Leicester :
15 Geordan Murphy, 14 John Holtby, 13 Leon Lloyd, 12 Ollie Smith, 11 Austin Healey, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Harry Ellis, 1 Graham Rowntree, 2 George Chuter,3 Darren Morris, 4 Martin Johnson (captain), 5 Ben Kay, 6 Lewis Moody, 7 Neil Back,8 Louis Deacon
Replacements: 16 Ephraim Taukafa, 17 Julian White, 18 Will Johnson, 19 Henry Tuilagi, 20 Scott Bemand, 21 Daryl Gibson, 22 Alesana Tuilagi

Match Officials

Referee: Roy Maybank
Touch judges: Andy Watson, Peter Huckle
Assessor: Brian Leigh