By Worried of Whitton
November 14 2005

With a return to business in National Division One, Harlequins find themselves once more on the road, returning to Manchester for their away fixture against Sedgley Park. In order to keep everyone on their toes, this week’s kick off at Park Lane this week is at 14.30 on Saturday November 12th.

The change of date to a Sunday match last week, in order to boost attendance was a failure as Quins first XV played in front of their lowest crowd this season, a very poor turnout of less than 1000. This goes to show that Rugby Union is really a Saturday afternoon game, although it may have been due in part to the lethargy surrounding this competition. Scotty assures us that a larger crowd is expected this week. It was also reported this week that. Sedgley Park are rebranding themselves as Sedgley Tigers, but one has to question the reasons why the name was chosen, in the light of the result last Sunday, and recent league results. A visit from their local Trading standards office would probably make them review their decision. Sedgley Park currently lie in 11^th position in the league after just two wins, away against Coventry on the opening day of the season and at home against London Welsh, with one draw  ( Pertemps Bees) and five defeats.

As we all know part one of these two meetings well and truly went to Harlequins who emphatically ran out winners by 61-13 after forty unanswered second half points. This was the second week running that Sedgley Park had conceded nine tries against what was stated as being their strongest first team. Two weeks ago in the league Sedgley Park were comprehensively beaten down at Truro by Cornish Pirates 53- 8, From the reports that I've read of the trophy match, we are very likely to see a repeat, and enhanced  performance this week, as Harlequins ring the changes once more with the team sheet.

There are eight changes from the side that started last week, as announced by the club  on Thursday morning “Captain Andre Vos returns to the openside flank, with Chris Robshaw switching to the blindside and Nick Easter starting at number eight in place of Tony Diprose. Jim Evans takes over from Kevin Burke in the second row, while in the front row Tani Fuga and Ricky Nebbett replace Jimmy Richards and Lorne Ward respectively. In the back division, Steve So’oialo starts at scrum half ahead of Ian Vass, while Tosh Masson returns to the midfield to partner Will Greenwood. Gavin Duffy is at full back, so Tom Williams drops to the bench and Ugo Monye takes over from George Harder on the right wing”. The biggest surprise for me is not seeing Vass in the squad, is he injured?

It is looking that Richards “horses for courses” method of team selection has now produced what he feels to a the strongest squad for the Division One matches. Whilst the Powergen Trophy and Guinness “A” competitions are also firmly in our sights these competitions are not going to distract from the undisputed goal of promotion.

This is a match that Quins will win, but the team will not be complacent as they know that hey will have to play for their win. Last weeks encounter was a scrappy match. Sedgley Park began the match by “throwing everything at them” in a physical confrontation, which saw the home side lead 10-0 in the first five minutes of the match. With Quins pressure fortunes were reversed allowing Quins to go in 21-13 ahead at half time. In the second half Quins changed their style of play to keep a lot more of ball in hand with much improved passing skills which paid huge dividends in their ease and speed of racking up the additional points. Sedgley Park were consistently out played in the second half, as Quins confidence grew with the increasing score.

Quins will also need to win in style this week, and extend even further their superior points difference as they move towards a critical couple of weeks in the championship. Indeed it was pleasing to read in AlanQuins' match report last week “There is little doubt that when Quins start to run with the ball they have both pace, skill and penetration which brought six tries in the second half and augers well for a five point haul next week in the league game.”

Next week they meet the first of the other two teams who are now running a three horse race for the National Division One title. Quins are at home to Cornish Pirates next Sunday, November 20th and away to Bedford on December 3^rd.

All three clubs have long since left the other contenders behind, and all three have the wherewithal to finish in top spot at the end of the season. Christmas completes the first half of the season with all ND1 having played each other once and we will know how Quins have faired. Interestingly  both Bedford and Pirates have indicated that promotion is not their goal this season, and indeed another of last years front runners, Exeter, appear to have held back their investment plans this year due to the presence of Harlequins in the division, deciding it would be “cost effective” to defer their Premiership plans for one year. This year, Pirates would not meet the promotion criteria due to their ground and Bedford recently stated that they are refusing to contemplate the prospect of promotion and they believe that they will be in a better position to judge where we are at the end of next season. Harlequins therefore are the only team that have announced their affirmed intention to finish first in this year’s Division One ahead of all the competition and in the team that has been picked this week certainly shows that intent.

For those travelling to the match this weekend have a safe journey. I’ll be at Twickenham watching England v Australia, proving that the Harlequins members’ International ticket ballot does produce results! however I must add that I'll be eagerly awaiting the result from Park Lane.
   

NEC Harlequins:
15. Gavin Duffy,14. Ugo Monye,13. Will Greenwood,12. Tosh Masson,11. Simon Keogh,
10. Andrew Mehrtens,9. Steve So’oialo,1. Ceri Jones,2. Tani Fuga,3. Ricky Nebbett,4. Jim Evans,        5. Simon Miall,6. Chris Robshaw,7. Andre Vos (c) 8. Nick Easter,
Replacements: 16. Jimmy Richards,17.Lorne Ward,18.Mike Worsley,19.James Inglis,20.Luke Sherriff,21. Mel Deane,
22. Tom Williams,

Sedgley Park: 
15. Chris Hall, 14. Jon Feeley, 13, Shaun Woof, 12. Ian Voortman, 11. Danny McGee, 10. Richard Hopkinson, 9. Chris Wilkinson, 1, Gareth Roberts, 2. Richard Oxley, 3. Gerallt Evans, 4. Chris Rowe, 5. Erik Lund, 6. Richard Senior, 7. Jimmy Ponton (c), 8. Sam Anania
Replacements: 16. Phil Gazzola, 17. Paul Keys, 18. Petrus du Plessis, 19. Tim Fourie, 20. Jon Skurr, 21. Dave McCormack, 22. Mike Peters

Match Officials:
Referee: Tim Wigglesworth
Touch judges: Dale Newitt, Martin Buck