By PerryGo
November 20 2002

Just when I praise the guys for their defensive record they go and concede 36 points away at Sarries. Did it have to be Sarries? Puhleeeese! Then, just when I’m eating handfuls of humble pie, they pull out a great performance to crush the Waspies at home. And only one try conceded…

Not exactly from the ridiculous to the sublime, but pretty perplexing stuff.  More perplexing than pretty, actually.

The first, rather frightening thought that emerges from this quagmire of mixed messages is that (whisper it quietly) we might just be becoming hard to beat at home.  Everyone’s dream away fixture, to raise the drooping morale, may have become everyone’s worst nightmare.  Well, a slight exaggeration maybe.  At the moment.  Watch out Welford Road, here we come.  The Stoop is on the march. 

Not that anyone gives us any credit for it.  Or for anything else come to that. 

Visiting teams continue to bemoan their error rate, etc. etc.  HEY, QUINS WERE ON THE FIELD TOO, Y’KNOW… 

Puddleglum and Bagpuss in the Sky Sports’ studio continue to compliment Wasps (or anyone else we’re playing) and express great surprise at anything good we do, like win for example.  As does most of the media.  Sensitive?  Me?

Meanwhile, we’ll just keep moseying up the league table.  Hopefully.

Am I the only one confused by the Jekell and Hyde performances?  Maybe inconsistent results (which, in fairness, are not solely a feature of Quins’ performances so far) will be a consistent feature of this season.  It would certainly fit the mould of comments by learned observers, such as the Great One (M.E.), that the league is very tight this year, with not too much separating the best from the less-best.

On the bulk of the evidence of late (admittedly, mostly missing Greenwood and/or Burke) if we’re going to achieve anything much this year it will be thanks to our outstanding forwards.  Last week at Sarries, the backs were (how shall I put it without  causing offence?)… rhymes with strap and is spelt like parc backwards. 

Talking (in part) of the backs, am I the only one who wonders whether M.E. has made the best and worst investments of his career in the same season?

Andre Vos has – to me – been consistently excellent in the matches he has played so far.  A pleasure to watch.  I think he is a fantastic acquisition and I just hope he remains healthy to play a big part in the rest of the season.  He’s everywhere, and leads by example.  He can only get better, too.

So who’s not quite in the same category?  Viliame Satala, of course.  I doubt anyone shed a tear that he (finally) got to play for Fiji last weekend instead of Quins.  A huge disappointment to date.   OK, he has the size to make 5 metres when 2 would be the norm, but his positioning is vague, his pace is at best leisurely and his defence is questionable (did anyone else watch the re-run of the recent Sale away match on the screen before the game Sunday?  For those of us who were there, and saw the team throw away a winnable match, the turning point was surely Satala’s “I really can’t be bothered” non-tackle that led to that Sale try).  Personally, I reckon the ‘call’ from Fiji may have been a blessing in disguise.  And to think we risked the wrath of the IRB by abiding by the letter of the law rather than the spirit, in denying him to play in last week’s match because the necessary notice hadn’t been given.  After all, there was no reason to think that just because he’d been excused the Fiji trials that they’d want him to actually play, now, was there?  Course not…      

Rob Jewell has never done a lot for me, personally, but then, he’s not had a lot of chances.  Having seen him step in at 13 on Sunday though, I take my hat off.  Well done, Rob.  Solid all round performance, I thought.  Enough to put Satala back on the bench.  Or the plane.  Hope he’s not costing too much.  Come back soon, Chris Bell.

Now of course, in between the previous match and the last match, one other little thing happened.  Burke came back from injury.   And in the absence of anyone who can even remotely match his consistency as a goal kicker (are we the only club in the league, by the way, that has no practical alternative as a kicker?   Think about it…) boy do we need him.  For a first match back after six weeks or so out with an injury, I thought he did very well.  Couple of poor kicks, few poor decisions, but, hey, compared to our options…  Credit where it is due, Burkey had a good match (and scored a lot of points yet again).

And hats off too to Nick Greenstock.  Apart from the Sarries game, he’s done well for us, filling in, especially as a part-timer. Can’t be easy, but he’s shown some true pedigree.  Excellent try and some other good work too, before he sadly had to go off with that injury.  Shame too about Duncombe, who is clearly our number one and must surely be back in contention for England soon.  But, given we’re in a World Cup year, probably  not until next season, since Dawson and Gomersall are well positioned, with a ton more experience, and Motor Mouth Austin Healey is available on the bench as cover for all the backs’ positions.   Maybe Duncombe has an outside chance, though – perhaps no-one will agree to share a room with Healey…

I was not at all surprised that the Sky experts (or was it Barnes?) selected Dippy as MOTM on Sunday.  Consistently excellent this season.  Does so much that is unseen or passes quickly by, but does it so well and so often in important situations.  He’s also a Man of Steel, it seems.  When did you last see him miss a match through injury?  If you had to pick one person for player of the season so far, based on consistency and contribution, he would be right up there in my view.  Great signing, and complemented by the rest of the back row, which is better balanced now that Vos has arrived.  If only Sanderson and Winters were available for selection, what options we’d have…

Quiz question time – did Ugo Monye actually touch the ball after he came on?  Answers on a postcard. 

Talking of young up-and-coming players, you had to feel a bit sorry for Ayoola Erinle who started for Wasps at 12.  What I mean is, I assume he’s young and up-and-coming, but who knows?  He didn’t even get his résumé in the programme, still less a photo, so I’m guessing somewhat.  But that’s not why I felt sorry for him; no, I mean being taken off half way through the match.  He’d managed a couple of half-decent half-breaks, but a couple of naïve defensive lapses and ball lost in the tackle looks like they cost him his place.  Pretty demoralizing stuff.

Talking of lapses, and pictures in programmes, Mark Van Gisbergen also managed the former without managing the latter, after Alex King was taken off.  I’ve always been an admirer of King, as I am Goode.  And Hodgson.  And Contepomi.  But King had a quiet game.

And so to Saturday.  I’m predicting that Quins will break the away match hoodoo.  A win by twelve points, followed by England beating the Boks by twenty points. 

A good day at the office.  And if the TVs work properly in the Northampton bar (surely they won’t be NEC ones..?) then I’ll get to watch both matches.

See you at the Gardens.