Harlequins
Harlequins 24-0 Ulster
By nicksb
August 22 2010
A 24 - 0 victory shouldn't leave any Quins fan feeling disappointed but somehow yesterday it did.
Expectations were certainly high before the game with many predicting a runaway Quins score of 40 plus points. In the end, despite moments of genius it was an afternoon of missed chances and knock about handling error's that would impress even Buster Keaton.
With quite possibly our starting XV for the LDH on the pitch, things start well. An early Ulster knock on gives Quins a good scrum in the Ulster half and before we know it, Care is speeding ahead, passing to Easter before Ulster are awarded a penalty at the ensuing ruck. From the Ulster line out the ball is kicked down field to Brown who motors up the pitch and takes the tackle. As bodies from both sides pile up, Brooker pops up with the ball and charges halfway up the field, passing to Easter and along the line to JTH who seemingly has the try in the bag. Unfortunately not only is there a forward pass but it is to be the first of many impressive Quins moves that are to end in disappointment.
The next ten minutes features some good play from both sides but despite an excellent take on one of Nevs kick from Monye, neither side looks like troubling the score board. The Ulster defence is aggressive and with ball in hand their back line is looking better on the pitch than perhaps it did on paper before the game. Quins still have most of the possession though and following a good line out take from Kohn, the team drive towards the Ulster tryline. Feeling the pressure, Ulster are penalised and a quick tap and go from Care finally put Quins on the scoreboard about 15 minutes into the game.
The rest of half is characterised by plenty of possession for Quins, lots of attacking play and unfortunately, lots of errors. On the 25 minute mark a superb passage of play featuring Nev, Easter, Robshaw, JTH and Lowe surely would have ended in a try had there not been a forward pass - this time I believe the normally reliable Easter was culprit.
Frustration by Quins and that solid defence from Ulster meant that aside from a Nev penalty, the half looks like it will end with the score at a rather disappointing 10 - 0. Clearly in need of some divine inspiration, a short period of good pressure from Quins at the very end of the half sees the ball passed through the forwards to Monye, who pins his ears back to score, which Nev promptly converts.
Its 17 - 0 at halftime and the chatter around me is mixed but the general consensus is that Quins seem a little complacent and a little too eager to get the ball out wide at any opportunity. With all the possession, Quins should have more to show for it.
The second half doesn't start well with Quins knocking on from the restart. Another ten minutes of good moves followed by handling errors (including a great take by Monye, who then promptly drops it) lead to wholesale changes. Casson, Smith, Stevenson and a new front row, including Quins very own pony tailed plonker, Joe 'Rodney' Marler come on. More pressure from Quins follows but still the Ulster defence holds and on the 65th minute, another raft of Quins subs come on with Care, Easter and Vallejos off and Guest, Dickson and Browne on.
This seems to have a galvanising effect as Quins push for the tryline and quick ball from Dickson and good hands from Clegg and Casson send Marler over for what I dare say will be the first of a number of tries for him this season.
The final ten minutes see Quins new boy Urdapilleta come on at full back and the game ends with a bit of a whimper at 24 - 0.
And that was it. A rather drab end to the game. Credit to Ulster, they defended well and clearly weren't going to give us an easy game. Their forwards were abrasive and their backline would surely have kept them right in the game if they hadn't caught whatever disease Quins had that led to the enormous amount of handling errors.
For Quins, plenty of possession and impressive attacking play only led to a knock on or a missed pass. Monye had clearly coated his hands in butter in the second half and unfortunately Mike Brown still can't pass but credit to him for running from deep just about every time he had the ball.
I thought the new boys looked sharpe. Casson seemed to combine well with Smith in the centre, and despite the obligatory jelly handed moment defended well and can certainly stay on his feet in the tackle. Browne and Stevenson made a pretty dynamic second row pairing (Stevenson seems to get better every game he plays)and Urdapilleta looks quick and alert - his tap tackle on Mcllwaine near the end was impressive.
As for the rest, Brooker looks like he'll finally get his place in the starting 15 (although Cairns is a better thrower in my opinion) and Dickson will certainly be pushing Care for the No.9 jersey. Apart from the haircut, Marler was his usual self when he came on. I think he'll adapt to life in the Premiership very quickly and for the first time in a few seasons I feel confident about our options at loosehead.
I thought the team looked fit (Kohn and Easter in particular) and although there were a lot of mistakes they looked very well drilled. Our defence was again superb and a huge improvement over last year. 7 points shipped in 3 games is a great return and should bode well for the season. Danny Care didn't get yellow carded and despite the errors the players seemed determined to try and play a fast and expansive game of rugby.
The scrum was a little 50/50 in the first half but we seemed to be pushing them all over the place in the second. Our line outs were solid enough although constantly throwing the ball to Kohn may get stale very quickly. Nev and Cleggs kicking was good and I think on balance that we look in a much better state that what we did this time last year.
So, all in all a bit of a mixed bag. On a personal note it was great to be back at the Stoop and a big hello to Lex, both the Yeti's and Quinton Poulson. As for Quins, I'm not sure if I see us as top 4 material yet but we certainly have it in us to achieve a top 6 finish.
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The game's afoot;
Follow your spirit: and upon this charge,
Cry — God for Harry! England and Saint George
QUIN KONG
Nunquam Dormio
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:08:21:17:22:08 by IMT.
Good
1) The defence. We've conceded 7 points in 3 games that has to be a good sign
2) We looked relaxed and much "happier" than this time last year
3) We're trying to play fast attacking rugby of the type that Adrian Stoop would have approved of
4) The young players (Marler in particular bit also Brooker and Vallejos) had good games IMHO
5) Great to see Ollie back
6) A fun day out as always
The not so good
1) We didn't anihilate a fairly week side
2) Lots of handling errors
3) ASBO still hasn't learned to pass
4) The lineout looked a bit flakey and we seem to have dropped Minty as a line out option.
Anyway just my observations for what they are worth
But, two weeks to work on handling, and defence was good.
By the way, Marler still has the pony tail, saw him after the game, without his head gear on. It really does need cutting off.
Lowe's got last season's dropsies unfortunately.
O Fortuna, velut luna statu variabilis,
semper crescis aut decrescis
Good:
Defence. No matter who you're playing, 7 points in 3 games is something I'd like to see continued. Ulster never looked like they had a sniff.
Possession. This is the one marked improvement on last year IMO. We were scarcely turned over at ruck time. We kept the ball very well and for the most part it was quick ball that we retained. One of last year's issues was our weakness in possession.
Some of our play. We seem to be using a lot of forwards coming at pace running off Nick Evans. Rarely did we spread it wide, preferring instead to run loops with forwards coming at pace, then looking to offload. It's like how Bath were playing a few years ago when they were playing some great stuff and Winning. It's almost like rugby league, since I noticed Danny and Nick almost swapping places at times with both of them playing first receiver from time to time. Whoever is at first receiver is very flat and always looking for a runner. Whenever we did throw it wide, there were a couple of instances where an interception could have been possible, but that's only because NEV was usually super flat.
Goal Kicking. 100%. You can't ask for more. This has been pretty good all preseason which is only good IMO.
Kicking in open play. I can't remember more than a couple of up and under's which were usually over used and poorly executed last term. Progress.
The Scrum. We had them going backwards here. If that's CoS's prefered front 5, I can't complain. It's physically massive and won't get pushed back in this situation.
Fitness and Motivation. We look more up for it, better organised and there are less players with strapping on various limbs. Nice to see NEV's knee without strapping on, maybe he's finally fit?
BAD:
Scoreline. Yeah i'd take 24-0 against anyone most weeks but considering the possession we had, 24-0 is nothing. We had at least 70% possession and we probably should have gotten a little more out of this.
Handling errors. Still too many. Ugo seemingly always lost the ball whenever he went into contact (except his try, which was lovely). I guess when you're looking to offload at every opportunity then these are going to come.
Lineout. Yeah, we're still going to get merked in this area unless something improves dramatically. As someone pointed out, we're not using Nick as a lineout option, when him jumping at the tail was usually our go-to. Maybe this has something to do with Tani going. It's more the jumping than the throwing I think, although Brooker's throw isn't as fast as Tani's or Botha's were. I wonder who's calling it as neither Jim (retired, wasn't he our long time l/o captain?) or George are playing at the moment.
On the whole good, promising. We've got to play much better attacks who will be better organised but I can see everything coming together nicely.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:08:22:09:21:54 by The Kid.
Quote:Fistral Beach
Some good signs - not as decisive as we should have been but overall I saw enough for us to be on track with 2 weeks to go. I reckon we held something back from prying eyes - anyone else see Shaun Edwards strolling around?
Mrs Duncan said "why is that bloke wearing Wasps kit" my reply "becuase that bloke is Shaun Edwards" as he walked past us.
Nunquam Dormio
The Ulster 1 didn't seem to bind at any point in the first half, the referee seemed a bit out of his depth at the @#$%&.
Quote:Heath Quinn
By the way, Marler still has the pony tail, saw him after the game, without his head gear on. It really does need cutting off.
It seems to keep on disappearing and reappearing. It must be "Rodney" clip on one...
Start playing from 3'45"...: [">www.youtube.com]
GQG.
Quote:Go Quins Go!Quote:Heath Quinn
By the way, Marler still has the pony tail, saw him after the game, without his head gear on. It really does need cutting off.
It seems to keep on disappearing and reappearing. It must be "Rodney" clip on one...
Start playing from 3'45"...: [">www.youtube.com]
[">www.youtube.com] should take you straight there
Nunquam Dormio
........................................
One of the founder members of the Q-GOMC (promoted to Major Grump) – and proud of it - Bah!
Quote:Go Quins Go!Quote:Heath Quinn
By the way, Marler still has the pony tail, saw him after the game, without his head gear on. It really does need cutting off.
It seems to keep on disappearing and reappearing. It must be "Rodney" clip on one...
Start playing from 3'45"...: [">www.youtube.com]
It finally hit me yesterday who he reminded me of.
Possibly slightly more complementary than Rodney from Only Fools & Horses, he reminds me of 'The Thing' from Fantastic Four...
Jo reminds me of Robert "Bob" Parr, aka Mr. Incredible from the Incredibles
)Lex
Quote:The Prof
the referee seemed a bit out of his depth at the scrum
Who was the Ref? He looked a bit familiar- maybe French or Italian?
GQG.
O Fortuna, velut luna statu variabilis,
semper crescis aut decrescis
lot of 50/50 offloads which I wouldn't expect in more important games, so hopefully that will cut out some of the handling errors. hopefully the player will know when to try the offload and when to take the contact
edwards was looking as cheerful as ever. maybe we were fairly predictable in the lineout so that he and other prying eyes were denied a chance to swot up on our moves
But to put these games into perspective - Deano once said he never won a pre-season friendly when in charge at Leicester. Which probably meant he gave the third team a run-about - the rest of the club already knew exactly was expected of them.
