By RLeQuin
December 10 2002

Due to popular demand, I have written the first in a series of articles on matches from the past. To create an even spread, I have decided to cover 15, 25, 50, 75 and 90 years ago. This time, the period covered is from 9th to 15th December.

12/12/1987 v. Bedford at the Stoop

When we met the men from Goldington Road in 1987, it was in a match played during the old divisional championship days and we were missing ten first choice players as a result. This didn’t seem to affect us much and it only took 38 seconds for Tim Bell to finish off a move set up by Jon Eagle and Everton Davis (our wingers). Stuart Thresher converted and after barely a minute, we were 6-0 ahead. Eleven minutes later, Thresher popped up on the wing to score in the corner but he was unable to convert. From our next attack, Chris Sheasby covered the last 20 yards to the line for Thresher to convert. At 16-0 after seventeen minutes, a massive score looked on the cards but we failed to get any more points before half time. The second half started as the first had – with a Quins try. Tim Bell again scoring after an excellent break by Jamie Salmon; Thresher converted and also added the extra points when Davis raced in under the posts. He avoided four attempted tackles on his diagonal run in from the 22 – this made it 28-0 with over half an hour remaining. Try as Bedford did, they just couldn’t stem the flow and Eagle ran in after good work by Salmon, Simon Cooke and Sheasby for our sixth try which Thresher again converted. Two minutes later, Eagle got his second after Mark Green had set the chance up; Thresher failed with his conversion attempt but we were up to 38-0. The Bedford defence was ripped to shreds and a multi-handling attack led to Salmon scoring our next try with twenty minutes to go. The visitors tried until the end and managed to stop us scoring for the next ten minutes but we reached the fifty point mark when Paul Ashworth went in following a quickly taken penalty and Thresher converted. All that was left was for Eagle to complete his hat-trick after a break by Rob Glenister; the conversion was missed but the final score of 54-0 ensured an unhappy ending for Bedford.

Quins: Stuart Thresher, Jon Eagle, Jamie Salmon, Simon Cooke, Everton Davis, Adrian Thompson, Rob Glenister, Paul Curtis, Simon Miller, Mark Green, Paul Ashworth (c), Paul Ackford, Chris Sheasby, Tim Bell and Paul Jackson.

10/12/1977 v. Bedford at Twickenham

This time, both sides were depleted by the England trials; we supplied five men and Bedford four. This all helped to provide some poor rugby and the match standard never got much above ordinary fare but Peter Whiting (the New Zealand international) had the best of the line outs and Gary Senior (an All Black trialist) had a storming game at Number 8. Bedford’s best move of the game came when Edwards linked with Jackson and Hollins to gain 50 yards. We conceded a penalty from which Jackson barged his way over for a try. Jorden converted and added a penalty by half time. We replied with a try from Colin Lambert after Neil Booth had raced through from full back to set it up. His penalty left the score at 7-9 at half time. In the second half, the only scores were a try for us from Graham Gilbert after Birkett and Richards had linked to send him in from 30 yards and the conversion by Booth. The final score of 13-9 gave us our sixth win over them in the last ten meetings (two draws and two defeats making up the ten).

Quins: Neil Booth, Colin Lambert, Dan Lauffer, Graham Birkett, H.L. Richards, Graham Gilbert, Chris StJ Lamden, John Whipp, David Judd, Micky Claxton, Peter Whiting (c), Paul Jackson, Kevin Douglas, Steve Edlmann and Gary Senior.

13/12/1952 v. Heriot’s F.P. at Twickenham

We had made a very good start to the 1952/53 season and had a record of W10 D1 L2 from the first three months. This was our fifth meeting with the Edinburgh outfit and we started well enough when Wilson got away from a maul on Heriot’s 25 yard line to score under the posts for Grimsdell to convert. After McMath had missed a penalty for the visitors, they opened their scoring when Macmillan scored in the corner but McMath missed the conversion to leave them trailing by two points. When Wilson intercepted a pass and scored under the posts again for Grimsdell to convert, our lead was 10-3. This was reduced by three points when Millar got over the line before half time but, yet again the kick was missed. Shortly after the start of the second half, Fryer sent Davies in for our third try which Grimsdell successfully converted as the light began to fade. McMath missed another penalty from 24 yards and, despite some late pressure, the visitors couldn’t find a way through. The last fifteen minutes were played in semi darkness in the days before floodlights at HQ and the final whistle went with a score of 15-6 in our favour.

Quins: Nigel Gibbs, Peter Woodruff, Phil Davies, Hugh Forbes, Dennis Barker, Albert Agar, Norman Fryer, Peter Fuller, Nick Labuschagne, H.H. Willis, P.D. Hewitt, Alan Grimsdell, Des Wilson, David Brooks (c) and James Greenwood.

10/12/1927 v. Old Merchant Taylors at Twickenham

We had a mixed start to the 1927/28 season with victories over such teams as London Scottish, United Services Portsmouth and Gloucester but losses to (amongst others) Cambridge University, Guy’s Hospital and Bristol. In our thirteenth match at Twickenham against the OMTs, Colin Laird opened the scoring with a try for us in the first half. This was the only score in the opening period and this lead was stretched with a try from Cole which was converted by Hubbard to make the final score 8-0. This was our thirteenth win against them at Twickenham.

Quins: John Hubbard, V.A. Titlestad, J.L. Proudlock, J.R. Cole, Richard Hamilton-Wickes, Vivian Davies, Colin Laird, C.D. Adams, D.H. Duder, A.E.C. Prescott, Edward Fouraker, R.C. Wakefield, H.L. Price, L.H. Spicer and J.S. Chick.

14/12/1912 v. Old Merchant Taylors at Twickenham

This was the golden era of Harlequin rugby and the side contained some famous names in the history of the club. The OMTs were a good side at this time but on this occasion were no match for a rampant Quins team. We took the lead when Carnduff scored a try which Roberts converted but the visitors replied with a try from Cheesman. Adrian Stoop’s brother Frederick (known as Tim) got our second and third tries which Roberts converted and, before the half ended, the game was wrapped up. Ling, H.E. Ward and Henry Brougham crossed but Roberts could only convert one more to make it 26-3 at the interval. The second half produced a goal a piece with Allen going over for the OMTs (Ryan converting) and Brougham getting his second for us for R.O.C. Ward to convert. The final score of 31-8 gave us our tenth victory of the season from twelve games played.

Quins: D.O.H. Tripp, Henry Brougham, Frederick Stoop, Ronald Poulton, John Birkett, Adrian Stoop (c), Herbert Sibree, Geoffrey Roberts, R.O.C. Ward, G.M. Chapman, H.E. Ward, Ken Carnduff, R.W. Ling, C.A.S. Carleton and G.R. Vick.