By Quins4life
December 2 2015

So after a couple of away games we are back at the Stoop with a game against London Irish. Firstly, after re-watching the Exeter game last week, we really shot ourselves in the foot and rather than Exeter winning the game, we seemingly lost it. A lack of discipline, a dysfunctional lineout and poor basic errors cost us at key moments in the game. You cannot do what we did last week against the top sides in the league as you’ll be punished. I did think that we did enough to win the game despite those negatives so it was disappointing to lose in the end.

All that being said, two points gained, scoring four tries and conceding two whilst playing away at an Exeter side that will likely finish in the top 4, would normally be considered a fantastic result and at the end of the season, those two points could be crucial. So overall, whilst the result and aspects of the performances were disappointing, generally we can be reasonably happy and shows how maybe our expectations of the season are slowly changing. 

So next up, as mentioned, is a home game against a struggling London Irish side that has not got a single point, not won game and because of this they are sitting at the foot of the table. It is fair to say to say the influx of a lot of new players and coaching structure has not had the desired effect yet and they appear to be struggling because of it. However, these results could be down to the fixtures. To be fair to Irish, they have played five sides that should be challenging for the top four and the title so their opening part of the fixture list has not been kind to them and I guess having to travel to a Quins side playing well wont help them. Their only win of the season so far came in the Challenge Cup against Agen at home, which gave their Irish fans a bit of joy and hope that they could turn the corner, but the next results destroyed that hope. They did play better against Wasps in the London Double Header at Twickenham last week, however still ended up losing 33-15 against a Wasps side that had a few injuries and rotated a few players. According to reports, Irish defended well and looked more dangerous in attack last week, however whilst they may have defended well the facts don’t lie, they still conceded four tries. 

Irish do have threats throughout in their team and should not be taken lightly like all the teams in the Premiership this year. You cannot look past their front row and their recruitment of two-time world cup winning tight-head prop, Ben Franks, who will add a lot of experience and knowledge of how to win games. They also have a number of other quality players in their pack, such as their lock pairing of George Skivington and Matt Symons, both of which would be good additions to any Premiership team. They also possess Alex Lewington, another very exciting young, English winger who is threat out wide and in the midfield and the Quins defence will need to be on their toes. They also have a few ex-Quins in their tanks, such as the back row options of Joe Trayfoot and Ton Guest (though I don’t know where he is at the moment, and also they have Aseli Tikoirotuma who played at Quins last season and failed to live up to his hype, although he gave us perhaps my moment of the season with his intercept try against Leinster. 

Team Selections 

The Quins team totally depends on what players are available and have recovered in time. The obvious place to start is our back row, where neither Clifford nor Wallace recovered in time for the Exeter, despite O’Shea saying the latter would be. Therefore I expect Wallace to be fit this week, whilst unless Clifford is 100% fit I would give him another week off and then give him a run out again in the Calvisano games. This will means that Ward will return to hooker and Buchanan to the bench. Marler Vs Ben Franks will be an interesting battle, and I hoping we’ll see a return of Jones to sure up the scrum a bit that struggled at points last week. Lets hope all of this will mean our lineout can improve and return to what it was like in the first couples of games. I don’t see any other changes to the pack unless there any injuries I’m unaware of due to the back-to-back games against Calvisano. Due to this return to European action next week, I expect us to use the strongest backline we can. Whilst in attack Walker was good last week, he disappointed hugely in defence by dropping the ball in key moments under the high ball (though I do concede the weather didn’t help him). Therefore I don’t think he has done enough to keep a returning Yarde to the team if he is fit. There were knocks to both Sloan and Evans last week, but the ‘A’ team selection suggest both will be fine as all potential replacements for them both are starting and I doubt we would risk their replacements in this game if they were going to be unfit for the Irish game. 

My team to face London Irish; 

Marler, Ward, Jones, Twomey, Horwill, Robshaw, Wallace, Easter; Care (c), Evans, Visser, Sloan, Lowe, Yarde, Brown. 

Below is the Irish team that started last week in their loss against Wasps. They were missing a couple of players that having been previously been playing. The most notably player that was missing was their captain George Skinvington, who will return if he is fit I have no doubt. Young academy product Tom Fowlie was also missing due to injury, whilst ex-Quins Tom Guest must be presumed to be unfit. 

15. Topsy Ojo; 14. Alex Lewington; 13. Aseli Tikoirotuma; 12. Johnny Williams; 11. Tom Fowlie; 10. Chris Noakes; 9. Scott Steele; 1. Tom Court*; 2. David Paice; 3. Ben Franks; 4. Eoin Sheriff; 5. Matt Symons (Captain); 6. Joe Trayfoot; 7. Blair Cowan; 8. Ofisa Treviranus 


On to the game itself, on recent form it is a game that Quins should win reasonably comfortably, and I expect them to do so. Whilst we must be wary of the threats that Irish have, it is important we stick to what we have been doing well so far this season when we have won games. We must defend with intensity and put them under pressure, whilst in attack we must show the same control and clinical nature that we demonstrated so far this season. Unlike season, we have been able to take advantage of our good positions on the pitch, in general, and have been able to come away with some sort of score. It is likely to be wet again on Saturday so we’ll need to show the same composure and patience in attack and wait for the chance to appear. 

However, Quins have to improve their discipline. Too many times last week we gave Exeter easy chances for 3 points in that first half and it was those penalties which ultimately costs us a deserved win. Irish may not have a kicker with the same accuracy as Exeter do, but if we give them enough kickable penalties they will get points. The other area that has to improve is the lineout. Our lineout has been a real issue of concern for a few seasons and has resurface again this one too. At the start of the season it looked like it had improved, but perhaps injuries have meant that it has got confused and disjointed slightly, so hopefully with a near full strength pack available this weekend it can be better. 

Bearing everything in mind, Quins should win. We should be wary of the wounded Irish as they have got threats that could hurt us. However, we have a good record at home against them in recent years and I expect that to continue and I think the question will be how much we win by rather if we’ll win. Therefore I’m feeling positive of a good result to start of a sequence of five games that could possibly define our season. If we perform well, we can get a try bonus point and perhaps if we don’t, we should be slightly disappointed. 

My prediction; Quins 32 Irish 13 

Referee: Luke Pearce (43rd Premiership game). 
Assistant Referees: Ashley Rowden & Simon McConnell. 
TMO: David Sainsbury.