By poorfour
February 24 2016

So. Tigs on a cold, wet Friday night, coming off an indifferent run of form but facing a Quins side in their own slump and shorn of Nick Evans. The signs were not auspicious. I came to the game off the back of a good but frantic week at work that only ended following an exchange of phone calls with a colleague and a client as I locked up my bike on Craneford Way. I was so flustered that I’d even forgotten to bring a notebook and pen. 

The game began in the way it was to continue for most of the match. Olly Bryant, with the wind and near-horizontal rain behind him, overcooked the kick off and we came back for a scrum. Although Quins were fielding a hefty pack with Jones, Horwill, Easter and Luamanu, it was still a surprise to see them get a shove on the Leicester pack. However, after a bit of inconclusive play in midfield, Chisholm dropped a kick near the 22 and Tigers held the scrum on their own put-in. The Quins line held in the face of a battering from Manu, but a penalty gave Bryant a straightforward shot at goal. 0-3 

Quins recovered the kick off, though and promptly restored the balance with a penalty of their own. 

The next passage of play illustrated just how bad conditions were. Visser attempted to clear from inside the 22, only to see the ball blown back over the line on its descent. Fortunately, that gave Chisholm a chance to clear and he remarkably got it back to half way. 

Leicester were back on the attack, not making many yards from their initial forays at the line but looking dangerous when flooding the channels with their support play. However, Horwill, Ward and especially Wallace - who would eventually earn Man of the March for his troubles - were a constant nuisance at the breakdown, forcing a number of crucial turnovers. 

The next key moment came from a Leicester turnover, though.Veainu intercepted a pass - the commentators said from Sloan but it looked more like Matthews to me - and set off down the touchline only to for Chisholm to hunt him down, connect in a manner that was more reminiscent of the Space Shuttle docking with an errant satellite, dislodge the ball and set off back up the field. He made it from the try line to the 22 before his offload surprised Yarde, allowing Harrison to recover it for Tigers. No matter. Lambert, Luamanu and Jones combined to strip the ball and Visser was unleashed down the touchline. Faced with Tait to beat he chipped him delicately but the ball bounced into touch. 

Yarde received the ball from the clearance near half way and Quins drove into midfield, only for another loose offload to be reclaimed, Bryant popping it downfield. Leicester battered their way to just outside the 5m line before Horwill was caught offside at a ruck in front of the posts. 3-6. 

Tigers - with a little help from Wallace - failed to gather the restart, giving away another scrum to Quins, and Lambert won a slightly dubious penalty against Ayerza on the advice of the assistant ref. Botica levelled the scores, 6-6. By this point I was beginning to feel that if Quins could reach half time within 3 points, they could win the game. 

The lineout continues to be a problem, an overthrown Quins effort near the 22 giving Leicester the lead back when Adam Jones didn’t roll away fast enough. 9-6. 

A quick lineout from a Leicester clearance saw Chisholm hit Yarde (take note, Wardy) and after an amusing pinball break from Lambert, Yarde was off again, slipping with only Tait to beat but winning a penalty when the Tigers fullback failed to release. 9-9 on 30 minutes. 

Quins ran the ball from the restart, putting in some good phase play before an exchange of kicks gave Tigers a lineout in their own half. A word here on Harry Sloan, who was prominent in Quins’ carrying all evening. While not making big yards, he consistently straightened the line and looked to run into space when gaps appeared. While he lacks the power of Roberts and is still quite raw (he was at fault for the Tigers’ try later in the game), I was impressed by his work rate and willingness to do the unglamorous carrying. 

Tigers won their lineout but Manu fumbled, Quins won the scrum and Botica kicked behind the Tigers line to find the touchline inside the 22. Tigers secured their ball, but saw it ripped a couple of phases later and Veainu conceded a penalty against Yarde. This time, with Tebaldi called back from taking it quickly, Botica kicked for the corner. Harry Thacker came on for Brendan O’Connor before the lineout, which Quins won, and mauled. Tebaldi released Yarde with an inside ball, and after a couple of phases Botica found Wallace in space, who skipped past a defender and offloaded from the tackle past Sloan. Tigers cleared spurned a chance to run and cleared to half way. Another mis-thrown lineout saw Tigers claim, kick and Bryant rip the ball from Chisholm in the air. Veainu grubbered the ball into touch, Quins for once claimed the lineout and shepherded the ball into touch for half time 

Quins began the second half with intent, and after a scrum to restart play following an inury to Yarde (who soldiered on after treatment), Sloan and then Visser drove through the Tigers line to reach the 5m, only for Sloan to spill the ball coming onto a fast pass from Stanley at pace and with room to score. At least we were playing with ambition. Quins made a mess of the Tigers scrum, only for Tebaldi to concede a penalty for trying to kick the ball away. Taken quickly,Thacker was away on a break but the ball had been knocked on in the build up and Quins drew a penalty from the scrum. It was very odd to see Quins shunting Tigers around almost at will. Botica secured the lead for the first time: 12-9. 

Quins attacked again from the kick off, only for Stanley to be bundled into touch by a tackle from Manu, which the Tuilagi-loving press described as “harshly penalised”. The replay showed him putting his right arm across Stanley’s back but shoving him with his left; it certainly wasn’t a well-executed tackle and a penalty seemed fair to me. Ward messed up the lineout, but Tigers knocked it on and the pack duly delivered another penalty, Lambert sliding Balmain back across the turf like a snowplough. It’s a measure of how hard Botica kicks the ball that even having slipped in front of the tee he still got it almost to the posts from half way. 

Tigers cleared to half way and forced a turnover of their own, but lost the ball off their own scrum, and Visser set off again, offloading back to Botica. Ghiraldini put hands into the ruck to give Botica a shot at goal from near the 22. He didn’t slip, or slip up: 15-9. 

By now Burns was on, and gave Quins an easy clearances from the kick off, but from the lineout it was Easter’s turn to get pinged. Burns kicked to the 22, and Manu, with a little block from Pearce, made a half break that let Thacker charge through a doglegged line to score. Burns added the extras. 15-16. 

Matthews, Ward and Jones made way for Merrick, Gray and Sinckler, and Quins conceded a penalty from the restart clearance. Burns kicked back into the 22, but Wallace made a superb tackle and turnover that allowed Quins to clear. Tait looked like he might have knocked on but was allowed to play on, only for Botica to bring him down near half way. An exchange of kicks followed, until Tebaldi was caught in possession at the base of a ruck and conceded a penalty. Only for Manu to get up having been tackled and let Quins release the pressure 

Tebaldi got clobbered again off the lineout, but Slater knocked it on in the tackle, giving Sinckler and Gray a chance to show what they could do. After two resets, they showed that they could shove the Tigers scrum around too, The penalty was Lambert’s, though, and the kick was Botica’s. 18-16, from just inside half way.. 

A clearance to just inside the Quins 10 led to a wonky throw from Ghiraldini, and another scrum. This time Lambert’s opponent was a fresh Mulipola, who won a free kick which he followed up with a charge, only to drop the ball with Leicester attacking on the 22 a few phases later. Sloan made way for Hopper, with Stanley moving to 12. Quins cleared from the scrum and Tait threw a pretty clear forward pass to Veainu, which was missed by all the officials. The Quins lineout faltered again and Veainu put the ball behind Chisholm and deep into Quins 22. Chisholm, playing like Mike Brown in timelapse, gathered and cleared but Tigers won a penalty for Merrick entering a maul from the side. 

However, poorfour’s Law of Undeserved Penalties showed that it had both a good memory and a better understanding of the forward pass law than the refs, and Burns pushed the ball wide. Tigers came back on the attack near half way from the dropout, but Hopper and Merrick combined to knock the ball loose from Tuilagi, Botica gathering to place a beautifully weighted chip through to Yarde, who gathered and raced gratefully over to score. Botica delivered the coup de grace from near the touchline, bringing the score to 26-19. 

This being Quins, the drama wasn’t over yet. Quins conceded a penalty from the kick off to leave Leicester within 7 with two and a half minutes to go. 25-19. A poor clearance from the kickoff and Tuilagi charged up to half way. Leicester ran 7 phases, and Merrick gave away an unlucky penalty on the 10m line, plucking the ball illegally from a ruck when he thought Quins had an advantage. The lineout, near the middle of the 22, was good and Quins stopped the maul illegally, but with the clock dead, Leicester had to run it. 

Leicester put together 20 phases inside the 22, but never crossed the 5m line. Eventually Quins forced an error and the knock on ended the game. It was a night for the grafters rather than the superstars, when club men like Lambert and Wallace stepped up and put in big performances, and Austin Healey bigged them up. Hence my choice of title.