By Prof
April 20 2005

This was very much a training game for Harlequins, just keeping the first team game hardened and giving some of the youngsters a chance to shine. For the Army it was a chance to play against strong opposition in preparation for the Army v Navy game in May.

The team that Quins put out in the first half was packed with 1stXV regulars and Quins were first on the scoresheet after nine minutes after a lineout about 20m from the Army line. Hayter threw to Diprose who tapped the ball down to Simon Miall on the peel, Miall made yards before offloading to Winters who charged from deep, battered through two tackles and scored under the posts. Arwel Thomas slotted the simple kick and Quins were up 0-7 after 9 minutes.

Quins’ second score again came from a lineout, but this time it was Army lineout ball that was stolen. Hayter was the one to take the ball forward this time and the pack drove the ball over the line to score wide out on the right, I couldn’t see who got up with the ball but I’ll put the score down for Hayter until I know for sure. Arwel Thomas again added the extras. 0-14, 13 minutes.

The Army then fought back, they recycled the ball or phase after phase and with backs running good angles and some lacklustre tackling in the Quins midfield they finally got on the board. The conversion was hooked low and to the left of the posts. 5-14, 21 minutes.

Quins went over the Army line again after a good lineout and drive but annoyingly the ball was lost over the line and the Army cleared.

A five metre scrum gave Quins a good attacking position, So’oialo popped the ball to Mel Deane who was on the charge, he broke three tackled and was driven over the line by the pack, Thomas again got the conversion. 5-21, 25 minutes.

A good lineout to Roy Winters saw the ball being passed to Easter in midfield who charged 30m upfield, recycled the ball well and the ball was passed left to Dafydd James who made more yards but instead of offloading to Ugo Monye on the wing he was tackled. Quins were awarded a penalty which was kicked to touch. The lineout was good and it saw Academy prop Tom Muggridge driven over. Thomas again kicked successful. 5-28, 33 minutes.

The Army who never gave up all game had a 5m lineout and tried a catch and drive but the Quins defence kept them out. The referee missed a big knock on but the Army recycled the ball well before spreading the ball for the left wing to score. The extra points were added. 12-28, 37 minutes.

The restart was caught beautifully by Diprose who then charged upfield handing off tacklers as he went, he was finally tackled but timed a beautiful flick pass left to Gavin Duffy who was steaming up in support to score under the posts. Thomas added the last points of the half. 12-35, 39 minutes.

There were wholesale changes at half time with only the young props Muggridge and Rogers playing the full 80 minutes.

With a less experienced and smaller scrum the Quins forwards were put under pressure in the tight, but in all other areas of the game they improved scoring 42 unanswered points in the second half against a determined but tiring Army team.

There was a bit of handbags at the lineout that was set when the Army kicked off straight into tough. From the resulting 5m lineout Quins drove the ball towards the line only to have it stolen at the last minute. The Quins 5m scrum was put under pressure and the front row was penalised for standing up.

Quins soon made up for these mistakes after some excellent recycling and a blistering break from Henry Barratt, the ball was quickly passed on to Jim Evans who ran a beautiful line to crash over the line. Staunton continued Thomas’ 100% success rate with the boot. 12-42, 49 minutes.

The Army’s scrum’s dominance in the tight started to show and they pushed Quins back and eventually had a 5m lineout. The young Academy lock, George Robson, stole the lineout ball and Staunton cleared downfield, Charlie Amesbury chased the kick well and caused a knock on from the Army back.

It looked like Quins would score again after an excellent scything break from Jeremy Staunton, who offloaded to Barratt who passed to Mike Brown on the wing but it was adjudged a forward pass by the referee.

Staunton looked to have run into trouble as he ran into two of the Army forwards but he bounced off the tackles, then went on a weaving run that saw him run past about 5 defenders to score a marvellous solo try which he converted. 12-49, 59 minutes.

Just two minutes later Amesbury made a great break, offloaded to Horstmann in support, the ball then went out to the left wing Brown through the hands of Reay and Barratt, Brown looked like he was going to run out of space but just as he was tackled he got the ball back inside to Barratt who scored in the left corner. Staunton got the difficult conversion. 12-56, 61 minutes.

South African scrum half Dave von Hoesslin was the next on the score sheet after breaks from Barratt and Evans. This time it looked like Staunton’s kick was heading wide but it curved in just enough to bounce over off the upright. 12-63, 74 minutes.

Another break that involved forwards and backs playing well together saw the ball go through the hands of Evans, Jarvis, Brown to allow Horstmann to score. 12-70, 36 minutes.

It seemed that time would run out before Quins had another chance to score as the Army who were still contesting for every ball kept defending well but through good recycling the ball was sent left from a ruck, through the centres, to Muggridge who sent an incredibly flat pass to Tom Guest who was lurking on the left wing to score. Staunton got his second kick from the left wing through the posts and as the final whistle went the score was 12-77.

A lot of credit should go to the Army side who never gave up even when try after try was being run in, their scrum looked very solid too which is something they will be happy about when they come up against a formidable Navy scrum in the Babcock Trophy game next month.

If this game had been earlier in the season it would have thrown up a number of selection problems for the management but how many changes can be made with just two games to go remains to be seen.

Most of the first team players performed well, the young Academy players really showed great skill and panache with Amesbury and Brown looking to be excellent prospects for back three positions in the future.

The young front row of Muggridge, Dott and Rogers had a pretty torrid time in the tight but performed well in the rest of the game, looking comfortable on the ball and solid in defence. George Robson again looked an extremely good prospect at lock too.

Hopefully this game will have kept the players sharp for the game against Leeds in a week’s time and here’s hoping that having a good run out and playing in an exciting game with some great skills on display will help calm frayed nerves.

 

Army:
15. Mal Roberts, 14. Saula Roko, 13. Andrew Parkinson, 12. Ed Smith, 11. Bruno Green, 10. Jim Farndon, 9. Gareth Slade-Jones, 1. Steve Trethewey, 2. George Kemble, 3. Chris Budgen, 4. Andrew Smith, 5. Lee Soper, 6. Ben Hughes, 7. Andy Dawling, 8. Ledua Jope

NEC Harlequins:
First Half XV: 15. Gavin Duffy, 14. Ugo Monye, 13. Dafydd James, 12. Mel Deane, 11. Simon Keogh, 10. Arwel Thomas, 9. Steve So’oialo, 1. Tom Muggridge, 2. James Hayter, 3. Alex Rogers, 4. Roy Winters, 5. Simon Miall, 6. Nick Easter, 7. Andre Vos, 8. Tony Diprose
Second Half XV: 15. Adrian Jarvis, 14. Charlie Amesbury, 13. Henry Barratt, 12. Andy Reay, 11. Mike Brown, 10. Jeremy Staunton, 9. Dave von Hoesslin, 1. Tom Muggridge, 2. Cameron Dott, 3. Alex Rogers, 4. George Robson, 5. Jim Evans, 6. Kai Horstmann, 7. Luke Sherriff, 8. Tom Guest

Scores:
Army: Tries: Dawling[?] (21), Green (37); Conversion: Farndon
NEC Harlequins: Tries: Winters (9), Hayter[?] (13), Deane (25), Muggridge (33), Duffy (39), Evans (49), Staunton (59), Barratt (61), von Hoesslin (74), Horstmann (76), Guest (80); Conversions: Thomas (5), Staunton (6)

Referee: Gareth Copsey
Touch Judges: Paul Stanley & Mike Priestley