By Worried of Whitton
April 29 2005

This Saturday weekend the Zurich Premiership reaches the end of the road and the final round of matches are played .Harlequins meet Sale Sharks in what is being billed as their biggest match ever as Quins fight to remain in the Premiership. All the matches kick off this weekend at 3pm.

When the season started way back in September no one would have believed just how tight the lower reaches of the Premiership would be this year, and that the final outcome of both top and bottom of the table would be decided during the 80+ minutes of play on Saturday April 30^th 2005. Wasps and Leicester fight it out at Welford Road to decide the Premiership winners, whilst the bottom five teams slug it out to decide who is relegated. Just two points separate Quins in 12^th position on 37 points and London Irish in 8^th on 9 points.  Irish are away at Newcastle, Leeds are away at Bath while what could well be the real relegation decider Northampton are away to Worcester at Six ways.  Let me just confirm that I believe whoever finishes bottom tomorrow afternoon is relegated, like it or not, even if it is our beloved Harlequins. Those are the rules that the Premiership have been playing to since September, but history has shown that this may not be true. Perversely, decisions on promotion and relegation will be made once the season is over. 

The cards are not stacked very favourably for Harlequins, and the press have already written us off. It is true that only a win and four points will keep them safe. Quins’ record against Sale is not good with Sale winning 10 of the 15 encounters, however Quins did win away at Edgeley Park back in November, and drew the previous match, however we all still recall the nightmare at the Stoop in February 2003 when Sale blew Quins away 45 – 0. The last time Quins beat Sale at the Stoop was way back in March 2001. All the other teams fighting for their Premiership survival have 8 wins, Quins have just six wins and one draw, and positions are determined on the number of games won, before resulting to point’s difference, and then points for which ironically both favour Quins! However knowing you have to win will be a strong focus, and their fate is in their own hands. Surely this is a better position to be in than worrying about other potential permutations and what could be happening in the other matches being played at the same time, and having your fate determined by other results.  Those who love to knock Harlequins are having a field day. I’m bemused by the fact that the vultures at Sky tv have been circling all week and have chosen to descend on the Stoop this weekend, having ignored us all season, the smell of a kill even lured them midweek up to a very wet Leeds.  One would have thought that the Premiership decider would have been a more worthy match to show or even the game at Sixways, but as we know “no one likes us and we don t care”. But as Brian Moore succinctly writes in today s Daily Telegraph      “I fear for Quins, but if we go down, those of you who are sniggering will have to admit one thing - you will miss us.” 

Being written off and classed as the underdog is perhaps not a  bad thing. At face value played 21, won 6, drawn 1, lost 14 does not look good, and the favourite snipe this season has been Quins only win on International weekends, is essentially a red herring.  Although this is true it does hide the fact that Quins have not been that poor a side this year, if we had been our fate would have been decided months ago. Dig deeper, three of the six matches won we picked up a try bonus point, eight of the matches lost we picked up a loosing bonus point, which shows just how close and frustrating these matches have been and you cannot get any closer than the draw against Saracens. Leeds and Irish have both picked up six loosing bonus points and Northampton and Worcester five each. This has been the closest Premiership competition ever and there is everything to play for tomorrow, there is nothing to choose between the bottom five teams whose seasons have essentially been exactly the same. 

I did consider the title of this preview as “Quins Closing Down Sale”, which initially seems very ominous but it is exactly what Quins have to do to win the game, close down Sale, and prevent them from getting too much possession.  The fact that this is a home tie is probably one of the few positives and Sale have only won once away from home since mid-October.  We as supporters must sing and cheer the team on as never before. The atmosphere up at Leeds on Tuesday was electric and we were all hoarse by the end of the match, remember it is an up tempo rendition of the Mighty Quin we need and NOT the dirge., but  we will need an even more electric atmosphere in pursuit of a win on Saturday.

Sale Sharks come to the Stoop on the back of their 59-9 demolition of Connacht in the European Challenge Cup Competition last weekend, but they have” reported” several injury problems ahead of the game against at The Stoop, but never the less they have a very strong team. They too are desperate for a win to ensure Heineken Cup rugby next season and they are also keen to gain revenge after losing to Quins earlier in the Premiership campaign

Their team will not be announced until nearer kick off time as the Sale physio team are working to get a full strength team on the field. The doubts at the moment are Sebastian Chabal (wrist), Charlie Hodgson (groin) Dean Schofield (hamstring) Sebastian Bruno and Andy Titterrell (both groin strains) Head Coach Kingsley Jones said “We are hopeful that all the injured players recover in time as we would like, not only to cement our place in the Heineken Cup with a win at The Stoop, but we hope to overtake Bath and finish in third place and play against Wasps or Leicester Tigers with a trip to Twickenham as the reward” 

Philippe Saint-Andre, the Sale director of rugby, has said. "While I realise they are desperate for a win to stay in the Premiership, you must understand that we are desperate for a win to give us Heineken Cup rugby next season. I want to focus on our task and there is no doubt this is a very hard league and a team could get relegated despite collecting 40 league points this season which hasn't happened before.  It's not just about Harlequins and their problems."

For Harlequins this is their second game in four days, after a 21-10 defeat up at Headingly on Tuesday night. Quins didn’t play too badly and for most of the match were within four points of the lead. The Quins defence was very strong Leeds had a lot of possession during the in the first half but couldn't make it count, until they bundled over for there first try, which took an age to be declared. Staunton’s try was great to watch but was opportunist. Vos, Diprose and Greenwood were excellent; Greenwood spent a lot of time marshalling the team.  We did put in some good periods of play in attack but the biggest problem was lack of support, especially when a break was made the player became isolated very quickly and there was no one to pass to. Leeds were well aware of Harders’ intentions each time he got the ball and he was kept in check. Staunton’s kicks were not what they should have been and Quins did turn over too much ball.  Scotty stated yesterday that  “We did pick-up one or two knocks on Tuesday evening in Leeds and players are being treated as I write. With this in mind, we will not release our team until the last possible moment to give everyone as much opportunity as possible to prove their fitness for Saturday afternoon”.   He added “We face a difficult challenge on Saturday and most of the experts have written us off already. The fact is that we are in control of our own destiny and one of the beauties of sport, all sport, is that the favourites do not always win. We, the players, coaches and backroom staff all believe that we will win on Saturday – you have to believe as well”.

One thing is for sure this is the last Zurich Premiership match Harlequins will play but whether September will see Quins kick off the new Guinness Premiership season we will have to wait and see. Could our London Double Header be against London Welsh instead to London Irish? Or indeed could it be Irish playing Welsh? A lot to play for and all will be decided by five o’clock tomorrow. Never have I been so Worried! 

One thing is for sure having renewed and upgraded my season ticket, I’ll be cheering on Quins from the West Stand next season. Enjoy the afternoon!

 

Come on you Quins!

NEC Harlequins:  to be announced on Saturday

Sale:  from  Jason Robinson, Mark Cueto, Jos Baxendell, Robert Todd, Steve Hanley, Charlie Hodgson/Mike Hercus, Bryan Redpath, Andrew Sheridan, Sebastien Bruno/Andy Titterrell/John Roddam, Barry Stewart, Fernandez Lobbe, Dean Schofield/Chris Jones, Jason White, Chris Jones/John Carter, Sebastien Chabal/Peter Anglesea

Replacements  from  Stuart Turner, Ben Coutts, Magnus Lund, Chris Rhys Jones, Sililo Martens,Richard Wigglesworth, David Blair

Match Officials
Referee:  Dave Pearson    
Touch judges: Peter Huckle, Bob Mullis
Television match official: Geoff Warren