Preview: Harlequins v Newcastle Falcons
By Quinten Poulsen
October 1 2010
Now that Harlequins finally have a much deserved win under their belt they will be looking to build upon it immediately, as Newcastle Falcons are welcomed to The Stoop on Saturday.
Newcastle have had a troubled start to the season – a thorough beating at Sale, countered by a very impressive come-from-behind win against Wasps, a close loss at Exeter, followed by a comprehensive man-shaming, prison style, at home to London Irish last Saturday.
Perhaps their biggest handicap currently is that yet again they don't have a settled squad, with 17 of the 40 senior players having less than 10 games each under their belt. New head coach, Alan Tait, has wielded the chop for several of the backs after last week's poor performance, and whilst it's hard to believe that they can't play any worse than they did against Irish it's far from ideal that they have no settled combinations from 9 to 15.
Jeremy Manning, signed from Munster this summer, has looked pretty sharp in his brief appearances to date and starts at full back rather than in his preferred fly half position. This allows Jimmy Gopperth to continue at 10 where he made such an impact last season, finishing as the league's highest points scorer. Gopperth on his day is a fine all round player, but has yet to find last year's consistency. He is partnered at half back by Chris Pilgrim who is preferred to the more established England Saxon, Micky Young. Pilgrim is only in his second season at this level, having previously played for Nottingham in the old National League One. Although a bright prospect, it says a lot about Newcastle's current plight that someone so inexperienced is given the nod over Young – one of the very best scrum halves in England over the past couple of seasons.
Newcastle currently lie in 11th place in the Aviva Premiership, though at this early stage they are only 4 points off 6th position. Therefore they come into this game with an awful lot to play for, and will surely be extremely fired up following the shambles of last week. The weather forecast is for plenty of rain this weekend and that will probably suit the Geordies a little more than it will suit the home side. The Falcons young pack, although not firing on all cylinders yet, has some robust and talented individuals and is not short of athleticism. Tim Ryan has had a good start to the season at tighthead and caused Sale all manner of problems in the scrum; expect to see him replaced around the 60 minute mark with Kieran Brookes, an excellent young England prospect. Levi keeps his place in the second row with the captain James Hudson still out injured, whilst in the back row former England U20 player Will Welsh moves to blindside to accommodate Pennycook at openside, with Scottish international Ally Hogg continuing at No.8.
Harlequins field a mostly unchanged team, with Tom Williams replacing Ross Chisholm on the bench being the only difference to the squad which beat Exeter last week. Starting with Marler, Cairns and Johnson against Exeter proved a good decision, as the scrum was rock solid while they were on the pitch. Marler's carrying was also a key feature of Quins' attacking game, and he'll hopefully cause Newcastle plenty of problems as he did Exeter. Having improved the scrum, Harlequins can hopefully make progress in the lineout also – the problems appear to be mostly on our own throw, as we have disrupted the opposition's lineout on numerous occasions so far this season.
Ollie Smith has seemingly made a magical recovery from the injury that saw him replaced quite early on last week, and he again starts at outside centre with George Lowe moved to the left wing.
Will the weather affect how the game is played? I'm not so sure it will do so dramatically. You would have thought that the team may look to utilise Nick Evans's great kicking out of hand, and Vallejos's ability to steal lineout ball, so we may see less running of the ball in our own half just for the sake of it. No doubt that they will be looking to create try scoring opportunities with every chance they get in the Newcastle half, and hopefully the wet weather won't affect the handling too much.
Much as Newcastle will be looking to salvage some of their lost pride in this game, and will surely prove combative in the early exchanges, it's difficult to see Quins losing this game. Let's hope the home side continue to show a big improvement in discipline and plenty of commitment and communication in defence, and hopefully the win will look after itself.
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Quote:it's hard to believe that they can't play any worse
Oops, I made a boo-boo!
Quote:claire_m
still, at least you can spell your name correctly. You have spelt your name correctly, haven't you?
That's down to Prof, and yes, he spelt it correctly.
![[:wor kid:]](/phorum-5.1.15/mods/smileys/images/13.gif "[:wor kid:]")
[news.bbc.co.uk]
Newcastle Falcons head coach Alan Tait has revealed his players have responded well in training to last Saturday's 46-12 home defeat by London Irish.
The result condemned the club to their third defeat in four games, and leaves Newcastle second from bottom going into Saturday's trip to Harlequins.
"It was pretty upbeat to be honest," Tait told BBC Newcastle.
"You don't throw the towel in. I've announced the team to them and they're all up for this game on Saturday."
Tait added: "This league is relentless, you've got to take the knocks and get up off the canvas."
Falcons' last success at the Stoop came in September 2000, when Rob Andrew's side had the boot of Jonny Wilkinson to thank for snatching a last-gasp 20-18 victory.
Despite a 10-year wait for a repeat performance, Tait is convinced his players can shatter that unwanted record on Saturday.
"We've got to have belief, it's one of the things we've talked about in the team meeting," Tait continued.
"We said to the players - 'does anybody think we can't go down to London and win this game?' - and nobody put their hand up, I'm glad to say.
"We're all up for it, and everybody wants to go down there and put one over Harlequins, who've got a pretty proud record against the Falcons.
"It's a tough place to go to, but I'm looking for the players to up their game from last Saturday."
Quote:"We said to the players - 'does anybody think we can't go down to London and win this game?' - and nobody put their hand up,
amazing!
Although I suppose one or two might have thought "no bloody chance" but didn't think that putting up their hand and saying so was quite the right thing to do!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:10:01:16:43:50 by harlequinade.