Preview: London Wasps vs Harlequins

Swat that pest!
By Wyddy
September 6 2013

It’s seemed like an age since we tumbled out of the Premiership playoffs last season... bereft of any Quins involvement in a successful Lions Tour against the weakest Southern Hemisphere nation... but that's for another soapbox... Time to don the quarters once more and resume the pilgrimage to Langhorn Drive, renew our friendships with the new and old around us at Stoop HQ, but first... Big Stoop calls.

Double Header time, and a quick refresher on exactly how much has passed and changed since last we saw our lads fall short up at Welford Road. As already mentioned, heartache for our prospective Lions, Care and Robshaw – yet another disappointment for one of the unanimously agreed nice guys of rugby. How he bounces back will be key to Quins prospects for the coming season, will he come back like a freight train like the disappointment of the World Cup omission? Will the players from other Premiership clubs that went have recovered from the battering they took or will they have jumped that extra level and have pushed on from last season?

The Junior Rugby World Cup has been and gone, leaving us with memories of the first ever all Northern Hemisphere final which was played out between two very talented sets of youngsters from England and Wales. In the end it was England who managed to overcome a weak yellow card and come back to take the game from Wales. They were captained by Jack Clifford, a mountain of a lad who played particularly prominently against the Baby Blacks who England beat in the semi finals. It will be interesting to see how Conor goes about keeping him happy with first team exposure, this is one player we don’t want to lose. Also of note was fellow Quin, Harry Sloan who also appeared in all of Englands games.

Recruitment has been steady across the league, with even Quins dipping their toes in to reinforce some key areas... notably the giant hog-sized hole left by the saddening retirement of Ollie Kohn. Honourable mentions to Sir Will of Skinner and the departure of fit again Chris Brooker off to Worcester, after looking to have lost out to the hooker/7’s centre dynamo that is Dave Ward.

A brief summary of major transfers in in the Premiership...

BATH : Gavin Henson, Carl Fearns fist, George Ford, Jonathan Joseph, Matt Garvey
EXETER : Fetu’u Vainikolo, Romana Graham
GLOUCESTER : Matt Kvesic
HARLEQUINS : Paul Doran-Jones, Nick Kennedy, Paul Sackey
LEICESTER : Ryan Lamb, Jamie Gibson, Gonzalo Camacho, Owen Williams, Jerome Schuster
IRISH : Guy Armitage + 14 others
WASPS : Matt Mullan, Andy Goode + 16 others
NEWCASTLE : Rory Clegg, Franck Montanella, Andy Saull, Mike Blair
SAINTS : Alex Corbisiero, George North, Salesi Ma’afu, Kahn Fotuali’i,
SHARKS : Tom Arscott, Michael Paterson
SARACENS : James Johnston, Billy Vunipola, Michael Tagicakibau
WORCESTER : Ignacio Mieres, Jeremy Su’a, Jonathan Thomas

Arguably these are the notable signings this year, additionally London Irish and Wasps have recruited significant numbers of fresh players whilst also losing a fair amount out of the door. Inevitably these squads will take longer to gel together, perhaps one of the reasons behind Wasps extended pre season period.

Significantly at the top end of the table, Northampton and Saracens have recruited players who are widely considered significantly better than what is currently in situ, Leicester have also moved to freshen up a squad that at times last year looked a little lack lustre... yet worryingly they still managed to win the playoffs.

From the clubs that finished beneath Quins last season, Bath have strengthened significantly with some useful young English talent, Gloucester will continue to develop but may again be light up front and Wasps will be a match for most teams but a lot will depend on how their 18 new players fit in with the remnants of last seasons squad.

Moving on from the transfer merry go round, we saw plenty of 7’s action as Quins, captained by the aforementioned Dave Ward, took part in the JP Morgan 7’s tournament which was tremendously supported and saw the first proper look at BT Sports rugby coverage. Quins competed well and stormed to victory in the London leg, defeating a strong Saracens side in the final, however naive game management let Leicester sneak past them in the Finals up at Bath and out of the competition.

The 7’s brought with it good news and bad news. The bad in the shape of long term injuries to the immensely unlucky Ross Chisholm and also to fellow full back, Olly Lindsay-Hague. This leaves the cupboard very bare with regards to cover for Mike Brown, especially if he is called up for England duty. Not long after these injuries were confirmed we saw the addition to the squad of the experienced, Paul Sackey. However there was a silver lining, in Charlie Walker, who had had a couple of cameos last season, we have a player with genuine pace and ability. Whilst he is in the same stature group as Lindsay-Hague, he showed enough to suggest that he could be an asset in the XV’s. Jordan Burns also shone, and should be expected to put more pressure on experienced Karl Dickson when Danny Care is away with England.

In amongst all of the other news, an inexperienced England team trekked over to Argentina to play 2 Tests. In what was a very successful tour, Joe Marler went some way to restoring his reputation that was so damaged from that awful night in Cardiff. Not only did he reveal his geeky admiration of swords, skirts and dragons, Game of Thrones but also came away with the man of the match award for the 2nd Test and words of endorsement from Bomber ringing in his ears. He will have a tough time getting into the side with the challenge of Lions, Corbisiero and Vunipola to come for the Autumn Internationals.

So... ahead to our opener against Wasps at the much loved/hated (delete as applicable) Double Header format. We’re up second and will be facing a Wasps side shorn of their talismanic No8 from last season. However they will still field the two wings who tore us apart in the first half in Varndell and Wade. Ally to that the emerging talent that is Elliot Daly who gained Barbarians recognition in the close season against the Lions, and Wasps will be dangerous in the back line if their forwards secure them much ball. Expect to see young Charlie Hayter feature as well, he has been on fire for Wasps in their pre season.

At fly half they have brought in the voluptuous presence of Andy Goode, who should give them a significant Plan B and keep the scoreboard ticking over. Seeing how he plays with the lively Simpson will be key to Wasps season. Simpson will face quite a challenge this season from Charlie Davies, a similarly energetic scrummy, however he does seem to get the ball away quicker than Simpson and could present Goode with more time to direct the game.

Up front Wasps will be hoping their new blood blends quickly, Mullan is a very tidy prop, touted for international honours not so long ago and he will bring an instant impact to their front row. In the second row Wasps will look to Myall and Launchberry to start their campaign, Quins will need all the nous of sometime skipper Robson and Kennedy (if fit to start) if they are to avoid Wasps taking a clear advantage at line out time.

In the back row, expect to see monster unit, Ashley Johnson line up at either 6 or 8 depending on if they give a shot to Ed Jackson to make the no 8 shirt his own, on the other side the Barbarians, Sam Jones will likely start at openside.

For Quins, it’s very much likely to be more of the same from last season with a few tweaks here and there. Expect the back line to be largely unchanged, the back 3 consisting of Ugo and Williams on the wings backed up by Mike Brown at fullback. The newly re-signed George Lowe will probably take up the 13 shirt with Jordan Turner-Hall returning at 12 as the competition for the centres slots hots up with Casson and Hopper making their presence felt in pre season with arguably stronger performances than their colleagues.

Dependent on Danny Care’s fitness, expect the partnership with Nick Evans to be restored. Nick’s another year older but is still one of the best in the business, expect his workload to start reducing this season as Ben Botica takes up more of the strain. Karl Dickson will be Danny’s stand in in the case of injury but as mentioned earlier, he should be looking over his shoulder as Jordan Burns has made people take notice with his 7’s performances.

In the pack, Joe Gray appears to be back in favour in the pre season games and will join Joe Marler and Will Collier, who looks to have held off the challenge of new signing and England boy, Paul Doran-Jones. Mark Lambert should also not be discounted either as he has continued in pre season where he left off last season. In the engine room, Robson is nailed on to start, mystery surrounds Nick Kennedy who hasn’t made an outing in quarters yet. So the likelihood will be that either Merrick or Twomey will get the nod as Charlie Matthews continues to make his way back from injury.

To the back row and the biggest conundrum for Quins, how do 6 players good enough to start go into 3 positions...? If we take Robshaw as a nailed on starter, Easter is more likely to start at 8 than anyone else, so that leaves 1 flanking position open, the peoples choice, Luke Wallace would necessitate Robshaw moving to blind side. This seems unlikely, and certainly during preseason Conor has favoured Robshaw on the open, Easter at 8 and Fa’asavalu or Guesty at blind side. Add in to the mix Jack Clifford and the traffic to get into the back row is reaching A316 proportions!!

Going into the game Quins must make sure they don’t get sucked into the same mistakes as last year, getting sucked into the centres and then blitzed on the counter down the wings. However the wings are not an area where Quins are blessed with searing pace and our hopes will have to be founded on a solid display by the pack, who will be asked to cope with the new (old) scrum laws that are due to be implemented.

Gird the loins, bang the drums... here comes another season... and I didn’t even mention ‘getting closer’...!

COYQ!!!!!!

Posted by: ComeAllWithin.co.uk (IP Logged)

Date: 06/09/2013 09:40

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