Quins Prevail at Imber Court

He Wasn't There
By Rupes
September 12 2006

Monday night’s A team game vs Quins was a slightly surreal affair, with more press being present than at some 1st XV fixtures, two Dean Richards knocking about (more of whom anon) and the presence of Mike Ford on, one assumes, what could only be “Farrell Watch”.

For the record, Quins won 30-12, tries from Gavin Duffy, Charlie Amesbury (he’s quite quick isn’t he?), Danny Care and the final tryscorer whose number I didn’t see giving them the bonus point. An initial 12-0 lead to Quins was wiped out and the scores were tied at 12-12 after 25 minutes, tries from Farrell (great scriptwriting, decent try as well) and Cairns (after a break by the flying Ratuvou) making it “game on”. A penalty from Adrian Jarvis made it 15-12 to Quins at half time, with Ben Broster having received a slightly bizarre yellow card from Dean Richards (the referee) – bizarre because it was a deliberate knock-on, yes, but in between Sarries’ 10m line and the halfway line, with no guarantee whatsoever that Quins would move it through more than a couple of phases, let alone score. Not sure there was any need for a yellow at that point.

Now – Mr Richards. I’m sure he will be a top referee one day in the premiership, good luck to him. Certainly, if the conversation I was eavesdropping on the way to the car was right, that bloke in the RFU blazer was quite impressed. That doesn’t stop us from pointing out, however, that he is a bit of a Dale Winton look-a-like. The phrase “you have a bit of Dale in you” would be a cheap gag but it’s true. Headlines such as “Quins take it all in Supermarket Sweep” never even crossed my mind for this report….

The second half meandered its way to the end, with the inevitable raft of substitutions disrupting the game. Still no excuse for Quins’ 4th try though, with TV not remembering to touch the ball down over his own line and allowing a Quins player to dive on it and score – not TV’s finest moment in a Sarries’ shirt I’d venture.

Positives were the performances of Cairns, Fullarton, Chesney (who seemed to want to get to know that quick Mr Amesbury very well) and Ben Russell in the forwards, Rodd Penny keeps impressing with his power and running lines, whilst the back three of Vaikona, Cato and Ratuvou looked pacey. I’d suggest that Ratuvou and the aforementioned forwards would be well worth their places for this Sunday’s game vs the JW-less Falcons.

And so to “Farrell Watch” – good in parts, naïve in others. The good was the flat passing, the kicking to the corner (ie good game awareness, watch out for this tactic with the 1st XV I’d suggest), the pace (deceptively fast) the strength in the ruck/maul area and his very obvious desire to be involved and win. The naïve impression came from Quins’ 3rd try, which went straight down the blind-side; Faz was still attached to the scrum when Quins touched it down. That’s experience, or lack of, simple as that. I don’t think anyone expected him to be perfect, but the 65 minutes we saw gave a tantalising glimpse of what could be.

A good night out at Imber Court (note to those in charge there, PLEASE put on more food and beer next time, running out isn’t really acceptable) and a satisfactory start for Mr Farrell. I think we all wish him good luck in the coming months and a successful playing career at Saracens.

Scoring Sequence:

1st Half - 5-0 Quins (Duffy try), 12-0 (Amesbury try, Jarvis conv), 12-5 (Farrell try), 12-12 (Cairns try, Laidlaw conv), 15-12 (Jarvis pen).

2nd Half – 18 – 12 (Jarvis pen), 23 –12 (Care try), 30 – 12 (unknown try, Jarvis conv)

Saracens Team : 15 Kameli Ratuvou, 14 Noah Cato, 13 Rodd Penny, 12 James Wellwood, 11 Tevita Vaikona, 10 Ross Laidlaw, 9 Moses Rauluni, 1 Nick Lloyd, 2 Matt Cairns, 3 Ben Broster, 4 Kris Chesney, 5 Iain Fullarton, 6 Andy Farrell, 7 Ben Russell, 8 Don Barrell ©

Referee : Dale Winton

Attendance : Sky, BBC, Daily Star, Daily Telegraph, Three Counties Radio (A-list celebs), Getty Images, Russell Cheyne (top sports photographer), The Times, Daily Sport (to spot Elvis).

RFU Blazers Spotted : 2
Number of Balls Stuck in the Top of the Hedge : 436
Number of Apple Macs being used on Touchline : 7
Number of Burgers left at the burger stall : 0