Prof’s Positives Week 12: Wasps

By The Prof
November 21 2002

Well after one ‘London derby’ last week against Saracens we had another one against Wasps (sorry London Wasps) and happily it was a different score line and performance – Quins came away the winners with a final score of 27-14.

Our team had a bit of an odd look to it but that is not surprising when you have so many players unavailable for one reason or another.

Long term injuries include Chris Bell, Keith Wood, Roy Winters and Pat Sanderson.
Players in the process of returning from injury included Dan Luger, Jon Dawson, Matt Powell, James Hayter and David Slemen.
Players on international duty included Will Greenwood, Viliame Satala and Jason Leonard.
So we had about 200 full caps worth of internationals unavailable for one reason or another, it looked like we might have been in trouble against a strong Wasps side that could use Dallaglio because he had only come on for a short time as a blood replacement for Richard Hill against Australia.

Although we had a long injury list (and one that would get longer with Duncombe [hamstring] and Greenstock [ankle] joining it) we did have Burke back after about two months out.

Before I start summing up the game let me first say that it was a wonderful team performance with everyone playing a part in this gutsy victory. The front row of Starr, Fuga and Gomez had a good performance as a unit, putting a huge amount of pressure on their opposite numbers in the tight. They all had big games in the loose with Gomez’s finest hour being the harrying and tackling of Howley into touch near our line towards the end of the game. Fuga had a typically wonderful game appearing all over the pitch, putting in some big hits and performing well at the breakdown – although he was yellow carded for preventing quick release from a ruck. Starr had his usual solid and dependable game, where he also managed to take Dallaglio down quite a few times.

In the second row Codling and Davison played extremely well, both of them were found all over the pitch with Davison often being the first to the breakdown. They both put in a huge number of tackles (as did Evans when he replaced Davison in the second half) and they both kept popping up in sweeping attacking moves alongside the backs showing good handling skills. Codling had a wonderful day in the lineout too, not only did he take pretty much all of his own ball he stole a huge amount of opposition ball. In fact at one point it seemed that Wasps (sorry London Wasps) weren’t even bothering to jump on their own throws – although it was probably more to do with mixed up calls or something.

Another person who had a fine game in the line out was Diprose who did his fair share of theft too. He also had a great day at restarts and also under the high ball. When Dallaglio came on in the second half (after about a minute – why not at half time?) Dippy and Vos combined to keep his impact to a minimum. I don’t know if Diprose has learnt Judo in the past but his tackling and turning of the opposition was a delight to see. Again Diprose showed his great ball skills with fine handling and even good footwork to trap a ball that bounced just in front of him. His partners in the back row – Ace & Vos – also played well, Ace put in some big hits and had a couple of runs and, in a game that had a bit of an edge to it, he stayed on the pitch for the full eighty minutes! He also had a short stint at hooker when Tani was nursing a shoulder injury and then again later when Tani was binned. Vos put in a huge number of tackles and he was constantly seen around the pitch in attack, on the shoulder of the ball carrier, but the best thing to see was the way he kept talking to everyone, keeping everyone focussed and taking advice from his team mates – he certainly looks the part as captain of Quins.

In the half-backs the loss of first choice scrum-half, Duncombe, after only a minute or two might have been seen as a disaster especially as his opposite number was one of the greats – Howley, but his replacement Bemand had one of his best games ever in a Quins shirt. In fact Howley was made to look very ordinary and even anonymous at times. Burkey was back for this game and what a game he had – he was very flat allowing the centres to run onto the ball at pace and although he missed one kick to touch and two kicks at goal – one penalty from his own half and one to convert his try from the left touch line, his kicking game was a delight to see. His defensive game seems to have taken a huge stride forward recently with him putting in a large number of tackles, especially in the second half. It shows what a loss he’s been to the team when you see him getting a full house of tries, conversions, drop goals and penalties – welcome back Burkey – we love you!

The centre pairing was interesting – Greenstock and Jewell - one part-timer and one wing! They, too, played very well, Stockers made a couple of scintillating breaks, scoring a try into the bargain and they both tackled hard all afternoon. Greenstock was certainly very close to being man of the match and if had got it I wouldn’t have complained at all.

The wingers (we ended up with four on the pitch in the end) also did well with Gollings probably outperforming Matt Moore who had a quieter game but who tackled well. Gollings’ kicking from hand was extremely effective and apart from one over hit kick he made good yardage on every one. There was one nice moment where Frodo seemed to want to take a quick penalty but Burkey came over and took the ball from him as if to say ‘it’s all right lad, I’m back now’. It was nice to see Ugo Monye coming on for his first league match for the first team (he previously played for the first team in the pre-season friendly against Glasgow), sadly Ugo didn’t get his hands on the ball but he defended well. With the mixing and matching and sin binning that was going on it was probably not surprising that Gollings replaced Bemand at scrum half. Apart from a couple of scrums where he didn’t get the put in quite right he gave a very good account of himself. Is he Quins’ equivalent of Austin Healey – perhaps, but he is a much nicer bloke and he has more hair on his feet than Healey has on his head!

Finally the man at the back, Nathan Williams, had a solid game looking cool and assured at all times. He looked strong in defence especially under the high ball and his low, flat kicks were well used. He also seemed to want to get into the action too and appeared in the line a number of times.

Across the board our handling was much better than Wasps’ especially in the forwards where some good interplay was seen, this perhaps can be attributed to Paul Turner’s influence. But I think JK’s influence on the forwards was the thing that won us this game – big scrums (with only six men in them for 10 minutes), great restarts, fierce at the breakdown and magnificent in the line out. Huge credit must go to Evs too for taking these two great coaches and forging their sets of ideas into a coherent game plan that seems to be working rather well at the moment.

Seeing Evs smiling in the post match interview was a very nice sight to see, he certainly seemed happy with the result and looking at the inane grins on the faces of the Quins supporters in the East Bar afterwards and then in the Cabbage patch it seems that we were extremely happy too.

Elsewhere in the club the Ladies lost their cup game quite heavily but it was against a very strong Supermarine side and there was no dishonour in the result, however they did manage to put the defeat behind them and they organised a lively social in the Cabbage Patch afterwards. The Patch had sponsored them for this game – they don’t have a team sponsor this season so if you know of any company or organisation that would be interested in sponsoring them drop them a line – details can be found in the menu on the right.

The second team didn’t have a match and the Amateurs’ match was postponed until next week due to a waterlogged pitch. The U21s won a very close game against Wasps – in fact most people there thought it was a draw except for the referee! Sam Walton and Tom MacCormick both returned from injury for this game and both had good games. Ben Thompson had a good day in the line out and Andy Reay (who is likely to start for the first team against Northampton) gave a fine performance at centre. Adrian Jarvis had a good game and kicked well from hand as did the full-back Tom Williams. The U21s showed great team spirit to win this match just as the first team had against their counterparts.

It was said last season (or was it the season before) that you can tell when a club is going well when the supporters start complaining about the tea, we at Quins have often complained about the lack of London Pride in the bars – but if we get to see pride of such intensity on the pitch then I am sure we will be very happy indeed. (But just think how much better it would be to have Fuller’s beers in the bars too!)

This coming weekend is quite a busy one with England playing South Africa (with two near century makers – it’s Jase’s 99th cap and Will is on 95 points for England – 19T), Quins are away to Northampton on Saturday (for what we hope will be out first away win in the ZP since 17th March 2001) and the U21s are playing Northampton at home at midday – come along and support the youngsters if you can't make it to Franklin's Gardens. The Amateurs are playing their postponed match against Sudbury & London Springboks and the Ladies are playing away against Clifton 2 on Sunday. Finally the 2nd XV is playing Worcester at home on Monday evening so come along to this great chance to see some of the stars of the future – all for the entrance fee of £0!