CAW Player of the Month
By Worried of Whitton
February 6 2003
A short month in terms of games played, just two home matches without any European diversions. None the less an exciting month was in prospect with a key Premiership game against Bristol, and a further repetition of the Powergen clash with Leicester. Oh how the BBC thrive on repeats!
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In last months report, the question ”Do we detect a possible cold snap in the first week of January? “ was posed. Yes the weather was cold at both ends of the month, but the Rugby warmed the heart. It was a prophetic statement too, as I sit here writing this report sat in a German airport departure lounge waiting for a much delayed flight home due to 3 inches of snow being deposited on Heathrow! Whilst there were only two games this month it does not devalue the need for a player of the Month. It enables an opportunity to nominate more players from a single match to look deeper into the performances of other team members who have shown us all what they can contribute. Our tally for January reads: - On the down side we now only have a top six league position to play for, but by beating Bristol we once again took a respectable seventh position in the ZP. The chasing pack, however are still too close for comfort.
January 3rd Quins v Bristol
Shoguns W 26-17 “Quins Back in Bristol Fashion”
This was a match that both teams were very much determined to win being very much on equal terms, in the Zurich Premiership. Quins were seeking their sixth consecutive league win at home whilst Bristol their sixth Premiership win in a row.
Quins were without Laurent Gomez who fractured his leg in a training accident on New Year's Eve, and Ace Tiatia replaced Pat Sanderson who had a shoulder injury.
From my match report, The game started, very much like many of the recent games we have played. Paul Burke opened the scoring on 6 minutes from a penalty kick. Quins maintained the pressure with a number of good moves, and some competent passing across the field, but they we unable to convert that pressure into any points. Then as recent history continued to repeat itself, a wayward pass from Greenwood proved costly as David Rees gratefully scooped up the ball and ran 70 metres up field to score Bristol’s’ first try.
Quins continued to pile on the pressure, with some good play, against a depleted Shoguns but were unable to push home their advantage. Quins continued to reassert their authority with some good moves from Davison, Luger and Vos, and Quins went in 13 – 5 ahead at the break. It could have been more and we certainly should have put the match beyond doubt in the first half.
Bristol were not about to give up without a fight, and as the second half started the Shoguns immediately started to apply pressure. This continued and despite a spirited final defence by Williams and Burke they were unable to prevent Bristol going over for a try. Quins were still not safe. The Bristol fight back continued and with the home side in disarray Bristol were allowed to go over for his second try of the afternoon, which saw them, re-take the lead. Davison, who excelled in the first half, was substituted by Evans. Burke reclaimed the lead with another penalty kick from the halfway line. Quins now began to get their attacking game back together and Greenwood saw an opening, and chipped into the open space. Daniel chased after the ball and it looked that he would regain possession but the final bounce of the ball beat him. Both Vos and Greenwood, who had continued to follow up pounced on the loose ball, once more giving Quins the lead and also giving them their sixth home victory in the Premiership.
It was no surprise that Diprose was awarded man of the match. Not wishing to devalue this in any way, but his cause was certainly helped by Mark Evans announcement that Diprose has been nursing an ankle injury for the last six weeks! This win, however was down to a team performance, there were other excellent contributions in this game. Our set pieces were tremendous. Codling was awesome in the line out both stealing and winning balls. Dawson who came in for the injured Gomez, at tight head also had an immense game and he certainly taught his opposite number how to play that position. Both Duncombe and Vos also had big games to today and Evans singled out Luger getting involved in the “unglamorous” side of the game. Such physical action so close to coming back after a major operation was to be applauded. I too was very impressed with Davison, who was my man of the match that day. As match reporter I spent the afternoon juggling not pad, pen, binoculars and dictaphone. Whenever I used the binoculars, Davison was there in the thick of the action
An excellent start to the New Year for Harlequins, and with other results going our way we bounced back up to seventh place in the Premiership, ready for our assault on a top six finish We then had three “Fantastic” weeks, breathing space to prepare for the Powergen Cup match, with Leicester. Following Evans post match comments this game has a lot of promise, but we needed to ensure that we were fully prepared
January 24th Quins v Leicester
L 12-19 Just another protest vote? Or just not knowing who played the best sums up the CAW poll for this match, with Charley the Bear receiving the greatest percentage. The player with the highest number of votes being Alex Codling, he wins the CAW MotM title. Essentially the voting was close with Diprose on 16%, Greenwood on 15% and both Vos & Satala sharing 11% each.Some may be surprised to find Satala so high in the vote but he did put in a much-improved performance, if not his best to date. This has been recognised by many supporters. I saw him in the Second XV match against Northampton in early January and he played well that night too, despite the Arctic conditions!Another excellent cup day at the Stoop found our Squad seriously depleted with injuries to nine of our players. A depressed Duncombe sat in the hospitality seats behind me for the match .He said that he wish he was out there with the team, inferring that was more painful to sit and watch, nursing an injury than suffering the bumps and bruises on the pitch. (He was not suggesting the teams performance was painful)I agree with Prof, that Davison once again had an impressive game, in lineouts and in loose play. I was very impressed with his performance against Bristol and he will certainly feature in the line up for this Month vote. Codling worked well in the lineouts and he is easily distinguishable with that red scrumcap. Dawson too performed well, but he was against much more experienced opposition than the Bristol match.Our back row, Diprose, Vos and Tiatia were very solid once again although Ace was sin binned for retaliation. The centres performed well too. Satala's performance has already been discussed but his partner, Greenwood too deservers a mention for his strong tackling and the number of breaks he made. He was also there to give advice and encouragement to Satala, who is now growing in stature. Luger too had a good game, not only on the wing but also in the centre of the park. He was unlucky to be on the receiving end of a forward pass, when he was clear through for a try within the first two minutes of the match. Leonard too played to his usual high standards, even helping out on the wing! |
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