Heroes and Villains: Saints 31 Quins 19

(Pic: DOK)
By Worried of Whitton
May 4 2003

It speaks volumes that the loudest cheers of the evening were for the farewell appearance of Keith Wood, even though he was not playing. As Wood led out the Harlequins team for the last time, a hero’s welcome greeted him as he said good-bye to the Stoop.

Woody made his first appearance in a quartered shirt way back in 1996 and it can be argued that he has been the club’s most loyal ambassador and talisman ever since. We were all saddened to hear that he’d decided not to continue his association with Quins after the end of the season, and that he’d played so few games in his final year.

The loudest jeers were reserved for referee Robin Goodliffe, when he awarded an exceedingly questionable penalty try to Northampton after 36 minutes. Goodliffe, who I believe was unsighted, incorrectly judged Williams to have wilfully knocked the ball down as he tackled Andrew Blowers. The incident occurred in front of me on the five metre line, and Williams had clearly intercepted Blowers pass, the ball had already left his hands. This was the “highlight” of a very lacklustre, error strewn first half, and was the result of the only sustained attempt at any attacking pressure that Northampton had exerted.

Northampton scored first after just 4 minutes with a Grayson penalty, his kick coinciding with a brief lull in the wind. From the restart Quins kicked deep down field and managed to recover the ball. A pass to Burke, who caught the ball and began a run, tried to dummy and was tackled. Penalty, just inside 10-metre line, right in front of the posts. Burke took the kick, which hit the upright, and bounced over, all square at 3 a piece. Quins continued to exert pressure inside the Northampton half and were rewarded with a second penalty after 13 minutes. Burke kicked safely over 6-3 to Quins.

A series of poor lineouts and kicks followed with neither side making much headway. Whenever Quins built an attack, the passing across the field was good but it became predictable as they always came back inside with Deane, without probing down the wing. Three times this was tried and three times it failed. Quins were very strong in the scrum, even though Leonard was rested, and they made the most of their advantage over the weaker Northampton pack. Although Bemand and his replacement Powell were ok, the team was certainly missing the swift hands of Fulton.

On 28 minutes, another Quins line out, Fuga won the ball back and passed to Luger who began a jinxing run but Northampton closed in on him and he passed to Bemand, who was immediately flattened in the centre of the park and was harshly penalised for holding on. Grayson steps up for the kick by the 10metre line, the wind took the ball wide.

As the first half continued, The Saints were certainly not “Marching In”, but then neither were Harlequins. That role had already been taken by the Band of the Royal Military School of Music, at Kneller Hall, who entertained before the match and during the half time interval.

Neither side had looked capable of scoring a try as they took it in turns to lose possession in the wet and very windy conditions. Quins should have capitalised on what was a mediocre opposition, who at his stage of the match were beginning to wind up their game. Pressure by Northampton, deep inside the Quins half saw Blowers make progress towards the try line. It was then the most controversial incident of the game occurred when the referee judged Williams had wilfully knocked the ball down as he tackled Blowers who was trying to get his pass away. The referee had no doubt that it was a deliberate knock-on and gave a penalty try to Northampton. The crowd did not think so and vented their wrath at the official. The whistles and booing continued as Dawson stepped up to take the conversion to put Northampton into a 10-6 lead at the break. The Quins players continued to vigorously protest with the referee as the teams left the pitch at half time and the officials were met by a very vociferous and angry West Stand as they walked off. Whilst I do not condone this behaviour, and try to be impartial, there was a serious error of judgement over this incident, and the crowd felt it their duty to let Goodliffe understand their feelings. This incident was arguably the turning point of the game, as it clearly affected the Quins players going into the break.

Goodliffe, much to Quins chagrin, was consistent throughout the match in putting in a questionable performance. He missed a number of incidents, most blatantly being Steve Thompson who was constantly off side during the ruck, so much so that, with all the rumours of player moves at this time of year, I’d thought that he’d signed for Quins but had forgotten to change his shirt.

Quins were not quick to settle after the break. Northampton came out rejuvenated and were keen to put further points on the board with Grayson trying to sneak a quick drop goal in the first minute. Quins broke back down field and in a run of consistent pressure Bemand passed to Luger who slipped and missed the pass, hoping that Harvey (the invisible winger) would collect. Northampton cleared their lines up field from the line out. Due to the darkness, it was becoming increasingly difficult to see the action in the Northwest corner of the ground, as Quins went further behind. Prop Sturgess went over from close range and Matt Dawson, who had taken over the goal kicking duties from Grayson, knocked over the conversion, 50 minutes into the game, 6-17.

Five minutes later Burke slotted over another penalty to reduce the deficit, 9-17. This prompted some substitutions, with Starr and the welcome return of Gomez, who replaced Jones and Dawson to give fresh front row power to the scrum. Scrum half Bemand was also substituted by Powell.

A revitalised Quins won the next line out and produced a rolling maul crabbing across the field, Burke kicked to touch. From the line out Diprose and Vos tried to capitalise and push to the line but their efforts were in vain. Immediately Northampton struck again as they took advantage of Quins who seemed to have lost their way when a hole opened up in the Harlequins defence. A two-handed overhead pass from Grayson gave full-back Beal the space to collect and run through unchallenged before turning in to touch down on 66 minutes behind the posts and leave Dawson with a simple conversion, 9-24.

For the first time in the match the travelling supporters began to sing, as the band had gone home. Jewell came on from Greenwood who was experiencing cramp. This was followed by further substitutions for Northampton on 67 and 71 minutes.

Following a scrum the ball became loose and Bruce Starr kicked forward and began a chase. He was never going to reach the ball but given the momentum, I’m sure the Northampton defender upped his step to get out of his way. This was the start of probably Quins best period of play on the night. Three minutes later saw a bizarre incident when Luger looked as if he had a clear run for a try after he stepped inside two Northampton players, but he decided to look for support rather than making a break for the line. Quins continued to pile on the pressure with Fuga desperately fighting to get to the line, resulting in a scrum Quins ball. However play was cynically held up by Northampton’s No 17 with a “professional injury” in an effort to breakdown the Quins momentum. This ploy backfired and the pressure paid off when the referee equalled the penalty try count by awarding one to Harlequins in the 75th minute when Northampton flanker Darren Fox was judged to have kicked the ball out of a scrum. Burke converted to close the score to 16-24 with five minutes of normal time remaining.

From the restart Quins piled into the Northampton half sensing they could rescue something from the match. Some good passing came to naught, as Harvey was once more involved in a wayward pass. As the clock ticked into injury time Burke had an attempt at goal but the kick bounced back off the post; he had another chance three minutes later when he kicked a perfect 40-metre dropped goal to cut the Northampton lead, 19-24. The game was to have one final twist as Quins failed to regroup quickly enough after the referee missed a particularly high tackle. The visitors struck again seven minutes into injury time. Following what appeared to be a mix up over calls between Luger and Williams, Grayson's high kick found Cohen and despite being tackled just short of the line, he turned the ball inside for replacement Tucker to dive over for a try. Dawson added his fourth conversion, to secure a bonus point and deny Harlequins a consolation losing bonus.

Final score: Harlequins 19 Northampton 31 a score line which somewhat flattered the opposition.

 

After the match Northampton Manager Wayne Smith said: "It was a good way to finish the game. It was just about a perfect play on the last phase. I don't normally like seven minutes of injury time, but it was good today." He admitted that his side would need to play much better if they were to beat Leeds in their final game.

Asked what he found to be the most disappointing aspect of Quins Game, Mark Evans response was “Ooh, How long you got?” he added on “I thought we were poor”. Grayson's high kick found Cohen and Evans, not hiding his disappointment, thought it a very ordinary performance, and not a good game. Our error count was unforgivably high, we put ourselves under pressure and conceded points. What we expected to be a fairly comfortable home win, on the scoreboard at least was a pretty significant defeat. Both sides were poor. He stated that Quins scrummed well against a very weak opposition, and that he could not criticise Burke’s kicking - the drop goal was great. Deane played well, as did Davison and Vos. “Essentially we never got going. There were so many individual errors, and no conformity or continuity. We got what we deserved”.

Moving on to the Northampton penalty try, he was philosophical and said these things can go for you or against you. He said it had no material effect on the game, I would disagree. Referring to the Quins penalty try, “any referee would have given that, it was an easy one”.

Returning to the Quins performance he said it was way below what he had a right to expect. We had played well against Gloucester, Leicester and Leeds and built up a reasonable run of form. Naturally a bonus point would have been welcomed but the performance didn’t deserve one.

He finished by saying he’d be very disappointed if we didn’t qualify for the wild card play offs but that could be down to getting a result at Wasps and/or the results of the other games still to be played.

So the Zurich Premiership 2002/2003 Season at the Stoop ended in a very damp and subdued fashion not at all like last years final game against Leeds, where we all remember Keith Wood at his best!

Thanks for those and many other memories Woody, good luck and best wishes to you and your family for the future.

Teams:

Harlequins: N. Williams, Luger, Greenwood, Deane, Gollings, Burke, Bemand, Jones, Fuga, Dawson, Davison, Miall, Winters, Vos, Diprose.
Replacements: Hayter, Starr, Rudzki, Sheriff, Gomez, M. Powell, Jewell.
Tries: Penalty.
Cons: Burke.
Pens: Burke 3.
Drop Goals: Burke.

Northampton: Beal, Ripol, Jorgensen, Leslie, Cohen, Grayson, Dawson, Sturgess, Thompson, Morris, Lord, Connors, Fox, Pountney, Blowers.

Replacements: Miles, Todd, Hunter, Seely, Brooks, Tucker, Sleightholme.
Tries: Penalty, Sturgess, Beal, Tucker.
Cons: Dawson 4.
Pens: Grayson.

Att: 6,423
Ref: R Goodliffe (Sheffield (RFU)).