CAW Player of the Month - April


By Worried of Whitton
May 6 2003

Another month of mixed results. Yes, we only won one match and lost two, but the performance of the team was much improved, and five points secured our ZP tenancy for next year.

We were very unfortunate not to come away with all the points after being mugged in the closing minute of the match in Leeds, following the bizarre sin binning of Luger.

The fine win against Leicester over Easter weekend finally squashed any talk of Quins being associated with the dreaded “R” word. At Gloucester the team played well, but they could not convert their pressure into points during the first 20 minutes, and eventually came away with nothing. The team has not been disgraced in defeat

In the Premiership games our tally for April

Points For:50   Points Against: 61.    Won 1 Lost 2

We maintained our mid table position of 7th

April 4th Leeds v Harlequins L 23--22
Man of the Match as voted by CAW Paul Burke

“High Speed Chess: Quins lose narrowly at Leeds”

I was not able to travel North for the match, so I had to content myself with logging to the web cast on the official Quins Website courtesy of Radio Leeds. Connection was fairly easy although the signal kept dropping out at the most critical moments causing me to miss Lugers’ sensational try and Van Straaten’s conversion after Albanese‘s last gasp try in the final minute of the game!

For anyone unable to travel to away matches the web cast is a good way of keeping in touch with the action in the comfort of your home, however the sound quality can vary. It is far better than refreshing teletext every few minutes, You do, however, get a fairly one-sided view of the game, being local radio, the commentary was somewhat partisan, yet reassuringly cosy. “Eee a fair old crowd is here for t’Friday night here at Headingley”, and you could imagine a listeners across the Leeds conurbation drawing up their easy chairs to the radio with a cup of cocoa in hand! You are able to soak up the match atmosphere, especially when you hear the travelling Quins faithful singing in the background. Indeed was not obvious from the web cast that any vocal support for Leeds had turned up!

For the web cast just log on to the official website http://www.quins.co.uk and click on the broadcasts symbol, assuming you have a sound card and speakers!

Unfortunately I had mislaid my notes of this game by the time I came to write this report. so I must revert to memory

“High speed chess” was how Mark Evans described the game, which was a fitting analogy of a match we should have won. The defence once again played well and the team were able to turn the half time score of 13-6 round as the second half started. Luger’s try, by all accounts was the best solo effort try in a Quartered Shirt for some time, “a bit of individual magic”. However, his bizarre sin binning soured this sweetness. An offence, which was overturned on appeal, pity the result could not have been reversed as well!

This try and subsequent conversion levelled the score and formed a platform on which Quins were able to build a lead as the second half progressed. With two more penalties from Burke, who “kicked beautifully all game, as he always does” and the score was 13-19, with about 25 minutes to go. Another penalty to Leeds reduced the gap only for Burke to slot a dropped goal between the posts to restore the slender six point lead, which is always seems to court disaster, despite the encouragement of the Quins faithful travelling band.

As injury time ticked away and with Quins reduced to 14 men, Leeds sensed victory could be snatched and maintained their attack with Albanese getting across the try line and five points leaving it for Van Straaten to bag two points with a simple conversion, and a final score of 23-22, a result that was as close as the Boat Race two days later!

In summing up the game Mark Evans, thought the team had played “technically good rugby with few mistakes”, but “It was like a war zone in the tackle area.”

Those who travelled to this game said the whole team including “the Internationals” played with a passion for Quins, which is supported by the score line, although the result was devastating.

April 19th Harlequins v Leicester W 17 - 9
Man of the Match as voted by CAW Andre Vos

“Off-colour tigers mauled at the Stoop”

I would like to think that the influence of some thirty Quins fans sitting in the South Stand chanting in Saxon “Ut ,Ut, Ut” as the Leicester team walked in, played some part in influencing the outcome of this match outcome. Martin Johnson s face looked exceedingly puzzled as his signed autographs, wondering what was going on. We were there to record battle chants for a forthcoming BBC programme about the Battle of Hastings.

Both teams were looking for a win, Quins needed the points to pull out of the relegation zone and the Tiggers were keen to bounce back after their lose to Munster the previous week, and hoping to finish high enough in the Premiership to automatically gain a place in Europe next season. It was also the first home match since the tragic death of scrum half Nick Duncombe who was remembered by all the supporters giving a tremendous standing ovation for Nick and his proud family as the ran onto the pitch.

With the absence of Neil Back through injury, the back row battle was well and truly won by Harlequins. This was due to the monumental workload and application of Captain Vos, CAW Man of the Match and of Diprose who was named man of the match on the day. Both have been instrumental in orchestrating our defence strategies in recent months.

One wondered at times whether this was a Leicester team, certainly Harvey their recent signing, was making his mark. Despite all the effort from Quins, Leicester with the wind in their favour were getting the early points and went 6-0, with two Stimpson penalties. However it was the wind that led to the Gollings try after Johnson booted the ball 80 metres up field from his 22 line only to watch it roll across the dead ball line. Play was brought back and the resultant scrum to Quins. A loose ball from Greenwood enabled Gollings to kick and chase with Stimpson. Both appeared to ground the ball together and Quins were awarded the try, although Burke missed the conversion kicking into the wind. Another penalty to Tigers, successfully taken by Stimpson so at half time it was 9-5 to Leicester, far more than they deserved!

Into the second half, Leicester s ball retention was woeful but Quins were initially un able to capitalise. Gollings was narrowly beaten to the ball after another Greenwood break and kick, another missed penalty by Burke, but some smart defence kept the Tigers at bay, despite them starting to squeeze. Another successful penalty by Burke and it was 8 – 9. Each time Leicester applied pressure it was firmly snuffed out by the Quins defence. The testing time came in the when Ace was sin binned for killing the ball surely Leicester would make Quins pay, but Stimpson missed the penalty again. In the second half Leicester had become predictable in there approach and run out of ideas, as the Quins defence prevented them from scoring any points at all in the second half.

Two more second half penalties and a superb dropped goal from Burke sealed the win for a jubilant Harlequins at 17-9, four points took us out of the relegation frenzy and with no points for Leicester all but ended their hopes of an automatic playoff place, and ensured that they would not top the Premiership this year. To quote Dizzybird “ Absolutely fantastic”.

April 26th Gloucester v Harlequins L 29 - 11
Man of the Match as voted by CAW Ace Tiatia

“Shed no tears for Quins”

Once again, I had to content with the web cast, courtesy this time of BBC Radio Gloucester.

This broadcast did initially prove me wrong, about its’ partiality as the transmission started with a discussion about the fine tan Mr. Lander was sporting, and which far flung, sun drenched island he’d recently returned from. If I recall correctly the commentators suggested it was probably the Scilly Isles! Certainly for the first quarter of the game it sounded as if Quins had the upper hand, “after 10 minutes of play Harlequins have had 90% of the game”… “the Gloucester line out, like last week, is a shambles” … “there goes Dawson again, so solid in the line out as target or spoiler” were three early quotes I picked up, however it was not to last, as the Gloucester machine gained momentum. The crowd wanted four tries for the bonus point to be assured of Gloucester finishing the season at the top of the Premiership table and from the broadcast you could sense that those four tries would come. Will Warner s match report the game correctly summed it up “Gloucester didn’t play that well but thoroughly deserved their win. Quins didn’t play that badly, but were simply not good enough”.

Burke appeared to be kicking well into the wind with two penalties between the posts and one hitting the woodwork in the first half, and maybe if we d gone in 14-9 at half time things might have been different. Quins were beginning to claw their way back as the half time whistle blew. Then into the second half with a wayward pass and interception Simpson Daniel put the game beyond doubt.

As the game went deep into the second half Quins used up all of their replacements. Whether this was to give them all a run out or to preserve tired limbs for the remaining matches is unsure, but it certainly sounded a physical and tiring match. The replacements begun with Satala coming on to replace the injured Deane, which is when I sensed it was not to be our day. Satala had a mixed game, with some hard and missed tackles what sounded to be a beautiful chip and chase which was halted when he was held back by a shirt pull. This was just one of a number of try scoring chances, which came to nought. Try scoring opportunities had also fallen to Gollings, Winters who were over the line but play was brought back. Greenwood and Williams had promising build-ups but the final pass was not properly executed and a certain try was lost. Eventually deep into the second half Quins were rewarded with a well-deserved try when Fuga sprinted over the line.

The CAW report stated, “Ace Tiatia had a cracking game. Probably our best player on the pitch, just ahead of Tani Fuga”. Which is odd because Tiatia, CAW man of the match, was hardly mentioned in the web cast, whereas Fuga was named a great deal, may be they got them mixed up! but Ace certainly won the CAW match poll, shame that he missed the next match through a ban from three yellow cards. I take heart that Quins were not outclassed and that the gradual improvement from the last couple of months has continued. However the news that Billy Fulton had dislocated his wrist and would play no further part in any of the remaining matches came as a big blow.

Congratulations to Gloucester for finishing on top of the Premiership League.

The team certainly seem to be playing much better together, and a lot of the credit has to go to the three new signings of Deane, who will see next year, Jones who it is rumoured has now been signed up by Quins, and Billy Fulton an inspirational scrum half whose swift passing has made a huge difference. It is a big disappointment that Fulton has dislocated his wrist and plays no further part in the campaign, before returning to New Zealand.

Maybe we will see him back, never say never!

 

So, my nominations for Harlequins April Player of the Month are;

Who could have predicted such a tense, nail-biting end to the Premiership this year. I recall last summer when the fixtures were announced; every one homed in on Gloucester v Leicester on the last day of the season as the Premiership decider. That was decided in the last week of April, although 2nd and 3rd positions have all to play for. Who would have thought that the last two rounds of matches have five teams still fighting for four places and their Premiership survival, and that there are four matches still to play whereby these five contenders slug it out between them.

How much better for us that we are playing for a ZP wildcard play off position, rather than for survival with a few weeks of the season left to go!