Overseas Relations - Update

By Keith Jenner
May 11 2004

It is a couple of months now since I introduced the overseas Harlequins teams which are affiliated with the London Harlequins, so I thought it was about time to bring you an update on how they have got on since then.

There are many teams around the world who go by the Harlequins name, but most of those have no official connection with our club. Of those that are officially recognised, I have concentrated on three for this update.

Dallas Harlequins

At the beginning of March, the season to date had been very successful with the first team having won all but two of their games. Those two defeats had both been against Austin (33-21 at home in November and 24-5 away in February). The second teams only defeats were also against Austin. Meanwhile, the Colts and the Gentlemen were both undefeated.

The Colts have had a very successful time since then, winning their three matches and also three High School Tournaments, including one where didn't concede a single point in three games. Meanwhile, the Gentlemen only played two games, winning both and the 2nd team won one and lost one.

However, the main action concerned the first XV who, after beating Woodlands 43-0 at home on the 13th of March started off on their Super League campaign as they tried to improve on the quarter final finish last year.

The Rugby Super League is a competition involving the top 16 teams in America. The format is that the teams are split into 2 groups of eight, who play each other just once. Following the group stage, the top 4 teams in each pool go through to the quarter finals. This format means that some teams play one more home game than away games, whilst others have more games away from home.

The draw this year wasn't kind to Quins with 4 away games, including two against semi finalists from last seasons competition.

Quins first game was away to OMBAC, in San Diego on the 20th of March. The result was a 25-8 defeat, although it should be noted that this was a very difficult opening fixture against last seasons Super League runners up.

On the 27th of March, Quins faced Boston at home in the second of their Super League games. During the first half, errors from the home team let Boston build a 17-12 lead at half time and this lead was extended to 24-12 after 60 minutes.

Quins then managed to get a grip on the game and an amazing final quarter saw them turn the game around as they scored four tries to win the match 38-24.

The third week of the Super League presented another difficult away game, this time against Aspen who had been semi-finalists the previous season. The scores were tied at 10-10 when errors handed Aspen 2 tries late in the first half which along with a couple of penalties put Quins behind 30-13 at half time.

The second half saw something of a fightback from Quins and at one point the scores were 44-33 with Quins starting to look the better team. However, another try to Aspen put the game out of their reach and the final score was 49-33.

So, after 3 matches, Quins had recorded only one win, but they had played their two hardest fixtures and were still in contention for a quarter final place, although a home tie was probably out of reach.

After a weeks break for Easter, Quins had an opportunity to push themselves up the table when they faced Potomac AC at home. Like Quins, Potomac had been losing quarter finalists the previous year.

There was a strong wind behind Potomac in the first half and they took full benefit of it to run 4 tries past Quins to give them a 26-0 lead at half time. At this point, the game (and maybe Quins Super League campaign) looked to be over, but Quins came out strongly in the second half with the wind at their backs and scored 4 tries themselves to tie the scores at 26-26 with 10 minutes remaining.

A try for Potomac with just 3 minutes left put them back ahead, but Quins managed to regain possession from the restart and scored a try in the corner. The difficult conversion was successful and the final score was 33-33.

The following week saw another home Super League match, this time against Olympic Club from San Fransisco. The first 25 minutes were close with a converted try and a penalty each tying the scores at 10-10. Quins then found themselves down to 14 men for 10 minutes after having a player sent to the sin-bin, but they held out until half-time with the scores unchanged.

After the break, Quins took control of the game, scoring 3 further tries to take the win and bonus point, the final score being 29-10. Quins therefore kept themselves in contention for a quarter final place, however their remaining two games were both on the road.

The next match on May 1st was against Kansas City who had only one victory to their name so far in the competition and Quins registered a comprehensive 59-17 win, scoring 8 tries in the process to give themselves a good chance of progressing in the competition with only one game remaining, against New York.

This weekend, Quins played their final match in the pool stages, losing 26-17 to New York Athletic Club. A win would have guaranteed them a quarter final place, but defeat left them relying on the result of the final game in the pool, which was played on the 9th of May between Olympic Club and Potomac AC.

Potomac had to secure a win with a bonus point for scoring 4 tries in order to tie on points with Quins. They managed to win the match 57-37, although I can't find any further details at present, so we will have to wait to see whether Quins will progress. I assume that Potomac got their bonus point so it seems to depend on how teams finishing on the same number of points are split. For the record, Quins have the better points difference, but Potomac have won a game more than Quins.

If they do get past the pool stages then they would face a very difficult away quarter final against the winners of the other pool, San Fransisco-Golden Gate who are unbeaten so far. That game would take place on the weekend of the 22nd May.

Kenya Harlequins

The Kenya Harlequins started their season off with a 15 day tour to Zimbabwe before the beginning of the domestic season which would see them try to defend their league title. There had been a number of changes to the squad over the winter.

The first match of the new season was an away tie against Mean Machine and Quins made a good start to lead 10-0 after just ten minutes, but the home side came back to lead 17-10 before the game swung back Harlequins way and they battled back to go in at half time leading 20-17. Another try and penalty in the second half gave Quins the victory 30-20.

The following week, Quins went to the top of the table following a comprehensive 43-8 win against Nakuru. They scored the first try in the second minute and had secured the bonus point for 4 tries within 20 minutes. After this Quins eased off a little, scoring twice more and letting in a soft try.

The next game was against Mwamba and another win (27-10) with a bonus point was the result as Quins pulled away at the top of the table.

On Good Friday, Quins were confident ahead of their game against Ulinzi and things were going nicely when they were 10-3 up at half time. However, a shocking error-strewn second half performance saw Quins concede 21 unanswered points to lose the game 24-10 and fall to third place in the table.

The following week, Quins had the chance to recover from the loss to Ulinzi when they played the Nondescripts in the next round of Kenya Cup matches. There must have been a touch of deja-vu as they let a 13-3 half time lead slip and found themselves 18-13 down in the second half. However, this time Quins fought back and were 22-18 behind when they scored the winning try in the final minutes.

The competition then took a break and resumed on the 8th of May with Quins playing their great rivals Impala.

Impala soon built up a 14-0 lead but Quins came back at them to take the lead and eventually run out 32-24 leaders.

So, with six games played Quins have a record of 5 wins and one defeat and are looking in a strong position to retain their title.

Melbourne Harlequins

The Melbourne Harlequins 2004 season started on the 17th of April with a home match against South Districts.

The match was played under the new floodlights which had been installed over the winter. The floodlights were dedicated to the memory of one of the clubs promising young players, Phil Gyles, who died in November 2002 at the age of 15 from a congenital brain aneurism. They had been financed by his parents (his father Stan is a former club president) with the help of a grant from the State Government.

Harlequins won the match and the day was described by as a bittersweet occasion and a fitting tribute to a fine young man.

The first team also won their next two games against Boroondara and Northcote, giving them an excellent start to the campaign. Meanwhile the 2nd team won one and lost one of their first two games.

Once again, my thanks to Mark Baxter for supplying the information on the Melbourne Harlequins and also for arranging to put a link to the comeallwithin site on their website.