April Player of the Month

By Worried of Whitton
May 12 2004

April proved to be a very exciting month both on and off the pitch. On April 27th the Northampton Wanderers lived up to their name as Quins Second XV won the Zurich “A” league final to bring home the first silver ware of the year.

This was just two days after Quins hung on to win on aggregate against Connacht and gain a place in the Final of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup against Montferrand.

On a sadder note three stalwarts of the club announced that they were leaving at the end of the season, to move on to other clubs. I‘d Iike to take this opportunity to thank Paul Burke, Pat Sanderson and Chris Bell for their service to the club they have certainly contributed fully to the success of Harlequins 1st and 2nd XV s this season and I wish them well at their new clubs. Whether these are the only leavers this year is not certain and the end of the season may yield some other changes, although Bill Davison has announced his retirement after 8 seasons with the club and he too will be sorely missed.

It has been impossible to keep this month’s nomination list down to six and I have had to go for seven nominees, simply due to the number of great performances during the month.

Tony Diprose played a pivotal role in the Parker Pen match against Connacht, and quite rightly won the CAW Man of the match poll. Watching the recording of this match shows just how great a role he played in the second half come back, wearing down the opposition. From Prof’s match report, Mark Evans stated that the game was won with a couple of set pieces near the end “ Diprose was fantastic in the last 20 minutes. The two set pieces, the 5metre line out and the 5 meter scrum were very important. We disrupted their attacking lineout and we thought we were unlucky not to be the put in at the scrum..” This was after an incredible tackle and turn by Diprose ” .., in the 5 metre scrum where we rammed them off the ball was the turning point.” It is very pleasing to learn that Diprose signed for another year at Quins during the month.

Andy Dunne out right winner of CAW Man of the Match against Rotherham, and also was named as Mark Evans man of the match

Dunne is developing into a natural replacement for Paul Burke and has recorded very similar kicking statistics. Whilst we are saddened to be saying goodbye to Burke, Andy Dunne will amply fill his position at fly half. His kicking in the game against Rotherham not only added to the points tally but also gained territorial advantage. One of his kicks forward, was collected by Monye, and enabled him to score Quins second try of the match. In addition Dunne also scored the fourth try which gave Quins the bonus points and put the outcome of the game totally beyond doubt. Earlier in the match against London Irish, it was reported that his kicking was not what it could have been in a match we should have won, but he did make one very important try saving tackle close to the try line, and one last gasp dropped goal attempt at the death, fell short, with honours even.

Will Greenwood played what must have been his best around game in the quartered shirt this season, and it won him the CAW Man of the Match in the home match against Connacht on Easter Saturday. As PerryGo noted in his match report “Greenwood was looking sharp and dangerous making breaks through the Connacht back line. He seems to have so much time and space with ball in hand.” He made two tries and scored an excellent individual try himself towards the end of the match. A feat he was to repeat two weeks later in Galway to effectively win us the tie. After making a superb inside break, drawing in the last defender before floating a perfect pass to Monye who scored in the corner in front of the East Stand. Curiously I noted at the time, Greenwood did not take part in the celebration, but workman like trotted back ready for the kick off. Later in the match a similar move, Greenwood had made another brake and passed the ball to Harvey rather than Monye, who would have been through again for five points. Greenwood himself collected a fine pass from Burke, close in to deservedly score Quins fourth try of the afternoon. Greenwood certainly played more than his part in Quins domination of the back play, and certainly more tries could have been scored.

Ceri Jones yet more tries this month for this a prolific try scorer who also doubles up as huge influence in the pack. Just how many Props can claim to have scored 13 tries in first and second XV games this season? Against Rotherham he was awesome bagging a brace of tries in the match. I m sure he was only brought off because he was about to over take Monye’s tally. In this match Jones was pushed over for Quins third try, after Vos had decided to opt for a maul after a penalty had been awarded, some 5 meters from the try line.

Simon Keogh was voted as Man of the match in the “derby match” against London Irish at the beginning of April. With 32% of the vote he just pipped his fellow countryman Gavin Duffy with 29% It was Keogh’s try right at the end of the match that enabled him to top the poll and he also picked up Stuart Barnes “Try of the Week” in that match. I quote from his column in the Daily Telegraph;

"There is little to choose between the top two candidates for try of the week but the speed and precision of the assisting pass earns the award for Harlequins and their winger Simon Keogh. Andy Dunne, the fly half, takes the ball in the middle of the park with a typical alignment outside him .Then with subtle shifts of position, the inside centre fades to out and Pat Sanderson drifts from the outside centre channel to take a short pass and stream through the gap. Jeremy Guscott in his prime could not have flowed into the hole and released a superb cut-out pass to Keogh. Such was the quality of the delivery that the wing scorched over the turf, untouchable. Keogh's name on the try but Sanderson's excellence stamped all over it." Keogh also made significant contribution in both the matches against Connacht and Rotherham.

Quite rightly the recent Jester” magazine entitled Keogh as Mr Versatile, as he seems equally at home on the Wing or at Scrum Half. In that article Keogh makes it clear that he coverts the Scrum half position, and he has played well in that role in recent games. Injuries to Harder earlier in the season saw Keogh spend more time on the wing, than he would have liked. That is probably where a lot of supporters see him too, judging by the number of debates this board has seen discussing the player merits in this position. With rumours circulating or a new signing at scrum half we await to see how this story ends, but it was certainly pleasing to hear that he has signed a two and a half year contract extension due to his performance this season, at scrum half and his lightning runs on the wing.

Luke Sheriff, Captain of the” Seconds” Sheriff has not played many first teams games this season He has featured in a number of Parker Pen matches including the home tie against Connacht. He has featured in a number of Parker Pen matches including the home tie against Connacht. Sheriff has to be included in this months round for the huge performance in both legs of the Zurich A final against Northampton. He put in a great performance in the home tie, which by all accounts was surpassed up at Franklins Gardens. He scored a try following a long curving run, which enabled Quins to retake the lead in the match and form a base upon which the opposition never scored again. AlanQuin in his match report noted “The second half started with Quins showing the clear intention of putting the issue beyond doubt….from the restart a scrum to Northampton saw a great steal on the floor by Luke Sheriff. “ this lead to Bell scoring his second try of the evening Wanderers’ line. Eventually, it was Chris Bell who crossed for his second try.

It is virtually impossible to have a list of nominees for Player of the Month without including Andre Vos and April is no exception. The giant in the Zurich Premiership, he continued to influence our games this month. In is small wonder therefore that Vos is in the nominations for the Zurich Player of the Year award. Looking back at the season he has been a towering inspiration to the whole Squad. His grit and determination has been ever present as exemplified in the away match against Connacht in Galway when his inspirations enabled Quins to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. His creativity from “penalty” positions, like the maul against Rotherham mixes the game play to flaw the opposition. These are the attributes that have given Quins their best season for a number of years... and it is not over yet!

So the nominations for CAW s April Player of the Month are:

Tony Diprose

Andy Dunne

Will Greenwood

Simon Keogh

Ceri Jones

Luke Sherrif

Andre Vos