Home and Away: London Welsh 17-28 NEC Harlequins

By King of Mediocrity
April 16 2006

How things change – when I volunteered to write this it was an away fixture which seemed likely to be a decider in terms of when or whether we were promoted. Not only that but what began as a good open game of rugby turned into something else entirely.

Welsh had clearly decided on a more is more approach and started the game as they had finished the last one, running at every opportunity and going for width ahead of forward power whenever possible. The kick off set the tone of the game well, at least initially in that swapped clearances ended in a penalty to Quins for the Welsh player not releasing after being tackled; multiple quick phases later and Mike Brown earned his first scrag of the day, pinning the Welsh defender behind his own line for an attacking scrum.

Mike Brown doing some scragging ©Prof

However this also marked the end of Tom Guest’s game with a nasty eye injury from one of the rucks; Darren Clayton came on as a blood replacement at first but stayed on for what was probably a much longer debut than he might have expected.

Tom Guest comes off with a cut eye ©Prof

From the scrum the Welsh front row stood up under pressure – this was one of the hallmarks of the game, the Quins set-piece was in excellent form as scrums were dominant and lineout stolen all day. Steve Millard, the Welsh Loose head stood up again and just as the Welsh were retreating Steve So’oialo flicked the ball to AJ and a loop to Simon Keogh saw him in wide on the right for the first score, 0 – 5 on 12 minutes. AJ’s old kicking demons seem well and truly conquered as he slotted the difficult conversion for a lead which reflected Quins speed and dominance at that point.

Keogh dives in in the corner ©Prof

The next period was characterised by quick rucking on both sides and several good clearances by Tom Williams and the Welsh 10, Gareth Morgan. Ground was exchanged with no real advantage gained until Mike Brown took another AJ miss-pass and set off again at his opposite number, handing off twice before being forced into touch. From a following lineout Pablo Bouza stole the ball for the second time in succession but the free kick was given against Quins for not leaving a sufficient gap. Allen Chilten, the Welsh 9 chipped ahead in what can charitably be called a Waspish display but Mel Deane was on hand to return play straight back again – on a side note it was good to see Mel Deane not only start but finish a game unscathed.

From the reply Tom Williams recovered the Welsh clearance and unloaded to Andre Vos loitering on the left wing, quick hands to Darren Clayton and then Mike Brown again saw him cross the line with an easy conversion, 0 – 14 with 17 minutes gone.

Mike Brown scores ©Prof

Welsh were clearly determined to continue their open game and slick handling combined with rapid rucking took them to a penalty mid-way in the Quins half as referee Gareth Copsey continued his vigilance for offences at the ruck. Welsh took the kick to reach the inside of Quins’ 22 at which point Tom Guest reappeared with a creditable impression of Claude Rains in the Invisible Man, but he was to stay off from that point.

Quins continued to defend well despite the repeated assaults towards the Quins line and forced a knock-on at the ruck. However, at the resulting scrum Gareth Copsey penalised Ceri Jones for his binding and a strong run at the ensuing scrum from the Welsh flanker Simon Etheredge saw him just held out by great defence. With the benefit of hindsight this may have been the point that the referee’s handling of the game started to slip – a couple of punches from Howard Quigley and Allen Chiltern went unpunished after a Quins maul was halted 5 yards from the Welsh line. By this point the Quins front row was regularly forcing their counterparts to splinter, drop or stand up; Johnny Marsters seeming to have a particularly difficult time coping with Ceri Jones.

Mike Brown Hand Off ©Prof

Shortly afterwards Gareth Copsey gave a knock-on against Simon Keogh despite the ball clearly coming off his knee after an overthrown lineout. This error was further compounded by another decision against the Quins scrum – I’ll freely admit I’m biased but I’m not the only one who had a hard time working out what many of the penalties were given for. A quick tap and go from Allen Chiltern forced yet more defending on Quins’ 22 until Gareth Morgan saw that the defensive channels were too narrow and chipped across field for Gareth Swales to collect well and speed past an isolated Tom Williams. A simple conversion later and Welsh were back in it, 7 – 14 on 29 minutes.

The game then went back to the familiar exchange of rucks and clearances from both sides until one lineout added further flames to the Quins fans in the West Stand who were getting increasingly unhappy with Gareth Copsey’s charge of the game as a very obviously not straight throw-in went unpunished. From the ensuing knock-on and scrum Welsh chipped cleverly through the Quins defence and a nasty bounce combined with great handling from Simon Etheredge and Gareth Swales saw them just held up over the Quins line. An attacking scrum saw play taken to the blindside in with quick rucks and a well-taken try for Chris Ritchie. The difficult conversion was missed, but Welsh were now almost level, 12 – 14 on 35 minutes.

Darren Clayton on for Guest ©KoM

From the restart and following exchanges Mike Brown again gained possession, flew at the Welsh right defence and stayed on his feet until cover could arrive. Hands in the ruck gave AJ the chance to take play to a lineout on the Welsh 5 yard line and fast hands led to a perfect switch move by Mike Brown for Quins’ third try to the left of the posts. Another well-taken conversion and Quins had some breathing room, 12 – 21 on 38 minutes.

Simon Miall gathered the restart and yet more infringements at the maul let AJ push Welsh back to inside their own 10-metre line. Simon Miall again took the lineout in what for me was one of his best displays with an excellent all-round performance, fast hands and a perfect miss-pass later and Simon Keogh split the Welsh defence for a well-worked try and simple conversion, 12 – 28 two minutes into injury time. Two more tries for Simon Keogh put him well up in the try-scoring league table, a fact the Quins bench cheerfully reminded the watching Ugo Monye of several times.

Vos on the Charge ©Prof

Half-time was called a minute later and things seemed pretty good – bonus point gained, set piece and backs’ moves working well despite the skill and commitment to running rugby that Welsh were showing. One good half complete and another good half to look forward to.

The second half brought Kiba Richards and George Robson on for Mike Brown and Pablo Bouza, both of whom I assume may have been preserved for the A game on Monday.

More penalties for ruck infringements saw Steve So’oialo taking quick taps whenever possible although there was some friendly advice for Gareth Copsey from the West Stand after Howard Quigley pulled Simon Miall down blatantly in the lineout and not for the first time. With tempers simmering the next ruck descended into punches again after a Welsh player was shoed for not trying to roll away when defending his own line.

George Robson does well in the Lineout ©Prof

However, despite a fairly clear case for a yellow card either for persistent Welsh infringing or any number of punches the referee merely decided to have a chat with both Captains and award a penalty to the Welsh. I can only assume that Gareth Copsey was being extremely safety-conscious as he displayed equal zeal at the next breakdown through his yellow-carding of Ricky Nebbett for dangerous use of the boot. As the offence happened a few yards in front of me it seemed a fairly innocuous shoeing of a Welsh player clearly impeding the release of the ball. However, the referee thought otherwise and in fairness consulted his touch judge which meant that Lorne Ward came on with Darren Clayton temporarily substituted.

A try was missed when Tom Williams didn’t hear Steve So’oialo screaming for a pass with no one in front of him, but otherwise Quins did not seem under any additional pressure for being a man down. For the next ten minutes Quins and Welsh traded possession and territory without any gain for either side including a superb scrag by Steve So’oialo on Duncan Hayward and hard yards made by Mel Deane and Nick Easter who had yet another fine game.

The London Welsh Scrum Half Not Exactly On Side ©KoM

Ricky Nebbett’s sin-binning was reversed on 58 minutes and Welsh had started to kick more often as their attempts to run were increasingly halted by well-organised defence. To add to this frustration Welsh were committing more and more offences at the breakdown, more offsides, more hands in the ruck and more coming in from the side but Copsey seemed to be taking less and less notice of it. Andre Vos was getting visibly more frustrated by Gareth Copsey’s increasingly odd decisions, one offence that was called at the scrum producing outrage from the Quins’ bench.

Quins’ pressure at the scrum led to Welsh substituting Steve Croall, Chris Waring and Richie Woods for Chris Ritchie, Johnny Marsters and Paul Cox as we swapped our own Aston Croall for Jimmy Richards who had been as combative and hard-working as ever. Simon Miall conceded a penalty seemingly for Howard Quigley not releasing the ball once tackled, which was a little odd, and three successive lineout steals by Nick Easter, George Robson and Darren Clayton kept Welsh penned in their own half. The Welsh scrum was then declared as having been turned despite the fact that both sides were still largely in place which produced the unusual sight of both sets of coaches looking at each other in amused disbelief.

Robbie Shaw came on for Allen Chiltern and soon after more quick phases saw Mark Meenan, the Welsh full back crossing for another good score, conversion missed, 17 – 28, 77 minutes gone.

That was as far as the scoring went although the afternoon’s comedy wasn’t quite over – Gareth Copsey gave an example of crossing that any Kiwi side would be proud of, he then decided to call Tom Williams back after a Welsh knock-on having apparently forgotten that the advantage rule exists. Howard Quigley and Darren Clayton exchanged pleasantries much to the amusement of both benches and that was pretty much it despite another late charge by Welsh at the Quins line which drew desperate but effective defence.

I believe that the man of the match went to Quigley who most impressed me more by staying on the pitch than he did by his play; for me Simon Miall was rather more deserving. The crowd numbers weren’t announced as far as I heard but I would guess around 5,000 to 6,000 or so turned up.

It’s often all too easy to blame referees for impacting on games but any time that both benches are by turns enraged or amused suggests that Gareth Copsey’s handling was pretty woeful. The game started brightly with two teams committed to running rugby, but the second half degenerated into a confusing mess of frankly astonishing decisions. Welsh infringed constantly but that was for me just a sign that they were professional in playing the referee. Their speed to the breakdown was exceptional and their skill and commitment to open rugby made the first half a fine start.

On the plus side? Well, every time I see Mike Brown and George Robson they look more and more comfortable at this level. Mike Brown was a threat every time he had possession and George Robson’s work rate and lineout performance were excellent. Again we looked more vulnerable to a side which was prepared to give the game width just as in the home game last year, but the set-piece worked superbly and is a credit to John Kingston’s work over the year. The pack that last year went backwards and splintered is now unrecognisable. Steve So’oialo harried, poked, prodded and yapped his way through another fine game and I have the feeling that Premiership rugby is something for AJ to look forward to rather than feel nervous about.

On a side note I’d like to thank Melvin for cleaning out the ears for me and the Queen of Mediocrity. Two trophies in a week – someone will need to remind the younger players that this isn’t the norm.

London Welsh: G Swales; T Holgate, M Cannon, D Hayward (A Hopkins, 67), J Greenwood; M Meenan (L Cholewa, 78), A Chilten (capt; R Shaw, 75); S Millard, C Ritchie (A Tauialo, 67), J Marsters (S Croall, 67), H Quigley, C Waring, M Fitzgerald, P Cox (R Griffith, 67), S Etheredge (R Woods, 64).

NEC Harlequins: T Williams; S Keogh, G Duffy, M Deane, M Brown (K Richards, 40); A Jarvis, S So'oialo; C Jones, J Richards (A Croall, 62), R Nebbett, P Bouza (G Robson, 40), S Miall, T Guest (D Clayton, 6; L Ward, 49-59), N Easter, A Vos (capt).

Referee: G Copsey (Oxfordshire).