Beziers 33 Quins 22

Quins Line Out
By kwin
August 15 2002

After a relatively easy ride at Glasgow, Harlequins were introduced to the big boys on a warm evening at the Stade de la Mediterranee last night. In the end they went down fighting by 33:22 - a scoreline helpfully boosted by a controversial penalty try in our favour seven minutes before the end.

Although Quins generally came strong in the last ten minutes as the French appeared to tire, this could not disguise what was overall a worrying game, that Beziers always seemed likely to win, and which will have left Evans and Turner with plenty to ponder.

The evening started promisingly. Your intrepid reporter had left the comfort of his holiday villa earlier in the afternoon to make the long and arduous journey south. The stadium at Beziers is a large concrete monstrosity, at the edge of an industrial estate, well away from the city centre, but adjacent to a motorway junction. Think Madjeski with sunshine. Inside the stadium the resemblance to the home of LI was stronger still, with steeply pitched seating, no clubhouse, a partisan crowd and officious stewards. Oddly, the two ends of our stand were divided from each other by tall fences – but not, as I supposed, to deal with home and away fans, but apparently to separate two factions of Beziers supporters, whose initial rivalry over fan-websites eventually spilt over into violence on the terraces.

Quins started with a strong side that must be pretty close to the team that will start on 31/8, with Bill ‘AWOL’ Satala the most significant absentee. We started enthusiastically, with some great attacking play. Within the first five minutes we saw some plays that were to set the scene for the whole game: a crafty sideways kick from Burke, well constructed, but subsequently fumbled, an interception of a loosely flung pass that nearly led to a Beziers score and the Quins pack shoved out the tight scrum. After five minutes of Quins pressure Diprose was taken out in the lineout. Burkey stepped up for the penalty to a deafening barrage of drums, horns, chanting and shouting, but smoothly slotted it over from 35m. 3-0 Quins. 8 mins gone.

Finding themselves down, the French pulled themselves together and began a long, sustained period of pressure played largely in our half. The French domination was built largely on their pack. In the tight they went down aggressively, shifting the Quins pack backwards before the ball went in, wheeling smartly and causing us all sorts of problems both on our ball and on theirs. At 13 minutes the scrum found themselves on the fabled roller skates as two consecutive Quins scrums resulted in a loss of nearly 15m before the ball was scrabbled back untidily to Bell who made a great break down the right, basically recovering lost ground. Beziers regained possession and from a scrum in their own half set up a marvellous attack that we would see a few times during the game, with the pack taking it up field with a combination of short passing, rolling mauls and aggression that severely tested the Quins defence. Recycling the ball for the fourth phase, Beziers sent up a massive up and under that was fumbled by Williams, and the bouncing ball was gathered and cleared by the ever-present Gollings. From the resulting lineout we were immediately under pressure again until the ball spilt loose in our 22 and Gollings gathered, ran outside his man and set off at a blistering pace for the line, only caught by a high tackle on the half way line. Alas we fumbled the resulting penalty and Beziers attack resumed. Williams, who was having a bit of a ‘mare in defense was targeted with another high ball, and obliged by fumbling a second time, the resulting pressure eventually yielding a penalty to ASBH : 3-3. 23 mins gone, and Beziers no doubt disappointed with just three points to show from 15 minutes of persistent pressure.

The restart was won by Quins, with the ball recycled from Moore on the right, right back to Gollings on the left, but a pass in the middle was ajudged forward. From the resulting scrum Beziers attacked strongly with the scrum-half / back row move, that nearly broke out, Bemand just making the second tackle from which the ball went forward. Advantage played, the ball was gathered by the Quins pack, and swiftly recycled right, where the Quins back found themselves with numbers over and Williams went over for the try in the corner. Conversion missed. 3-8.

Two penalties, for a high tackle (Dippy) and for some arcane offence in the maul (Ace presumably) were taken and ASBH gained the lead for the first time. 9-8. Quins took a quick restart to the right wing where Moore found himself one-on-one chasing the ball. An unlucky bounce prevented him, but it was exciting to see some more invention in the backs. The scrum awarded to us, Will Greenwood chipped and chased hard. The hapless Beziers scrumhalf caught it neatly, but allowed himself to be caught in possession on his own line. Beziers scrambled the ball into touch just 8m out and from the ensuing lineout the ball was tapped safely back to Bemand who chipped high over the line for Greenwood to catch safely in the in-goal area. Great move. 9-15. 36 mins.

Finding themselves down again, the French were on fire. The game moved fast and furious as the French pack set about with a will. Ace was lucky not to be sin-binned when he let his natural aggression spill over in a ruck, and Dippy lucky not be hurt badly when the French took their revenge a minute or two later. Quins set up an attacking line out, but lost possession. A loose clearance fell to Dippy at speed but he failed to break through and Burkey knocked on as the ball came back. Scrum to Beziers on their 22m line, the French surging forward the scrum-half was able to break away, rounding the hapless Bemand, offloading to the wing who ran 80m to score. Half time 16:15, and Quins yet again conceding a try on the point of half time.

Second half commenced and it was apparent how seriously Evans was taking this game, with only two changes. Williams went off, with Gollings dropping to full back, and Jewell coming on the wing. Perhaps Williams was injured, but otherwise it seemed to me he hadn’t done enough to convince and the 15 position is still very much undecided. At scrum half Bemand was replaced by Powell, it what might have been a pre-planned move as these two compete for the number-one spot.

The pack however were left unchanged, even though they were struggling. Starr and Gomez were alternately having a torrid time in the front row, and it was a surprise not to see Cardinelli appear. Meanwhile Jase must have felt assured of his place in the starting line up on 31/8. And why were we going backwards? Codling was sorely missed, and Garrick Morgan’s name was mentioned on the terraces (OK yes, it was by my five year old, but he has a good eye). The French must have had the same thoughts because their scrum ran out brimming with confidence, and an early scrum to us was reset three times as it wheeled and moved prior to the ball going in, with eventually a free kick going against us.

Beziers started the second half with some great free playing attacks that yielded a penalty as we dived in under pressure. 19-15 (50 mins). From the restart we won the scrum and Bell made one of his characteristic breaks, shouldering down two players and nearly breaking through before going to ground. The ball popped out of our side of the ensuing ruck into gaping space (where was Powell?) and was gathered by alert Beziers forwards who countered down the right wing, the ball eventually going into touch for a Beziers throw, about 8m out. The ball was cleanly gathered and the Beziers pack muscled it over the line in a straightforward rolling maul with the lighter Quins pack unable to do anything about it. The conversion safe it was 26-15. 17mins gone, and with ASBH outplaying us, the game had suddenly got away from us.

Evans then made a host of substitutions with Rudzki, Sherriff, Slemen and Greenstock coming on in place of Evans, Miall, Burkey and Bell, and Bemand returning for Powell. These substitutions actually worked well and Quins began a sustained piece of pressure, with the ball recycled many times, and couple of kickable penalties spurned (to the applause of the crowd) in favour of lineouts, and quick one from Ace. Quins were unable to convert the pressure however, and at 26 minutes, as we entered fifth phase ball, spun quickly from right to left within sight of the line, a mistimed pass allowed an interception by Beziers player who ran a full 100m to score. 33-15 and even with 10 minutes to play it was all over. Still Quins attacked gamely, but to me seemed unlikely to score as the French defend well. The referee saw it differently however and awarded us a penalty try with 5mins to play. I couldn’t see what for (!). Both teams seemed tired as they played out the last few minutes and the scoreline remained 33-22 at full time. The French awarded themselves the Bacchus Trophy and the Quins team walked over to acknowledge the support from small collection of vocal fans.

Overall – well some questions raised, particularly about the scrum, but a spirited performance against a genuinely classy team. Beziers reminded me of Castres in their approach to the game and scored a couple of well worked tries. In the back we were inventive and solid in defence, although still with occasional lapses. Neutrals at the game (there was a family from Gloucester!) enthused about Gollings who had an excellent game, and also Moore who showed some of his class and pace. Coming to Beziers was a tough pre-season challenge, the result not really so important as what we learned about ourselves and in that respect I think these two friendlies will have prepared us 100% better than the soft two games we played last season. Roll on Glaws…