Llanelli Scarlets 26-7 NEC Harlequins
By Prof
October 2 2006
Luckily the shocking weather held off during the game although for the travellers it plagued the journey down and back. Luckily the greeting at Stradey Park was very warm - off the pitch at least. The young Quins team would have their work cut out against Llanelli who were beaten finalists last term
Adrian Jarvis kicked off high and Ugo Monye chased, leapt high and beat Simon Easterby to the ball, giving possession back to Quins, but within seconds the referee gave the home side a penalty against Jim Evans for holding on at the breakdown. Less than a minute later Gavin Evans, the Llanelli inside centre, took the ball from the lineout at pace, was tap tackled by Jarvis and fell head first into a tackle by Hala’Ufia knocking himself out.
A good Quins scrum and recycling after a charge by Evans saw Harder send a long pass but to no one and Llanelli had a chance to attack, but they were penalized for holding on as Skinner tried to rip the ball and AJ kicked to touch.
Another penalty was given away after Ross picked up a knock on by Care in an offside possession, Mel Deane then gave another penalty away for slapping the ball out of Clive Stewart-Smith’s hands at a ruck. Deane then had to go off for a blood injury to his scalp and was replaced by Jordan Turner-Hall.
Llanelli attacked well until Ugo Monye put in a big tackle and turned over the ball for AJ to clear.
Some more good attacking play from Llanelli saw some great recycling but the Quins defence on the line held firm until the referee called play back for slowing the ball down in a ruck.
Llanelli decided to take a 5m scrum and although the home front row popped up the referee didn’t blow up but instead blew up for hands in the scrum by Quins. Another scrum was set, and straight away the referee awarded a free kick which was taken quickly by Stewart-Smith, passing the ball right – Monye came off his wing to try for an interception but the ball was thrown him and Darren Daniel just got in despite Turner-Hall’s covering tackle. The wind took Jones’ kick very wide of the posts. 5-0, 11 mins.
Poor lineout ball saw Care knocking on, although the Llanelli front row went to engage early, the referee just reset the scrum rather than giving the free kick that has plagued too many of the games so far this season. Barry Davis made a good break and the ball was spun left to King and although the ball went forward from a tackle by Harder Llanelli were allowed to play on, Daniel tried to take Monye on the outside but was caught and tackled well by the wing. James took the ball well in midfield, popped it to Popham who knocked on.
Care kicked from the base of a ruck, Skinner chased well but was in front of the kicker which brought the play back deep into Quins’ territory.
Llanelli kicked to touch and won the lineout and although it seemed that Afeaki lost the ball as his arm hit the ground Llanelli were awarded the try, it took the fourth official what seemed an age to decide much to the annoyance of both sets of fans. Jones made no mistake with the simple conversion and Quins were 12-0 down. (16 mins).
AJ out up another hanging restart that Skinner got to this time and Quins were in a good attacking position but Hayter knocked on in a tackle, King then knocked on a little later but the referee came back for the first knock on.
A high kick by Jarvis saw Monye nailing Daniel again, Llanelli then spilled the ball, giving Quins good possession but Harder knocked on in a tackle.
Some possession eventually came from Quins nearly 21 minutes into the game with some good recycling by the forwards after a nice half break by Duffy. A solid scrum and a strong crash ball from Harder saw him having the ball stolen from him by Easterby who did very well (although he wasn’t on his feet).
Both sides continued to make poor handling errors. Mel Deane was then very harshly binned for hands in a ruck even though he came in from behind the back foot and he was on his feet.
A good Quins lineout and drive saw a rare foray into Llanelli territory and a slap down by Craig Dunlea was only punished by a scrum.
Good play by Duffy, Harder, Hala’Ufia, Easter and Skinner saw the ball taken to within 5m of the home try line when Macleod came round offside to kill the ball.
AJ kicked to touch, Kohn won the ball, Jarvis delayed a beautifully weighted pass to Monye coming into the line at pace straight under the posts, AJ made no mistake with the extras. 14-man Quins reduced the deficit to 5 points. 12-7, 35 mins.
A fantastic break by Regan King, through the gap left by the binned Deane, took play 50m downfield but again Monye snuffed out the attack with a good tackle back.
Quins were taking the ball deep into Llanelli territory with some good play by the forwards when the final whistle went.
We were then treated to a display of the miniest of mini rugby which saw a shocking refereeing decision, the tag was pulled off the attacking playera good yard short of the line but the player continued to touch down and the referee (was it his Dad?) allowed the try to stand – the commentator said that it should have probably gone to a fourth official but that we didn’t have a spare 20 minutes to wait for the decision!
Gavin Duffy was pulled off by the management and Mike Brown started the second half at fullback.
Quins came out playing good rugby, a good drive from the restart (which saw Easterby doing a bigger dive than someone jumping off Angel Falls!), a quick lineout, and a good charge by Harder although Deane couldn’t take the loose pass.
Dunlea, who was given a torrid time by Aston Croall all game, saw him slipping his binding to collapse a scrum. There was some good play by the forwards after the lineout and although it looked like Dunlea didn’t roll away, Llanelli were awarded a scrum and were given the chance to clear the pressure.
Some good recycling by the Scarlets and an excellent shimmy from Regan King saw him wrongfoot Skinner, break the Quins defensive line and put Davies through to score under the posts. Jones added the extras. 19-7, 49 mins.
The referee after some more good play from Llanelli decided that a hand in a ruck was Jim Evans’ even though it belonged to Craig Dunlea and the home side was awarded a penalty. Although it was Ugo Monye who came away with the ball after Rees overthrew the ball. He made 60m before finally being caught.
Care was pulled off and Gomersall came on (52 mins).
There was some excellent play from Quins with the ball being kept alive well until a high tackle by Easterby on Gomersall saw Quins kicking to 5m out. The lifting of Kohn didn’t seem to happen and the lineout was lost. Quins got the ball back from a wayward kick and drove the ball back upfield again but Mel Deane was penalized for holding on.
Guest and Jordan Turner-Hall came on for Deane and Hala’Ufia. 57 mins.
A harsh decision for coming in at the side of a maul by Easter saw Jones push the ball deep into Quins territory, although nothing came of it because of a forward pass.
If Stuart Abbott was penalised for his tackle in the London Irish game then one would have thought that Dafydd James should have been penalised for a similar tackle on Hayter but he was only penalised for hands on the ground.
Quins’ forwards had a beautiful rolling maul before AJ spread the ball left and Turner-Hall couldn’t hold on to the ball and the attack was over. Nebbett and Cook came on for Croall and Ross and at the scrum a penalty was awarded against Gomersall for pulling Stewart-Smith over.
Some good attacking play saw Davis trying to take Monye on the outside but he was easily dumped into touch.
Some good tackling by Monye, Gomersall and Evans saw another attack up the right come to nothing. And Quins’ pack with it’s new props were driven back and Easter had to c=touch down over the line giving the Scarlets a 5m scrum, they pushed Quins over the line and a very harsh decision by the referee against Stewart-Smith saw the scrum reset for Quins front row coming up. Nebbett came up straight away and Nathan Thomas had a simple touch down as Quins were driven backwards. Again Jones’ kick was good. 24-7, 69 mins.
Evans was replaced by Miall, 70 mins, and Croall came back on for Hayter. Although they got the nudge on Quins lost the scrum.
Turner-Hall made another good break through the centre but his pass was intercepted and the ball was booted downfield and it looked like Quins were in trouble but Monye running back and across from the opposite wing easily won the foot race.
A similar interception by Guest saw Monye chase the ball downfield but he was unlucky with the bounce and knocked the ball on.
The singing from the local crowd was lovely to hear as the game went into the last five minutes.
More good recycling by the forwards saw Quins get within 10m of the home line but Miall was pinged for holding on and ten yards were given away for a bit of unnecessary language.
Gomersall made a great break up the left but his chip over the defence was marked. Brown then chased his own kick upfield and recovered it, then Quins got close again through Turner-Hall but again it came to nothing.
The game was over, Quins had been outplayed, but there were still positives to be taken. Croall and Ross both played well both in the loose and tight and it was only when they went off that the scrum had trouble. The back row of Easter, Skinner and Hala’Ufia looked to have a good balance.
Gomersall is a bloody annoying, spikey scrum half, but he’s our bloody annoying, spikey scrum half. He has only had a very short time to settle in to the side but he looks to be very good indeed. Jarvis impressed, his pass to Monye for his try was excellently timed and he put in more good tackles than I have seen from him in a long time. Duffy looked good at the back although he didn’t really have much to do. The final person to talk about on the Quins side was Monye, yet again he played well, defending solidly, covering back well and making a few chances, one of which he scored from.
On the Llanelli side of things they showed the same good recycling that we have come to expect from Welsh sides in recent years.
Easterby was awesome at the breakdown - he was right on the edge all game and played the referee excellently, although his binding at the scrum was non-existent at best!
Although most traveling fans were probably expecting the best display in the backs to come from Stephen Jones it was Regan King who really shone. Dafydd James also showed qualities that he rarely displayed in his short times at The Stoop.
There were far too many handling errors by Quins and still too many penalties were given away although a few of them were a tad harsh.
Quins were well beaten in the end but it could have been much closer had Quins taken half of the chances that they made.
Although Llanelli don’t have the best front five in the world the starting Quins 5 stood up to them well. Ross looked good again and Croall performed well in the loose and tight.
After the game Richards said "Inexperience at this level probably cost us and we had a lot of injuries coming down here. We came here to be competitive. Not many sides, especially English ones, come down here and win, and I thought there were some positives we could take from the game."
He added "There's clearly a different way of refereeing the breakdown in Wales, but I'm not in a position to criticise officials here because our own referees are inconsistent, you have to play to the referee and react quickly his decisions. You are better able to do that if you have experienced players, and injuries meant that we had to make a number of changes."
Scores:
Llanelli Scarlets: Tries: Inoke Afeaki, Darren Daniel, Barry Davies, Nathan Thomas; Conversions: Steven Jones (3)
NEC Harlequins: Try: Ugo Monye; Conversion: Adrian Jarvis
Llanelli Scarlets:
Barry Davies; Darren Daniel, Martthew Watkins, Gavin Evans, Dafydd James; Stephen Jones, Clive Stuart-Smith; Iestyn Thomas, Matthew Rees, Craig Dunlea, Inoke Afeaki, Scott MacLeod, James Bater, Simon Easterby, Alix Popham.
Replacements: Ceiron Thomas for Daniel (60), Regan King for G Evans (3), Lee Williams for Stuart-Smith (80), Phil John for I Thomas (71), Aled Gravelle for Rees (71), Adam Jones for MacLeod (50), Nathan Thomas for Popham (50).
NEC Harlequins:
Aston Croall (Peter Cook, 64 mins), James Hayter, Mike Ross (Ricky Nebbett, 64 mins), Ollie Kohn (Simon Miall, 74 mins), Jim Evans, Nick Easter, Will Skinner , Chris Hala'Ufia (Tom Guest, 59 mins), Danny Care (Andy Gomarsall, 54 mins), Adrian Jarvis, Ugo Monye, Craig McMullen, Mel Deane (Jordan Turner-Hall, 59 mins), George Harder, Gavin Duffy (Mike Brown, 40 mins).
Replacements: Peter Cook (Aston Croall, 64 mins), Ricky Nebbett (Mike Ross, 64 mins), Simon Miall (Ollie Kohn, 74 mins), Tom Guest (Chris Hala'Ufia, 59 mins), Andy Gomarsall (Danny Care, 54 mins), Mike Brown (Gavin Duffy, 40 mins), Jordan Turner-Hall (Mel Deane, 59 mins)
Sin-bin: Mel Deane (28).