Preview: Sale Sharks (EDF Cup)

By Worried of Whitton
October 6 2006

Round 2 of the Electricite de France, Anglo Welsh Energy Cup this Saturday October 7th sees NEC Harlequins at home to Sale Sharks. Kick off at The Stoop is at the usual time of 15.00.

This is Quins third home game of the season, and it will be interesting match to follow bearing in mind that Quins have yet to win this season and the apparent lack of enthusiasm for this competition, despite the sponsorship.

In his address this week Tony Copsey is putting a very positive spin on the event, and his match day experience, and with a crowd of 10,000 expected boosted through the assistance of the clubs “official communicator “ in the Richmond and Twickenham Times’ with their Community Cup Competition. For many of us though the match day experience also includes the game on the pitch, and its’ outcome certainly has an effect on that experience. Despite the poor start to the season there is some encouragement to be drawn from the fact that our gate receipts have not suffered as much as London Irish and Wasps. However, such is their enthusiasm for this competition that Sale supporters are struggling to get first XV squad together to travel down to watch the match, much the same as Harlequins had little travelling support to Llanelli last week. In theory this should work to our advantage and the home support should be able to get behind the club with their vocal support to lift them to victory.

This is the second of three matches in this competition and Harlequins it is still possible that they can progress, and they can affect the outcome of this group. A win against Sale could probably see them out of the competition, Llanelli are playing to improve on their runner up status in this competition last year, and judging by t he results last weekend the majority of the Welsh clubs are taking the EDF Cup more seriously than most English Clubs.

The Quins factor obviously played a part in the Leicester shake up two weeks ago with Varndell’s much publicised “kick up the back side”  by Pat Howard After scoring his try from a forward pass he was pretty much anonymous for the rest of the match as he was completely played out of the game by Monye. Varndell has been given a harsh punishment for his below par performance so maybe some of our players deserve the same treatment. I m sure some of squad would relish a few weeks down at London Welsh! to re acquaint themselves with life in ND1.

There were some positives that can be taken from last weeks match against Llanelli. Had I not seen the match on television then maybe, after reading some of the comments on last weeks match, I d be feeling a lot more down hearted than I am, Although overall their performance was not as good as the Leicester game it was better than Wasps, and that second half against Gloucester. The performance against Llanelli had its faults and these are not helped by constant changes to the team selection week in week out, I fully accept and understand this has been due to injury and suspension but an unsettled starting line has to have taken its toll. This is highlighted by the fact the James Hayter was the only squad member to have started in all the game played so far this season. He appears to have lost that privilege this week.

Quins had their chances but failed to convert them in to scoring opportunities and points. The Quins performance towards the end of the first half was what we would expect, and despite a man down forced the opposition back and collected 7 points. Inexperience under pressure saw them fade in the second half and despite the consistent possession and their domination in keeping the game in the Llanelli half, but they were unable to progress. Whereas Llanelli, were able to capitalise on the opportunities that came their way that came their way. Monye himself played very well last week with a great try that came out of no where and some top tackles too. Hala’ufia too had a very good game and caused the opposition problems. It was good to see Gomarsall play some part in the game too. He appeared fired up and his actions showed what he’d been saying in the press last week. Perhaps we now truly have a mouthy, annoying scrum half, who is all over the opposition like a rash! 

We still have the worry of where our first win of the season is going to come from. We have to start winning games and this match in some respects should be treated as preparation for next weeks top v bottom clash away at Bristol. Certainly the team selection this week, although it shows seven changes form last changes form last week, but with the Luscombe/ Abbot partnership back at centre and Gomarsall at scrum half there is some clout in the line up. Although Brown is in to replace an injured Duffy, he has the potential to make things happen. Dean Richards stated policy at the start of the season was that we are taking every competition seriously. His team selection and the strength of team has been governed and still is governed by the injury list, but this weeks selection has the ability to perform and produce a result, and fills the criteria of taking the competition seriously, although the team has to have the confidence and the will to win. Next week is week five in the Premiership and a must win match we have to start winning games. Against Sale we have the opportunity to start the season again and use this match as preparation for our meeting with Bristol next week.

Sale comprehensively beat Newcastle last weekend, effectively relying on their reserves in Ripol and Larrechea to force the win against Newcastle, who like Quins are also stuttering in the Premiership. With two tries by Ripol, who appears to have put in an excellent performance, and the kicking of Larrechea, Sale had won the match early in the second half, when they went 21- 0 up. The win was at a cost as Sale lost their loose head prop Faure. Jones scored Sales third try at the close to re dress the margin as Newcastle who had tried hard  to fight back, collected some scant consolation from an unconverted try by Thompson.

Sale have yet to announce their team, however it is believed that sale only had five of the starting pack available for training this week. It is likely that there squad will include Cueto, Charlie, Bell, White, Lund and Sheridan in the starting line up. The Quins team is pretty strong, on paper, and Sale who want to win the EDF cup, will not want to meet Llanelli in their final match in a weakend position. Llanelli have the edge with their bonus point from last week, they play Newcastle tonight, which will assist Sale in their selection

A CAW posting this week suggested that we should “always look on the bright side of life” and that is a good philosophy, but Quins supporters will be much brighter with a win under their belt. Let’s get behind the team on Saturday, and cheer them on to victory.

 

Come on you Quins

 

NEC Harlequins
15. Mike Brown,14. David Strettle,13. Hal Luscombe,12. Stuart Abbott,11. Ugo Monye,
10. Adrian Jarvis,9. Andy Gomarsall,1. Ceri Jones,2. Jimmy Richards,3. Mike Ross, 4. Ollie Kohn,5. Jim Evans,6. Nick Easter © 7. Will Skinner,8. Chris Hala’ufia,
Replacements: 16. Aston Croall,17. Lorne Ward,18. Nicolas Spanghero,19. Andre Vos
20. Danny Care,21. Craig McMullen,22. Tom Williams

  

Sale team to be announced

 

Referee:  Sean Davey
Touch judges:  Andy Watson, Paul Dickens