Preview: Bristol Rugby (a) October 13th 2006

By Worried of Whitton
October 13 2006

NEC Harlequins are away to Bristol Rugby this weekend. This week sees a brief return to Premiership Rugby, which has been sandwiched in between back to back domestic cup matches and two European cup matches. The business of Premiership  then returns in the first week of November.

Quins and Bristol could not have had a more diverse start to their respective seasons. Bristol have romped away to head the Premiership undefeated, and appear to be reaping the benefits of starting their pre season training a month earlier than anyone else. As we know, the Premiership is not a sprint race, more of a marathon and so we could draw the analogy of the Aesop fable of The Tortoise and The Hare, as Bristol become the first to witness some player burn out. Quins are in the Tortoise role currently with just two bonus premiership points, and no wins. I don’t think there is a single supporter who witnessed last week’s positive performance against Sale who could say that Quins had not significantly improved their game as the season has progressed I should temper my enthusiasm with the fact that, like the matches against London Irish and Leicester, the Sale game was another match that Quins lost, rather than a match that the opposition had won. Loosing the match by a whisker, they managed to complete the whole eighty minutes without a yellow card and they played right on to the whistle and there were once more some excellent performances, from Hala ufia against Chabal,Skinner was being a nuisance all over the place and Gommarsal, who was certainly “ up for it” and Jarvis, despite some inconsistent kicks for goal, including that last “déjà vu” moment. Craig Mc Mullen is proving to be a shrewd short term signing. The pack too, which is reported to have its own problems, certainly faced up to and better their counterparts.

The law of averages dictate that Quins that have got to win soon and Bristol will loose, in the premiership. Hey did get whipped by Gloucester last weekend, but like many other clubs have not taken the EDF cup as seriously as other clubs and effectively rested their first XV ready or this week’s encounter. Bristol did start well last season too before fading, but they had done enough early on to maintain their Premiership status, like a squirrel storing its’ nuts for winter, Bristol garner their points early to protect them through the harsh winter. History has given us some classic contest between these two clubs and there is no reason not to expect a similar high scoring tussle this week. At the Quinssa meeting the players evening earlier this week, Nick Easter revealed that the team had picked up some bad habits from ND 1 that were proving difficult to shake off and that was causing them problems, as they still expected to win the ball back It was also clear that the players do not enjoy their current predicament and are working as hard as they can to rectify the situation. Although a loss again this week would  not put us in the “last chance saloon”, it gets harder as the weeks progress and the Premiership matches we have coming up in November both home and away have to be targeted as must wins.

We do have the potential to take the win this weekend and that would have a great affect on the team and supporters morale. 

The only cloud on Quins horizon is that ever present injury list, which with further casualties picked up last weekend will mean yet another change in the starting line up this week, we do have the strength in depth to replace some of the injured and this will continue to keep up the competition for places. Injuries aside I would have expected to see a same line up as last week, and with Keogh replacing Strettle on the wing, however Brown stays at fullback and Williams is the No14. It is understood that Abbot is out for a couple more weeks and that Luscombe is also out with a hamstring problem. In fact Quins have made five changes to the side that faced Sale last weekend as Gavin Duffy replaces the injured Hal Luscombe and partners Craig McMullen in the midfield, in an untried centre pairing.

In the pack, Ricky Nebbett comes in at tight-head prop for the injured Mike Ross, while James Hayter is back from a chest injury and starts at hooker in place of Jimmy Richards. Nicolas Spanghero partners Ollie Kohn in the second row, with Jim Evans dropping to the bench. It is a good sign to see that Tani Fuga, is in the squad for the first time this season having recovered from a foot injury.  Simon Keogh takes Williams place on the bench.

Quins will not underestimate the strength and the tenacity of Bristol, after all the Quins ”Old boys” Richard Hill, Roy Winters, Gareth Llewellyn and Andy Reay learned a lot from their time at the Stoop and are still putting that experience to good use – Please note: tongue now firmly removed from cheek- sorry Bristol!.  I’m sure that Kohn, who joined from Bristol in the summer, may have helped shape the game plan this week. Hill has got the game plan just right for the start of the season, and the confidence the wins have brought inspires the team for the next match. I think it was the “Upset at beating Wasps that has caused most people to sit up and take notice of the third force in West Country Rugby. In addition in Shaun Perry, who is knocking on the England selectors door, is a fine scrum half whose recent performances have steered Bristol s victories. It will be interesting to witness the battle of the scrum halves between the young pretender and the old warrior as Gomarsall, still believes that his England days may not over, and all he needs to do is prove himself on the pitch.

Bristol are expected to announce an unchanged team to the one that beat Wasps three weeks ago.

NEC Harlequins:
15. Mike Brown, 14. Tom Williams, 13. Gavin Duffy, 12. Craig McMullen, 11. Ugo Monye, 10. Adrian Jarvis, 9. Andy Gomarsall, 1. Ceri Jones, 2. James Hayter, 3. Ricky Nebbett, 4. Ollie Kohn, 5. Nicolas Spanghero, 6. Nick Easter (Capt.), 7. Will Skinner, 8. Chris Hala'ufia
Replacements: 16. Tani Fuga, 17. Lorne Ward, 18. Jim Evans, 19. Andre Vos, 20. Danny Care, 21. Simon Keogh, 22. Jordan Turner-Hall

 

 Come on You Quins

Referee: David Rose
Touch judges: Steve Savage, Bob Mullis