We Won!! Connacht 18-19 NEC Harlequins

By Claire_m
October 23 2006

Good Friday! A Black night for Connacht. Connacht Painted Black by Quins. Connacht Join the Black Parade. Quins Defeat Men in Black. So many headlines, but the message is the same: NEC Harlequins beat Connacht Rugby, at the Sportsground, Galway, on Friday 20th October, by 19 points to 18

I feel almost privileged to be writing this. I was there, the night we got the monkey off our back, and won our first game of the 2006-7 campaign. The game itself wasn’t the best game I’ve ever watched, but the passion, commitment and defence, especially, were there for everyone to see. When the final whistle was blown, the relief, and joy, were palpable.

But, to the beginning. I was at the Sportsground early. Your intrepid match reporter was keen not to let anyone down. I caught up with Scotty, and was handed the team sheet. Chris Hala’Ufia had failed a fitness test that morning, so Andre Vos was elevated to the starting 15, with Simon Keogh taking his place on the bench. For Connacht, Mark McHugh was out, replaced at fly-half by Paul Warwick, with John Hearty taking his centre berth. Lock Andrew Farley took over the captain’s duties.

Matt Mostyn led Connacht out on to the pitch, celebrating his 100th cap for the province. Would he have the fairy-tale ending though? With Connacht playing well in the Magner’s League, it was a distinct possibility.

Just after 7pm, Adrian Jarvis kicked off, and the game was underway. The first couple of minutes were a bit scrappy, neither side dominating. There were a few line-outs, and it was good to see Tani Fuga back. Connacht nearly scored a try after charging down a Jarvis kick, but the defence stood firm. However, after 7 minutes, Connacht put the first points on the board, through a try by Hearty. Warwick missed the conversion, but Quins were trailing 5-0. About this time, Mostyn went off. Perhaps it wasn’t to be his day after all…

We then had a period when Quins tried to get themselves back in the game. Connacht were penalised for pulling down in the line-out, there was a high tackle on Gavin Duffy (welcome home!), they were penalised at the scrum, and Quins were starting to look lively. After 20 minutes, Ugo made a break, and Quins were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. AJ duly slotted it over, 5-3. Game on!

Five minutes later, Quins took the lead, with another AJ penalty. 5-6

Quins seemed to gain confidence from this. Tommy Williams was just denied a try, and my notes suggest it was all Quins. On 40 minutes, Quins were awarded a penalty for Connacht not rolling away, and again AJ made no mistake, 5-9. However, on the stroke of half-time, Quins gave away a penalty themselves, which Warwick scored, 8-9.

There were no changes to the Quins team at half-time, and I don’t think there were any to Connacht either. Warwick got the second half underway, Spanghero went for the ball, as did Connacht, and Spanghero landed awkwardly – he seemed to crash to the ground, landing on his back. Thankfully he was up and able to carry on playing after about a minute, but Connacht were penalised for the challenge.

3 minutes, 20 seconds into the second half, Tommy Williams dove over the line for Quins’ first (and only) try of the night. 5 points for the try, about 2.4 for artistic merit! Due to the speed of the move, and a discussion of the merits of raspberry vodka, I missed the build-up, but I was reliably informed that AJ chipped the ball ahead, and though whilst at first it appeared to have gone too far, it bounced into the arms of the advancing Williams, who then ran a lovely line, and scored. (Thanks Prof!) AJ converted, 8-16.

Within 3 minutes Connacht had pegged back the score to 11-16, with a Warwick penalty for a Quins high tackle.

Connacht then had their tails up, but fortunately for Quins, they had their own Harvey, he was passed the ball, and the move broke down. Chris Keane was replaced by Tom Tierney. In fact, there were a few Connacht substitutions, no 17 (Brett Wilkinson) appeared, and club captain John Fogarty, returning from injury, replaced Flavin. Warwick attempted a drop goal, and it was all a bit messy. On 62 minutes, Simon Keogh replaced Williams, Jim Evans came on for Ollie Kohn, and Danny Care replaced Gommersall.

The next 10 minutes were scrappy, both sides were penalised (I’ve got ‘Paul Volley gets a telling off’ in my notes!), but on 73 minutes, Connacht re-took the lead with a try from no. 8, Colm Rigney. Warwick added the conversion, 18-16.

My notes become sparse now – I was shouting too much, but Quins were awarded a penalty, AJ converted it, 18-19 after 80 minutes. Connacht then tried to throw everything at Quins, but the defence was awesome, and they held them off. With the final whistle, we all went crazy! Quins had won!

I spoke to Dean Richards after the game, and he was happy with the result, and relieved too! Aston Croall, who, along with Simon Miall did a sterling job as water boy, praised the defence of the boys, and they gave everything. There was singing coming from the dressing room, and everyone was just so delighted and relieved to win. I’m sure there were some tired bodies (and heads!) on Saturday, but we won, and the pain never seems so bad!

The forwards were fantastic, with special mention of Tani Fuga and Mike Ross, Tani just edging Mike out as my MOTM.

We met some very gracious Connacht supporters after the game, and I think a fantastic time was had by all, even those who missed the start of the game with a mad dash from the airport!

I was promised more of the same this weekend, Come on you Quins!

Teams:

Connacht: Daniel Riordan; Matt Mostyn, John Hearty, Gavin Williams, Darren Yapp; Paul Warwick, Chris Keane; Ray Hogan, Adrian Flavin, Brett Sturgess, David Gannon, Andrew Farley (Capt), John Muldoon, Ray Ofisa, Colm Rigney.
Replacements: Ted Robinson, Brett Wilkinson, Tom Tierney, John Fogarty, Keith Matthews, Michael Swift, Brendan O'Connor

NEC Harlequins: Mike Brown, Tom Williams, Gavin Duffy, Jordan Turner-Hall, Ugo Monye, Adrian Jarvis, Andy Gomarsall, Ceri Jones, Tani Fuga, Mike Ross, Ollie Kohn, Nicolas Spanghero, Nick Easter, Paul Volley (Capt.), Andre Vos
Replacements: James Hayter, Lorne Ward, Jim Evans, Tom Guest, Danny Care, Craig McMullen, Simon Keogh