Sale Sharks 17-12 NEC Harlequins

By Harley Quin
November 27 2006

There are days when a losing bonus point at the home of the current league champions would be considered a decent result. This was not one of those days. Against a home side clearly lacking in confidence and self belief Quins were awful in the first half,

before clawing their way back into the game in the final stages and were left with a long drive home to contemplate what might have been.

The first half was dire. After all the “must win” pre-match hype from Sale most people expected a “blood and guts” opening quarter. It never came. In fact, it was a very flat game throughout.

The nerves in the Sale ranks showed as early as the first two minutes when a knock on by Hala’Ufia from the kick off gave the home side possession in the Quins 22. A penalty was awarded when Quins were pinged for not rolling away in the tackle and Larrachea missed a relatively easy kick.

In fact it was Quins that took an early lead via the boot of Adrian Jarvis. Following a good lineout and maul the referee awarded a rare penalty to Quins (by my count, the only one in the first half).

Sale were there for the taking. The problem was that a continuous stream of unforced errors gave the Sharks one attacking platform after another. They enjoyed almost complete territorial advantage throughout the half.

Larrachea nailed a drop goal and then after a great break lead by Bruno, more dogged last ditch defence saw Mr Rowden’s arm raised once again and this time the Frenchman made no mistake: 6-3 Sale.

Things got worse immediately. A “no look” pass by Adrian Jarvis was seized on in midfield and Magnus Lund finished off a 50 yard move in a manner that has caused many to suggest his regular inclusion in the national team. A difficult touchline conversion left the score 11-3 at the end of the first quarter.

After just under half an hour a Quins’ scrum was penalised and Larrachea made a 40 yard kick to close out the scoring in the first half, but there should have been much more.

A combination of stoic goal-line defence and butchered opportunities kept the score in manageable proportions. Sale contrived to blow a three man overlap 10 yards out and a forward pass saved another certain score. The half time whistle could not come soon enough.

When it did, 14-3 flattered Quins immensely. The feeling was that one more score would have put the game away. In the changing room the players were told to: “put the first 40 minutes behind them, because it was dreadful. We were our own worst enemy,” said Andy Friend.

Gavin Duffy came on to start the second stanza in place of Hal Luscombe, who picked up a knock to the back and was in obvious discomfort as the players left the field.

Needing a good start, Quins dodged another bullet when the French 10 missed a difficult penalty opportunity after a high tackle. After good Quins pressure, during which Andy Gomarsall went close, Sale returned the favour and AJ slotted home the kick.

With Chabal showing flashes of the offensive force that he can be, Sale came again. Quins survived Strettle having to take the ball over his own try line when Hala’Ufia managed to force a turnover.

Sale kept pressing, without ever really threatening to “blow the house down”. A missed drop goal represented their closest effort to increase their advantage. Slowly, Quins finally began to assert themselves. AJ kicked another penalty and suddenly you sensed that they had a chance of rescuing the game.

Gomarsall found a little space and started orchestrating a few things. The tension mounted. Easter finally came on after an hour for the limping Hala’Ufia (more on that later).

Jarvis attempted a drop kick. They would be laughable, if he played for somebody else. They are just an automatic 22 drop out. He can kick penalties sometimes though. With the wind behind him he nailed another 3 points from 5 metres inside the Sale half and now you wondered, you really wondered, if Quins could/would steal the points.

Unfortunately AJ dropped a high ball near his own 22. From the ensuing play Quins transgressed once again and Larrachea closed out the scoring as the game went towards injury time.

Finally Quins managed to “plant” Chabal, much to the annoyance of the crowd, but that was that. 17-12 Sale.

Afterwards, PSA was much relieved. “The confidence was not very high. It was a bad weekend, last weekend…… I think we deserved to win, but I think we made too many mistakes.”

Dean Richards was not a happy man. “Very poor first half, everybody’s disappointed about the first half more than anything. We gifted them a try through our own errors and I don’t think we adapted particularly well to the conditions in the first half and (there were) too many unforced errors. Even so, eleven points behind is nothing in the Premiership these days and we felt we could and most probably should have come back and won.”

I asked Deano how disappointing the first half was, after the last month. “There’s always the thought that we could be a little bit complacent if we are going to a side with a lot of injuries and struggling a little bit having lost last week and I think there might have been a touch of complacency, but not overly so. The spirit was good, everybody was up for it, it’s just the execution on the day in the first half wasn’t particularly good.” In his mind, it was not a point won. “It was three points lost.”

Like Dean, Andy Friend saw it as an opportunity missed after Quins had dragged themselves back into the game. He also explained the last minute decision to replace Nick Easter with Chris Hala’Ufia. “There were a couple of reasons. One, Nick had been ill (with) a chest infection, but we also felt that we could put (Chris) on Chabal. We thought he was one of the key members and he could do a job on Chabal.” (Like the tackle on Quinnell last week!)

Next week sees the dead rubber game at Newcastle, where Quins will undoubtedly rest a few tired bodies and also hope to re-introduce Stuart Abbott to competitive rugby football. Then its on to the European Challenge Cup (home and away against Bath) – a competition that I am assured we are taking very seriously, as it represents our only chance of silverware this season.

 

Sale
Robinson (Capt.), Foden, Taylor, Thomas, Ripol (Hanley 45 mins), Larrechea, Wigglesworth, Roberts (Evans 41 mins), Bruno (Titterrell 76 mins), Stewart, Schofield, Day, Bonner-Evans (Hills 65 mins), Lund, Chabal.
Repacements: Titterrell (for Bruno), Evans (for Roberts), Lloyd, Hills (for Bonner-Evans), Martens, Mayor, Hanley (for Ripol).

Harlequins
Brown, Strettle, Luscombe (Duffy 41 mins), Deane, Keogh , Jarvis, Gomarsall, Jones, Fuga, Ross, Kohn, Evans, Vos, Volley (Capt.), Hala’Ufia (Easter 60 mins).
Replacements: Richards, Ward, Spanghero, Easter (for Hala’Ufia), Care, Mehrtens, Duffy (for Luscombe).

Attendance 8,616.