NEC Harlequins 12 – Leicester Tigers 19

Although some pundits were backing a Quins win because of a good home record this season and some uncharacteristically erratic form from the visitors, few but the most loyal Quins fans thought it would be an easy match.

Except for Healey Leicester were selecting from just about their full squad whereas Quins were unable to select Wood, Winters, Gomez, Starr, Greenstock, Duncombe, Bell, Sanderson and Slemen and although our starting 15 still looked good the bench was full of youngsters compared to a very strong Leicester bench that held the likes of Back, Garforth, Chuter, Freshwater and Booth.

I am sure many of you were either at the game or watched it on BBC so you might want to skip most of this article and just read the notes from the press conference at the end.

Quins played into the sun and the wind in the first half with Ben Gollings kicking off to Johnson, Quins got the ball back and Greenwood attacked short and the ball was quickly recycled to Burke who ran but the ball was turned over, these little mistakes were to plague both sides all day. Quins’ recycling of the ball was good and fast with Bemand having a good day at scrum half,

The ball was sent wide through the hands of Greenwood and Satala, recycled to Williams coming into the line but his pass to Luger was slightly forward. The scrum was solid and as Leicester sent the ball out to the left Tani Fuga attempted an interception but he couldn’t quite gather the ball and he knocked on, whether he would have had the pace to make it the 40 yards to the line sadly we shall never know.

Over and over again both sides were very competitive at the tackle but time and again there were knock ons and turn overs. The first penalty of the game came from a ruck that was turned over by good driving play from Davison an Diprose leading to Hamilton and Johnson being caught offside.

Advantage (Simon Jones)

The first Quins break came soon after the resulting line out, Luger made a half break up the left and the ball was sent right quickly to Codling who ran straight through two tackles and was eventually brought down by Moody who was then binned for laying over the top of the ball and using his hands on the ground. This gave the impression that, Chris White, wouldn’t take any nonsense. Burke slotted the resulting penalty to give a scoreline of 3-0 on 7 minutes.

Leicester cleared the ball from the restart to touch and the ball was thrown to Davison but was a little high and the ball was taken by Codling, and Gollings cleared the ball to the 22. West threw the ball to Corry at the back of the line who was well tackled by Diprose, the Leicester attack faltered and the ball was turned over allowing Williams to clear to touch. The visitors won their line out and attacked and they were awarded a penalty for a high tackle by Fuga. Stimpson slotted the penalty on 11 minutes to tie the score at 3-3.

Leicester were awarded another penalty after the restart and Stimpson put a long touch kick to about 10m from Quins’ line. The ball was thrown to Johnson who took the ball cleanly and set up an effective rolling maul which was stopped close to the line before the ball was shipped quickly right on the short side to Stimpson who dived in to score under Dawson’s challenge. Stimpson missed the conversion from wide out on the right (3-8, 15 minutes).

Quins reclaimed the restart and there was good handling from Bemand, Vos, Ace, Diprose, Greenwood, Luger, Dawson, Leonard and Fuga but although we had a number of phases, no overlap was produced and the Leicester defence held strong. Tiatia was down after a Leicester knock on and looked like he might have to be replaced but he got to his feet and rejoined the scrum.

A good break by Satala, who was probably having his best game in a Quins shirt so far , followed leading to an offside by Leicester giving Burke the chance to claw three points back to make the score 6-8 after 21 minutes. Johnson was receiving treatment just yards in front of Burke while he took the kick but the minute the kick was taken he bounced to his feet. This started to get the home crowd annoyed and they voiced their anger.

After the restart Quins took the ball and Johnson came in offside to which Ace took exception and put in a couple of punches for which he was correctly sin binned. Stimpson missed the resultant penalty so the score remained 6-8 after 23 minutes.

A clearance kick was missed by Williams (Quins’ three kickers missed a number of touch kicks throughout the game) and Leicester ran the ball back before Bemand put in a good tackle to stop Kay in his tracks, Leicester recycled the ball to Murphy who had a storming game who kicked to touch 5m from the Quins line.

A lineout taken on the edge (Simon Jones)

The ball was taken well by Davison and Quins opted to run the ball from their own line before recycling the ball to Gollings who missed touch, again this gave the visitors the chance to attack from deep but Chris White saw some crossing which seemed to me to be a tad harsh. Johnson also seemed to think this and yet again questioned the referee’s decision, something that he did throughout the game, again this made the East Stand Quins fans angry and they made themselves heard.

A good kick to touch lead to Fuga throwing the ball to Codling who took it well and Bemand sent the ball across the pitch through Greenwood to Luger, it was then recycled but Gollings flicked the ball from about two foot away into the midriff of Burke who knocked on and again a good attacking chance was lost.

Murphy put in a touch kick to the half way line. Bemand ran round the front of the line on a dummy run but the referee deemed it was too early so Leicester were awarded a penalty. Stimpson kicked to about 30m from the Quins’ line.

The ball was thrown long to the unmarked Corry and it was sent left before the attack was stopped by good tackling from Davison, Kay then came into the resultant maul and threw a punch at Bill right in front of the referee but he didn’t penalise the England and Leicester lock. Leicester sent the ball right to Murphy who broke through the tackles of Fuga and Williams before being brought down by Davison but Murphy popped the ball inside to Moody who was in close support and had little more to do than flop over the line. Again Stimpson missed the conversion and the score was 6-13 after 34 minutes. There was some booing from the crowd but it was being directed towards Chris White for having missed the punch rather than at the kicker. The noise from the crowd then changed to cheers when Ace returned after his binning.

A good break followed from Kronfeld before the ball was chipped through for Williams to clear, but it was partly charged down but Johnson then knocked the ball on. The ball from the scrum was passed to Gollings who was standing just outside the 22, the touch kick went out on the full so the visitors had a line out about 22 1/2 metres from our line. The ball was thrown to Johnson again (I don’t remember Leicester using Kay in the line at all) and Tournaire charged forward and Hamilton then took the ball on, Bemand, Ace and Codling put in big tackles and the ball was turned over. Gollings tried to take the penalty quickly but the referee brought the play back and the ball was then kicked to touch on the 10m line.

Fuga hit Davison with the throw and he looped round to take the ball back, popped it to Diprose on the charge then the ball was shipped to Gollings whose chip was charged down by Johnson who passed the ball to Hamilton who ran in unopposed under the posts. The Leicester crowd cheered and it looked like the game was slipping further away from the home side. However in a rare display of competence from a touch judge the try was disallowed because Tournaire was busy punching Diprose on the ground near the half way line. How the French prop remained on the pitch rather than being binned only Chris White can tell us.

Greenwood caught offside? (Simon Jones)

The penalty was kicked to touch and the ball was again thrown to Davison who popped it back to Fuga at the front of the line and the Samoan hooker made good yards but as the ball was recycled left about 10m from the Leicester line the whole Leicester midfield was offside and a binning may have been a possibility but White decided the the penalty would suffice even though Vos was clearly annoyed because it was probably Quins best attacking chances. Burke slotted the penalty to narrow the gap to just four points (9-13 42 minutes).

The restart was taken well by Codling and a rolling maul was set up, the ball was then passed back and a deep kick was put downfield by Burke which went to Murphy who then passed to Lloyd who put in a kick to touch. Davison was again the target, the ball was passed to Gollings who again missed touch allowing Leicester to attack again before knocking on. For the first time Leicester put the shove on the Quins pack and the ball was stolen and Vesty put a grubber kick through which went dead behind the Quins line, and Mr White blew for half time after 46 minutes (9-13).

The first half was messy with a lot of missed touches from Quins, knock ons by Leicester and a surprising number of turnovers from both sides.

Murphy started the second half and Fuga received the ball, passed to Burke who kicked safely to touch. Diprose stole the line out and Luger set off on a charge, the ball was recycled quickly to Williams and Burke who both made yards and West gave a penalty away for holding the ball in to prevent quick release. A long kick was put in up to the Leicester 22m line and the throw went safely to Codling and a rolling maul was set up, it started to stagnate until Luger came in and added his weight to it, the ball was passed to Burke who made a half break but lost the ball allowing Leicester to clear the ball to the 30m line.

Codling took the ball in the line and it ended up with Fuga trying a break but he was isolated and penalised for not releasing the ball. Stimpson kicked to touch and Johnson caught the ball and a rolling maul was set up before the ball was passed to Vesty who put in a well weighted crossfield kick towards Ben Gollings with Stimpson and Lloyd charging up on the right. No one took the ball before it bounced and Gollings ended up being first to it and he cleared. Play was pulled back for an earlier knock on and Williams ran the ball before losing it but Leicester ran out of space as Satala shepherded the Leicester player into touch.

Diprose did well to take the ball at the back of the line out, Luger acted as scrum half and passed the ball to burke who cleared to touch. Johnson was again the target of the throw and the ball went back to Kronfeld on the charge but good tackling from Codling and Leonard stopped the New Zealander in his tracks. But a penalty was given against Ace for joining a ruck from the side, Stimpson kicked the penalty to increase Leicester’s lead (9-16, 48 minutes).

Gollings kicked off again and Leicester cleared the ball to touch, Codling won the ball, Tani tidied it up, passed it to Satala on the charge, then to Williams, Satala then made another great break keeping the ball alive before passing to Diprose who was in support. Diprose then opted to take the tackle before flipping the ball behind the tackler to Ace who couldn’t take it cleanly but the ball went backwards and it was recycled left to Williams and Quins were awarded a penalty for Leicester players not rolling away from the tackle, Burke slotted it over to cut Leicester’s lead again (12-16, 52 minutes). This passage of play was probably our best attacking chance and if the pass had been taken by Ace I can’t imagine Hamilton would have stopped him with less than 10 yards to go and with Luger and Fuga (amongst others) in support.

The restart went to Williams who passed to Gollings who missed touch yet again - I am sure kwin could forgive him for doing it so many times but he put us under pressure again and again with his missed touches.

Just before the hour mark Richards pulled off Rowntree and Tournaire and replaced them with Freshwater and Garforth. Good defence from Codling, Diprose and Vos lead to a knock on allowing Burke to put a long kick downfield after the resulting scrum. Johnson knocked the ball on in the lineout and he was obviously a little frustrated because he had a little dig at Davison and he then ‘colourfully disagreed’ with the referee. The Quins’ scrum was a bit scrappy but Quins were awarded a penalty about 40 yards out wide on the left for Bemand being pulled away from the ball by Hamilton. Burkey but his attempt just wide of the right had post so the score remained 12-16. Davison was pulled off by the management at this point and was replaced by Jim Evans.

Leicester took a long drop out and Luger ran the ball back but could not set the ball back at the resultant maul so the scrum was awarded to the visitors. Kronfeld made a good break through Burke’s tackle and the ball was recycled to Kay, Hamilton and Stimpson before Hamilton knocked at the base of the ruck.

Richards pulled Kronfeld off and replaced him with Back (63 minutes).

Soon after Moody was cautioned for the third time in the day for having his forearm across Fuga’s face in a maul, and the penalty was kicked to touch on the half way line.

A number of aborted attacks were made by both sides but forward passes or knock ons stopped each one. Quins were awarded a penalty for Johnson being offside at a ruck – Gollings made touch but the touch judge got confused and tried to award the line out to Leicester before Chris White explained that it was a penalty and the touch changed his mind. Booth replaces Smith on 70 minutes.

A couple of knock ons by Quins’ players lead to a Leicester scrum in Quins’ half. Rowntree returns to the pitch to replace Freshwater who had torn a calf muscle (73 minutes).

Quins have a line out and the ball is thrown long to Evans at the back but it is overthrown and the ball is messy but is cleared to the half way line. Leicester try another catch and drive and make good yards before a crossfield kick is aimed towards Murphy on the left, again the ball isn’t caught by the defenders but Greenwood puts in one great tackle and Luger then puts in a tackle to stop Johnson in his tracks. Leicester are awarded a scrum in front of the posts. Again the ball goes to the most dangerous player on the pitch – Murphy – and Greenwood again tackles him. The ball is sent right and Burke narrowly misses an interception and Leicester have another scrum. It needs to be reset and there is obviously some backchat from the visiting players and Quins are given a penalty.

The ball is kicked to touch and Dippy catches and a number of kicks are put in by both sides before Kafer kicks right into the corner. Evans takes the ball at the front of the line and Fuga takes the ball on the loop again, Leicester infringe again and Williams puts in a penalty kick to touch on the half way. For the first time Johnson outdoes Codling and a high kick is put up which Gollings drops forwards. Kafer makes a half break from the resulting scrum but Ace brings him down. More Leicester come but Quins’ defence is strong with special mention going to Ace and Codling. A penalty is finally awarded to Leicester in front of the posts when Vos was judged to be stopping release even though he seemed to still be on his feet. Stimpson doesn’t miss the target and Leicester have a seven point lead (12-19, 84 minutes). The restart is taken but White blows up when Leicester kick to touch.

NEC Harlequins: Jason Leonard, Tani Fuga, Jon Dawson, Bill Davison (Jim Evans, 61 mins), Alex Codling, Ace Tiatia, Andre Vos, Tony Diprose, Scott Bemand, Paul Burke, Ben Gollings, Viliame Satala, Will Greenwood, Dan Luger, Nathan Williams
Replacements: Pablo Cardinali, Simon Miall, Jim Evans, Luke Sherriff, Matthew Powell, Matt Moore, Rob Jewell
Scores: Paul Burke 12 (4P)

Leicester Tigers: Graham Rowntree (Perry Freshwater, 57 mins), Dorian West, Franck Tournaire (Darren Garforth, 57 mins), Martin Johnson, Ben Kay, Lewis Moody, Josh Kronfeld (Neil Back, 65 mins), Martin Corry, Jamie Hamilton, Sam Vesty, Leon Lloyd, Rod Kafer, Ollie Smith (Steve Booth, 70 mins), Geordan Murphy, Tim Stimpson
Replacements: George Chuter, Perry Freshwater (Graham Rowntree, 75 mins), Darren Garforth, Adam Balding, Steve Booth, Tom Tierney, Neil Back
Scores: Lewis Moody 5(1T), Tim Stimpson 14 (1T, 3P)



The post match press conference took part in Harlequins’ luxury media portacabin – the press were there discussing which bits of free merchandise were the best – apparently the notebooks given away at the Commonwealth Games were the best – a vital piece of insider information I’m sure you all agree!

Dean Richards came in first and looked very happy and relieved, he quipped as he answered various questions – he was a very different figure compared to last year.

He was asked if the disallowed try made a big difference and answered that it would have meant they could have played more liberally and it would have lead to more tries (for which side he didn’t say).

Press: Was this a better performance than the last two years?
DR: Yes, we won… but we still didn’t take all of our chances.

Press: Were you disappointed by your lack of discipline?
DR: What do you mean?
Press: The disallowed try, the penalty to Quins on their 5m line when someone obviously said something to the referee – do you get angry about it?
DR: No, I stay very relaxed about it.

Press: Would you say that the domestic cup hasn’t been a high priority in previous years?
DR: No not at all, we have just been beaten here for the last three years.

Press: Might the Powergen Cup interfere with the other competitions you are still in?
DR Well we wont put all our eggs in one basket.

As the cacophony of different reporters’ mobiles reached a crescendo Deano got up to leave allowing a disappointed looking Scotty and Evs to come to the fore.

Press: Are you disappointed, were you simply not good enough?
ME: It’s difficult to say, there were some decisions that could have gone either way, should Kay have binned for punching when Ace was binned for a similar offence? The penalty against Andre Vos looked pretty good with the naked eye.

Press: Were you lucky to have the try disallowed when the play was brought back for the penalty against Tournaire?
ME:I don’t see it that way at all.

Press: Should Tournaire have been binned?
ME: I didn’t see it I was following play.

Press: Are you frustrated with the performance?
ME: No, I think we did a lot of things we wanted to do and we did well in a number of areas. Their bench was just too strong for us. You can ride a number of injuries in your starting 15 but it shows on the bench, although we have a lot of good youngsters they were stronger up front. Leicester could name their strongest 22, except for Healey, so we were never going to dominate the game. In a game like this you have to be error free and we pretty much were. We just made two or three small errors under pressure which cost us field position. We played better than we did in the previous two years, all in all we’re pretty pleased with a lot of our game.. On balance Leicester did deserve it, they made fewer errors – really only errors of discipline.

Press: Do Leicester have a discipline problem?
ME: I wish we had their problems! There has been a lot of rubbish written about Leicester this year, they are still the benchmark. They had a blip in Autumn in the Premiership but the are still the ones to be measured against in Europe.

Press: What did you do wrong?
ME: The lineouts were pretty even, we called a lot of 5s and 6s instead of full lines for technical reasons, we only messed up two in the last twenty minutes, the wrong ones were called those times rather than the throw being bad. We also made three offload errors and that is enough to have made it very difficult to get position and score.

Press: What does the rest of the season hold?
ME: Well we are 7th in the league at the moment which is 5 better than this time last year, our away form needs to be addressed and we have to try for Heineken Cup qualification so there is lots to still play for. Today if we were going to go out we wanted to go out doing out best and after a good show, that team have played worse and won. A couple of little things didn’t go our way but we are not going to be slitting our wrists about it. I believe Leicester will win two of the three competitions they are in this season.

Evs and Scotty then got up and left, and I went to find something to drown my sorrows in.

So all in all it was disappointing to lose as it always is but there were some positives to come from the game, but more of those a bit later in the week.

Leicester certainly deserved their win and if Stimpson had been more accurate the winning margin could have been much larger. But even with 8 players out I don’t think we were outclassed and the spirit shown by the team was excellent. Could we have won it? Yes. Did we deserve to? On the day, no, probably not.

For me the Quins man of the match was Davison, he was all over the pitch putting in big tackles and he won a lot of lineout ball, especially in the first half. The pack did well as a whole against a very experienced Leicester pack and they did well towards the end of the game when Richards had the luxury of bringing on a number of internationals with fresh legs whereas the only change Evs made was the standard pulling off of Davison after an hour. Should we have made more changes, if so who?

Dawson did well against more experienced opposition and the defence and handling from the whole team was for the most part very good. Greenwood and Luger performed well in the first half and the only disappointment on the day was Gollings’ performance which included an unacceptable number of missed touches. The way the team really stuck to their task throughout the game was a good thing to see too.

On the Leicester side the one person who really stood out was Irish international Geordan Murphy, he was the most dangerous person in attack of all 35 people who took part in the game, Johnson was his usually overly vocal self as far as I am concerned, he is right up there with Matt Dawson in the league of whingers in the English game but he certainly had a good game especially in the line out where the vast majority of Leicester ball was thrown. The other Tiger who stood out was Stimpson who had a poor game by his standards with the boot but he was active around the pitch all game and he looked hungry for the ball.

We are now out of European and domestic cups so we can now be completely focussed on the Premiership and on moving up the table to ensure as good a chance of getting into the Heineken Cup as possible, The next game away at Newcastle is important, if we win it will mean that we are pretty safe from the relegation battle and it might also break out away form jinx.