Three records broken as Quins win away in the ZP!
By The Prof
March 17 2003
Well what a day that was, three records broken – Quins’ terrible away record in the league, LI's club attendance record and hopefully an abseiling record at HQ earlier in the day (but more of that elsewhere).
It was a bright sunny day as the Quins’ supporters’ coach turned up at the Madejski Stadium and the party was already well underway in the car park with music and much jollity to be had by all.
Some Quins had staked a claim to the grassy knoll which was much less grassy and much more knolly than the last time we were up there (before the Shield Final against Narbonne).
We went to our seats by the half way line in the East Stand so we could get a block together. The sun shone, the pitch looked good, the wind wasn’t too strong. The press had been building this match up as a lot of things, a local derby, landlords vs tenants, relegation dogfight, Anglo-Saxon vs Celt, toffs against the rest, Guinness against Pimms…
Would London Irish have another thing to celebrate on the St Patrick’s Day weekend? Would Quins end their dismal away record in the league a day short of two years after beating Rotherham away on Paddy’s Day 2001? We would find out after the next couple of hours.
Justin Bishop was playing his 200th game for LI and led his team out. The Quins team were introduced as “the once mighty Quins” at which point some bantersome lad in a Quins shirt in the crowd shouted “does that make you ‘once London once Irish’ then?’” Enough of the banter, on with the game.
Bishop kicked off with LI playing into the sun, Quins caught the ball was passed back to Burke who kicked to touch – that was the best thing Quins did in the first 10 minutes. LI won their throw and the ball was fed to Tofty who then put a kick through which Nathan Williams stopped with his leg while LI fans shouted for a knock on, Flavin, the LI hooker, kicked on but the ball went into touch with just a few yards to the Quins line.
Tani Fuga overthrew and LI collected and attacked through the forwards but great defence by the whole pack, but in particular Tiatia, Fuga, Jones, Vos and Dawson, kept LI out while Everitt attempted a drop goal which went like an old Tofty kick when he used to play for us – straight through the middle of the posts but never getting above Tofty head height at any point.
Burke kicked long from the 22 drop out which Tofty returned to touch in the Quins half. The ball was again overthrown and LI attacked again through Danaher, they spread the ball left but were stopped, in doing so Quins gave a penalty away for not rolling away from the tackle. LI kick the penalty to touch and won their own line out and again the Quins’ line was under a lot of pressure but held up well and eventually won a scrum right in front of the posts about 5m out.
Quins were strong in the scrum and the LI ball was not prime, they spread it wide to Sackey on the right but he was penalised for holding on with Deane almost picking the LI winger up by the ball (sounds painful doesn’t it but you know what I mean). Quins cleared the pressure with a kick to touch and won the ball back after a messy line out. The ball was passed back to Burke who put a high ball up which Sackey caught before putting his foot in touch.
Fuga finally hit his man (Davison and Quins set up a rolling maul which was brought down by LI players coming in at the side, penalty to Quins. Burke kicked to touch and Fuga threw long to Winters at the back who took it well, the ball was snapped back to Burke who narrowly missed a drop goal.
LI put a deep 22 drop out to Gollings who ran back, he was tackled but Quins’ forwards won the ball at the ruck but a lack of scrum half in place meant the ball was lost. Tofty, who was in the line more often than he was in a traditional fullback’s position for much of the game, kicked through and the bounce defeated Nathan and was collected by the diminutive ex-Quin before he was scragged by Davison but LI were given a penalty which Everitt slotted to make the score 3-0 after 9 minutes.
So far all Quins had done was give the ball away and defend well, there was little control to our game at all and LI probably should have scored a couple of tries – a problem they have had for much of the season.
Gollings narrowly kicked the restart out on the full and LI attacked down the right after their scrum. They kicked the ball to Nate who seemed to knock the ball backwards but LI were given a scrum for a knock on about 7 yards from the Quins line. The ball was spread right to Sackey again before the ball was sent to the left. The Quins defence held very firm and Quins were awarded a penalty for LI players going over the top of the ruck. The ball was cleared to the half way line and Winters caught the throw which lead to a rolling maul from which Quins were awarded another penalty for coming if from the side by LI players. Burke missed the kick narrowly to the right of the posts and after 15 minutes it was still 3-0.
The next Quins line was thrown to Davison at the front and Deane made a half break from centre, the ball was sent right but a pass from Ace went astray and Quins were awarded a scrum for a knock on by Bishop. Sheasby was penalised for not binding and Gollings kicked to the LI 10m line. Fuga’s throw went over the top of Winters and Danaher collected the ball but Quins recovered it well.
Fuga threw the next line out ball to Miall at the centre, the ball was passed to Deane who came on the crash ball and Ace tried to clear the ruck rather actively and Venter was unhappy – oh well, he shouldn’t have been on the wrong side of the ruck should he?!
There was a period of winning the ball and kicking to touch by both sides with not much excitement for the purist at any point. Good tidying up was done by Vos and Winters before Burke put a long kick to 5m from the LI line.
LI threw long over the top to Gustard and the ball was passed back to be cleared but it was charged down by Fuga giving Quins a 5m scrum. Winters flicked the ball out with one hand to Fulton, to Deane, to Tiatia and the ball went out to Greenwood who span through two tackles and scored beside the posts in a set move which was supposed to go the other way but went wrong. Luckily Greenwood had enough vision to see the gap and make the line. The conversion was struck through the posts by Burke. (3-7 28 mins). Cue singing of “We love you Burkey” by the outnumbered but vocal Quins contingent in the stands.
LI then had 7 phases with huge tackling by the whole Quins team with Vos, Dawson, Fuga and Greenwood standing out. Quins then turned the ball over with Greenwood hoofing the ball downfield.
Dannahey gave a ridiculous penalty away for coming round the wrong side of a ruck – he practically joined it from behind our back foot! A further penalty award was missed when Sheasby did exactly the same about a minute later.
More messy play followed which included what looked to me to be a deliberate knock on by Sackey but which was only given as a scrum to Quins, another fine flick from the back by Winters lead to another ball going as far as Deane but the ball was lost, and then it was lost again by Venter at a ruck which allowed a kick downfield and with Luger charging towards Mapletoft lead to the petite and whispy-haired full back having to kick the ball straight to touch.
On 40 minutes Quins were awarded a penalty which we kicked to touch 5m out, the ball was thrown to Miall but it was knocked on and on 40 minutes the referee blew for half time. (3-7)
Quins started the second half putting LI under pressure before the ball was knocked on. Jones was pulled down by the LI tight head but the referee, Steve Leyshon, gave a penalty for collapsing. Everitt kicked long and Miall tapped the ball back but there was a huge knock on by a LI hand which Leyshon missed (he wasn’t having a good game something which both sets of fans agreed at the end of the game).
Worsley was brought on by LI to try and give them more solidity in the scrum on 45 minutes. Yet more scrappy play followed before LI were awarded a penalty which Everitt missed after taking a very long time over the kick.
Ace was penalised for coming in from the side of a ruck even though the ball looked out and LI kicked to touch, LI attacked from the line out 5m out but the destructive tackling from Quins pushed LI back to 15m out.
From a scrum the ball was passed to Sackey who looked to be through but he was tackled well by Burke and was then penalised for holding on again and lost another 10m after mouthing off to the referee.
Winters was then pulled off and replaced by Diprose (55 mins),
Another period of messy play happened with Burke being clattered and getting a nasty dead leg for his trouble while Quins were awarded a penalty for offside. Burke was receiving treatment so Williams took the kick for goal from the 22m line in front of the posts and increased he score to 3-10 with an hour on the clock. Everitt was pulled off in favour for Horak with Tofty going in at fly half.
Burke who hadn’t recovered from his knock was then pulled off by the management and Bill Satala came on at 63 minutes with Greenwood going to fly half. So it was to be Tofty vs Greenwood at fly half – I know who my money was on.
LI had much of the possession for the next 5 minutes or so but most of it was very lateral before Quins stole the ball back and kicked to the 22m, Gollings chased well but was penalised for a deliberate knock on. LI lost the ball and Quins were awarded a penalty about 40 metres out and Williams took the kick only to see it bounce back off the upright.
He was given another chance just moments later and he slotted the three points to give Quins a 10 point lead (3-13 on 75 minutes).
Bill Satala knocked on after the restart giving LI prime attacking position in front of Quins post. The ball was spun left and eventually a knock on relieved some Quins pressure.
A Quins line out on 78 minutes on the half way line was won and the ball was passed to Fuga who attacked the line, but the ball went into touch and LI won the ball before Satala was penalised for not rolling away from the tackle area. Tofty slotted the points (I kid you not) to close the gap to 6-13 on 80 minutes.
The restart was returned and Nate put up a high kick which was taken and marked by Horak, he took the tap quickly and passed right to ex-Quin Burrows who juggled the ball and knocked on (I know he regathered the ball but he had already juggled the ball over the heads of the Quins defenders and didn’t have control of the ball at any point – it’s in the rule book people!).
The Quins scrum was solid as it had been all game and the ball was passed wide right to Luger who came infield but was rather harshly penalised for crossing since there weren’t any LI players trying to tackle him. The ball was kicked to the half way line and after LI won the ball they were penalised for holding on whilst under pressure from Simon Miall.
The ball was kicked deep to the right touch, Quins won the line out with the ball being tidied up by Miall. A rolling maul was set up which made about 15 yards before LI were penalised for offside at the maul again. Williams opted for the kick after some strong advice from Greenwood and slotted it at the final whistle giving a final score of a well deserved (if very scrappy) 6-16 victory, and robbing LI of a bonus point.
Venter complained to the referee, a tad late one might have thought, the Quins sections of the crowd went wild with our first league away win for just shy of two years and the players wandered over to salute the travelling supporters.
Connor O’Shea was predictably downbeat after the match, saying that the poor performance was possibly down to stage fright in front of the huge crowd. He continued “We are just not winning any of the contact situations these days, and we can’t string any phases of play together. We lost too much ball in contact whether it be through offensive tackling or whatever.”
When asked if he thought they would be relegated he said “If we continue to play like this, we will go down. We are plenty good enough to go down. We need three wins and that is what we are going to go out and play for”.
After O’Shea had left Evans came into the press conference accompanied by Mike Scott, both of them had huge relieved smiles on their faces which matched the smiles on the Quins fans’ faces at full time.
Evs started by saying that Burke’s injury was ‘a dead leg or haematoma to you’. He was asked about the Quins’ performance, which he described as being scrappy especially in the first quarter although the scrum was good throughout. He then went on to say how pleased he was with the defence, he said it was much better than it had been in the previous three games (Newcastle away, Sale at home and Bristol away), ‘it shows the commitment of the players and the state of the team, our defence was good throughout and after the first 8 or nine minutes I always knew we were going to win it’ – never in doubt eh?!
He picked out players like Greenwood who made his try from a set move going wrong and changed the call on the hoof. Jones and Dawson in the front row were both praised for their scrummaging especially as we have probably our top four front row players out with injuries at the moment (Jase, Woody, Laurent & Bruce). Tani Fuga was praised for his work around the park and Miall and Davison were both praised for their second row work (Simon Miall was awarded Sky man of the match by Barnes).
When asked if he thought that London Irish would be relegated Evs said that he didn’t agree with relegation and never has and in the ensuing discussion he put a few hacks right on their facts and on what he had said in previous interviews over the years (no relegation but that doesn’t mean the winners of National 1 shouldn’t come up this year), he then gave the reporters a quick Latin and trigonometry lesson – buy me a pint and I’ll explain why later.
He went on to explain how criminal it would be for a club like LI to be relegated, something which might mean the end of the club that drops, the fact that they could attract a huge crowd like the one they had just had, that they are a terrific club and that it would be a shame to lose the friendly rivalry at the derbies between out two clubs.
Evs also said that he didn’t think we were safe yet and that 37 points would most probably be enough to stay in the Premiership, he thought that looking at who still has to play who in the bottom half of the table that the 11th club might get 37 but the last one wouldn’t.
Billy Fulton apparently asked Evs what was going on when the European Champions could go to the bottom club and lose – that’s the beauty of this league, Gloucester are worried about Sale (sorry Sharks) catching them, Wasps are fighting to stay in the top three. As far down as 9th might be good enough to get a wildcard place for the Heineken Cup which would make the season look successful even if it hadn’t been, and the bottom few clubs are all fighting to get away from the relegation spot – there are no dead games in this league.
From my point of view I thought it was a very scrappy game, London Irish dominated for the first quarter, mostly because we were giving away possession too easily, losing three of our own line outs at the start was terrible – apparently Dippy suggested that it was because he wasn’t on the pitch and he is a better jumper than Winters :-)
LI never really looked like scoring, both sides kicked away too much possession but since the home side were playing catch up for most of the game you would have thought keeping the ball in hand would have been more productive for them.
Our pack dominated the London Irish pack even though they were much lighter and with Ceri Jones only recently arriving from Newport, Winters having his first first team game this season and Simon Miall having his first start they were very inexperienced as a unit. Not having six forwards who would usually be in a starting 22 and still dominating shows that we do have strength in depth even if we do have a number of players missing.
Fulton again showed what a good scrum half he was with a pass that reminded me of a young Richard Hill, Burke certainly looks a lot better getting the fast ball to is hands. Greenwood and Deane look like a fine centre partnership and after a bit of a shaky few minutes Nathan Williams had another pretty good game at full back, sadly we didn’t see much of the wings in attacking situations but both did well all things considering.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it was an excellent game of flowing rugby – it certainly wasn’t, but in the circumstances (pressure to break the away jinx, playing against LI, playing in front of a huge crowd, having a team missing key players, having players making their first start, having recently signed players on the pitch for the full game, losing Burke through injury) I am very, very happy with the win and the points and sneaking just that little bit closer to safety.
I just hope that Burke and Deane’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations wont be spoilt by the result :-)
I would just like to add a big thank you to all the LI fans who were gracious in defeat and to the band who were playing after the game who dedicated their rendition of 'Danny Boy' to Nick Duncombe.
Scorers:
London Irish: Penalty goals: Everitt (9mins), Mapletoft (80).
Harlequins: Try: Greenwood (27). Conversion: Burke. Penalty goals: Williams 3 (60, 74, 80+5).
Scoring Sequence (London Irish first): 3-0, 3-7 (half-time), 3-10, 3-13, 6-13, 6-16.
London Irish: M Mapletoft; P Sackey, N Burrows, B Venter, J Bishop; B Everitt (rep: M Horak, 60min), D Edwards; N Hatley (rep: M Worsley, 45), A Flavin, S Halford, B Casey, N Kennedy, P Gustard (rep: K Dawson, 51), D Danaher, C Sheasby.
Harlequins: N Williams; D Luger, W Greenwood, M Deane, B Gollings; P Burke (rep: V Satala, 63), B Fulton; C Jones, T Fuga, J Dawson, B Davison, S Miall, A Tiatia, A Vos, R Winters (rep: A Diprose, 55).
Referee: S Leyshon (Bristol).
Attendance: 18,585 (a club record for London Irish)