Late Fight Back Brings Reward

By AlanQuin
January 6 2004

A pushover try, deep in injury time, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and left Harlequins winners by 25–29. This win, after a very late Walder drop goal had apparently snatched the result away, demonstrated a hunger, determination and bloody-mindedness that Quins have rarely displayed.

On a grey and overcast day the grey stands of Kingston Park are hardly welcoming to the visitor. It is a dour stadium appropriate to the dour people who come to support the Falcons. What is not dour is the Newcastle team with a number of excellent running backs in the persons of May, Noon and Stephenson and Walder and powerful forwards such as Mark Andrews, Hugh Vyvyan and Stuart Grimes.

But Harlequins too have a team that can play a bit. The return from injury of Ugo Monye, George Harder and Mel Deane and of Jason Leonard and Will Greenwood from World Cup duties have returned the team to something approaching full strength. Only Paul Burke, Josh Taumololo and Simon Miall are still on the injury list. This was to be the first time since the start of the season that Harlequins could field an almost full strength team.

Almost from the start Falcons made clear their intentions to attack at every opportunity and almost immediately they were awarded a penalty on the Quins 22 metre line which Walder kicked to open the scoring. The attacking pressure continued, stoutly resisted by excellent defending and one or two desperate last gasp try-saving tackles just short of the Quins' line.

Then came the first counter-punch. Dunne kicked speculatively deep into the left corner. As the ball bounced towards the dead ball line there was Ugo Monye, running like the wind from inside the Quins' half, overhauling Tom May, who had at least 25 metres start in a 60 metre dash, to score the first try. The conversion was missed but Quins were in the lead 3 – 5 at the end of ten minutes intense play.

Again Newcastle pressed and again the Quins defence stood firm with at least one try-saving tackle almost on the line needed to stem the tide of black shirts. Falcons created chances which they squandered, losing the ball in the tackle and being turned over on more than one occasion. A kickable penalty from about 32 metres was missed by Walder.

Then as the game moved into the second quarter and Quins produced a second counter-punch as Dunne, with a juggling dummy, created a gap in the centre of the Newcastle defence and gave a perfect scoring pass to Duffy steaming up on his left which was touched down under the posts. The conversion was a formality for Dunne. 3 – 12.

Once again Quins' defence had to stand firm in the face of continuous Falcon counter attacks. Newcastle was playing good rugby but time and again their efforts came to nothing with unforced errors in the face of the strong Quins' defence. Eventually their pressure told in the thirtieth minute when a breakout by Joe Shaw found Noon with at least two others clear alongside him and he ran in from the 22 to score Newcastle's first try. Walder converted. 10 -12

A speculative high kick from Walder bounced awkwardly for the only Harlequin in the vicinity, Jason Leonard who seemed bemused to find himself in the path of Tom May chasing to fall on the ball. Accordingly, Jason Leonard fell on him, giving away a penalty only two metres inside the Quins half. The look of injured innocence with which he received referee Chris White's admonishment was worth an Oscar. Fortunately, Walder was off target with the kick.

A further penalty to Quins was kicked successfully by Dunne and at half time the score was 10 – 15 in Quins' favour.

The second half began with further Newcastle attacks which needed a strong defence to rebuff. Then after only seven minutes of the half Ugo Monye got away along the left wing channel only to be stopped a couple of feet short of the line. He managed to recycle the ball to Jim Evans for the lock to thrust through a rather weak tackle to score. Once again Dunne was successful with the kick. 10 – 22

Shortly after, following a series of Falcon attacks, Walder missed with another penalty kick. Newcastle began to increase their pressure. They won line-outs almost at will. Inside the Quins' 22 metre area Newcastle threw themselves into the fray. That the Quins line remained unbroken was almost beyond belief.

Another lost line-out allowed Taione through to score. Walder converted and shortly after a tapped penalty put Stephenson through to score. The conversion was missed but Falcons had levelled the score to 22 – 22.

A long stoppage followed at the halfway point in the second half as Stephenson was injured, dislocating his elbow when he crashed into the team dugout. The first substitutions followed. Quins replaced Davison with Rudzki while Falcons replaced May with Gollings.

Quins next substitution was to bring on Adrian Jarvis for Dunne after 68 minutes. This was Jarvis' debut in the Premiership and he made a good start, showing the form which he has shown all season in the reserves. His pass was crisp and fast and he was not fazed by the step up to the Premiership.

Both sides now went for the kill. Falcons attacked and Quins defended. Quins countered and Falcons defended. The game swung from end to end and side to side. The very long injury time caused by the stoppage when May was injured had already started when Walder produced a drop goal to give Falcons the lead 25 – 22.

It seemed the game was lost. But suddenly one had the sensation of seeing a Harlequin team playing coolly for position. A line-out on the left deep in the Falcons' half gave Quins possession. A line-out won when it mattered. A scrum followed and from that the forwards pushed Ceri Jones over for his sixth try in five matches. Jarvis lined up the conversion kick to the howls of disappointment and frustration from the Newcastle supporters. Kicks had been taken in silence till then. Jarvis scored the extra points and Harlequins had won a famous victory 25 – 29. .

At the press conference Mark Evans was clearly quietly satisfied with the result. He thought Quins had been a bit fortunate because "from going 22-10 in front, we just weren't in the game. They played some really good stuff but we took our chances. We probably created four chances and scored four tries. Maybe we didn't deserve to win but our attitude was outstanding, we just didn't give up. We're delighted with the win. This was a big, big game for both sides and the win keeps us in the mix."

He also said how pleased he had been to give Adrian Jarvis his debut and expressed his expectations of a bright future for the player. He also praised Ceri Jones saying "Ceri's in a rich vein of form. He keeps getting over the line but he's a tremendously good scrummager. I'm sure if he keeps on playing like that, he will have to be looked at for representative honours."

As Mark said, we had got eight points from three hard away matches and that had to be satisfactory and kept them firmly in place for a chance of the play-offs.

Frustration was clearly Rob Andrews' feeling after the match.. That summed up their season. He had asked the side to be more hard-nosed and streetwise. They had not listened. He believed they should have won easily. "We should have been out of sight at half-time." he said. "Quins are not a side we are frightened of." His team were not tough enough. They had to learn to finish.

Later I spoke to Andre Vos who was clearly delighted with the win. As he said, "You have to be pleased with a win".

So off now into Europe, with confidence and expectations high. There is a trophy to play for. I remind you that we have won it before.