Exiles have a point - 2ndXV lose to LI

By AlanQuin
January 20 2004

Playing their first match for four weeks, the 2nd XV lost their first game of 2004 by a single point, 12-13, following a lack lustre display that was disappointing and surprising.

One has become accustomed to a team that is incisive and whose running and handling produces tries in plenty. Last night they produced poor handling and poor positional play and they ran like headless chickens.

An inconclusive and error ridden start from both teams with handling errors and a missed penalty from each side characterised the first fifteen minutes until finally London Irish opened the scoring with a penalty from Whitworth. 0 – 3 after sixteen minutes.

The Exiles’ pack was clearly heavier than the Quins forwards and they were able to exert considerable pressure with former Harlequin Chris Sheasby making his characteristic runs from the base of the scrum. The Irish scrum–half, Kevin Barratt, was giving Ben Willis a hard time and Quins were finding it difficult to produce an attack with any real hope of penetration.

Jarvis was having a disappointing game, his normally excellent kicking from hand failing miserably as touch was missed regularly and kicks at the posts failed. The Irish took every opportunity to run back in attack but the Quins defence held firm.

Henry Barratt had one fine run down the left wing and his kick ahead was taken by Cameron Dott who was bundled into touch only five metres short of the try line. An Irish counter-attack led to an interception which threatened a try but some fast running and a good tackle back snuffed out the threat.

With the end of the first half in sight, another penalty allowed London Irish to increase their lead to 0 – 6 and it was only a good try saving tackle by Henry Barratt that prevented an increase in the score before half-time. One could only hope for better things after the interval. Mike Brown replaced Henry Barratt at half-time

Quins started the second half with some determination. Almost immediate Irish pressure resulted in a kickable penalty chance being declined and kicked to touch to produce a lineout to Irish five metres from the Quins’ line. The subsequent rolling maul was strongly resisted and eventually pushed into touch, From the lineout Quins broke out with Tom Williams running strongly but eventually forced to kick for touch,

Irish again went on the attack and another rolling maul crossed the Quins line but the ball was adjudged to have been held up. They were not to be denied, however, and the try was eventually scored. With the conversion the score was 0 – 13.

Jarvis missed again with a kick at the posts which he would normally slot through without difficulty. It was time for the cavalry and Worsley, De Jager and Hayter arrived for Gomez, Dawson and Dott. The result was that the clear dominance of the Irish pack was reversed and increased pressure brought rewards. A lineout in the Irish 22 metre area led to a rolling maul which was held on the line. However, Quins retained the ball and although a second thrust was resisted the next saw Cracknel score. With his best kick of the night Jarvis added the points to bring the score to 7 – 13.

Further replacements arrived with Sherrif replacing Guest and Davison for Rudzki. Another penalty was missed and another even better chance went begging when, with two men unmarked out wide, a good kick was knocked on by the forward who was one of them, when all he had to do was catch it and fall down.

Quins continued to press and a fine rolling maul was held up over the line. A second suffered a similar fate. Then with what must have been the fastest brandishing of a red card in Rugby history one of the Irish locks was banished for pushing over the referee and swearing at him. So swift was justice that the card passed unnoticed by me as did the disappearance of the player!

Finally further pressure brought the try for Jewell in the left hand corner leaving Jarvis with the final kick to win the match. On a night when he seemed incapable of scoring with the boot save for one conversion, he missed. Instead of victory by a point falling to Quins, the point was Irish.

Mark Evans derided the suggestion that the lack of match practice had affected the team. It was, he said, a disappointing performance. There was no control, no direction and a lack of urgency about their play. He would have less sleepless nights following that performance, a remark indicating that some selection issues had disappeared in the night.

Teams:

HARLEQUINS: 15 Tom Williams, 14 Henry Barratt,13 Tom Allen, 12 Andy Reay, 11 Rob Jewell, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Ben Willis, 8 Kai Horstmann, 7 Chris Cracknell,
6 Tom Parker, 5 Karl Rudzki, 4 Tom Guest, 3 Jon Dawson, 2 Cameron Dott,
1 Laurent Gomez
Replacements: James Hayter, Reg De Jager; Mike Worsley, Bill Davison, Like Sherriff, Duncan James, Mike Brown.

LONDON IRISH: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Jan Bonney, 12 Matt Cannon, 11 Ed Thrower, 10 Neil Whitworth, 9 Kevin Barratt, 8 Chris Sheasby,
7 Ollie Hoad, 6 Richard Thorpe, 5 Kevin Burke, 4 Keiran Roche, 3 Rhys Buckler,
2 David Paice, 1 Andy O’Brien
Replacements: James Campbell, James Greenwood, Jules Hosking Tom Doran, Ed Mallett, Gary Johnson, Paddy Gill