Point Taken as Quins defeat Exiles

By AlanQuin
February 24 2004

By the narrowest of margins, 28 – 29, the reserves won this Zurich A League fixture at Sunbury, reversing a similar loss by a single point when the teams met last month at The Stoop.

For most of the first half-hour both sides were guilty of poor handling and poor ball retention with only two penalties kicked to each side to show for their labours and a score of 6 – 6. The Exiles had their chances, particularly when a fine curving run by Ojo looked to outpace the Quins defence until the Irish winger decided that he could not trust his speed to the line and turning inside was stopped.

The apparently heavier Irish pack were battering away at the Quins’ defensive line and showing occasional possibilities of penetrating. So it was with some surprise that a sudden fine characteristic break by Tom Williams, from inside his own ten metre line, found him clear of the Irish defence. He was well supported by Tom Allen, Matt Moore and Tom Parker who went over in the left corner for the try. The conversion was missed. 6 – 11

A penalty two minutes later allowed Laidlaw, the Irish fly-half, to bring the score back to 9 – 11 at half-time.

The second half started with the Irish pressing hard and after only five minutes the breakthrough that had been threatening in the first half saw them score a try in the right corner through Haslett. The conversion was missed but Irish led 14 – 11.

The Quins forwards began to step up their pace and taking the ball through the phases with Sherriff, Ceri Jones and Kai Horstmann prominent in the attacks until they were awarded a penalty for offside which Taumololo kicked to level the scores at14 – 14.

That situation was short-lived as a concerted Irish attack saw Paice score under the posts with three Quins players injured in various parts of the field. The most serious was Tom Williams who turned over an ankle and had to leave the field. The simple conversion meant that the Exiles led 21 -14.

The subsequent realignment with Adrian Jarvis at fly-half and Josh Taumololo at full back appeared to rejuvenate the attacking abilities of the Quins three-quarters as Jarvis took control. The passing was crisper and the handling better as they sought to overcome the Irish defence and eventually the try came when Chris Cracknell scored. The conversion was missed. 21 - 19

An almost immediate reply followed in the form of another Irish concerted attack and once again Paice scored the try and the replacement, Whitworth, converted. 28 – 19.

The game seemed to be slipping beyond the reach of Harlequins but the arrival of Chris Bell followed by a superb three-quarters attack saw Moore through to score. Jarvis missed with his conversion attempt. 28 - 24 Now the times was running out, but with Quins in possession a cross kick to the right found space and an overlap for Mike Brown to cross for the try. Once again Jarvis missed the conversion, despite having two attempts due to an early Irish charge.

Quins held on for the last minutes and the single point and four tries brought them five league points.

Teams

HARLEQUINS: Williams, Brown, Allen, Barratt, Moore, Taumololo, Bemand, Jones, Dott, Gomez, Parker, Miall, Cracknell, Sherriff , Horstmann.
Replacements: Muggridge, Winters, Willis, Jarvis, Bell

LONDON IRISH: Thrower, Luff, Cannon, Greenstock, Ojo, Laidlaw, Gill, O’Brien, Flavin, Campbell, Kennedy, Roche, Thorpe, Haslett, Murphy.
Replacements: Paice, Hoad, Johnson, Hoskins, Whitworth.

Referee: G. Ashton-Jones