Irish Brushed Aside in Thirteenth Successive Win

By AlanQuin
October 5 2004

A fourth successive win in this year's Zurich A League campaign, and a 13th in succession in this competition, means that Harlequins continue on course at the top of the Southern Conference. They finally brushed aside a strong and feisty London Irish side at Sunbury by 19 points to 31.

Games against the Exiles at all levels are hard fought and close affairs. Both of last season's encounters were settled by a single point and the home match in January was the last time that this Quins team had lost. The Irish started as though this was going to be the next loss for Quins. And after 10 minutes they broke through the Quins' defence for the first try, Shabbo making the break and giving Armitage the scoring pass. Inexplicably, Laidlaw missed with the simple conversion kick as he did with an equally simple penalty a few minutes later.

Then after a series of penalties, a catch and drive from a line-out in the corner saw Mark Lambert driven over to score. Dunne's conversion struck the post and went through to give Quins the lead 5 - 7 after twenty minutes. That was, however, Dunne's last act in this match as he was injured and replaced by Mike Brown with Tom Williams moving to fly-half.

Harlequins tried to attack and run the ball in the usual manner of this team but were frustrated by strong Irish tackling and a number of handling errors. Just on the half-hour the Exiles struck again as a clever through kick to the corner was touched down by their winger, Neil Whitworth. Laidlaw converted and Irish led 12 - 7.

Irish struck again just before the end of the half when Mark Mapletoft who came on for an injured centre, his bright newly blond dyed hair gleaming in the lights, put Armitage through for a second try which Laidlaw successfully converted to give the Irish a 19 -7 lead at the break.

Harlequins started the second half by stepping up their pressure on the home side. A fine run by Easter saw the ball moved out to the left where a knock-on by Cracknell seemed to have thrown away a fine opportunity for a try. However, with the referee playing advantage for offside, they retained possession and gained a line-out close to the Irish line. Another penalty and another line-out followed and from this one and a long throw to the back of the line saw Roy Winter stroll through for a try under the posts which Williams converted.

Almost midway through the half came the score which put Quins into a lead they never lost, as having won a scrum against the head, the ball came quickly from Nick Easter to Tom Williams to Henry Barratt leaving the winger clear for the third try which Williams duly converted.

Williams was now having a growing influence on the game as he settled into the fly-half role. He made excellent breaks and provided great passes and it was from a superb break at great speed that he put Chris Cracknell in under the posts for the fourth try. Williams kicked the conversion to give Quins a 19 - 28 lead.

It was another fine break by Williams that put Cracknell through for what should have been another try. When he was tackled by the desperate Irish defence they strayed offside and Williams added the three points from a simple penalty kick.

Irish attempted to rally for a last determined series of attacks on the Quins line, the best being a fine cross kick by Mapletoft for the Irish winger to score. However, an excellent catch by Barratt prevented that and Quins then retained possession until the final whistle and a well deserved win.

There was a good performance from the new scrum-half Matt Henjak who was quick and provided good fast ball to his backs. Nick Easter had a fine game at No. 8, carrying the ball strongly and frequently breaking the gain line. Tom Williams again showed what a fine player he is.

As ever the pleasures of watching this team are the greatest possible antidote to the miseries of the main events on Saturdays at present. It was good to see many of the first team present to watch the match and they expressed their determination to turn round the situation they face in the Premiership.

Other results last night were:

Southern Conference
Gloucester 42 London Wasps 43
Saracens 22 Bath United 15

Northern Conference
Leeds 15 Sale Jets 55
Newcastle 45 Worcester 12
Leicester 14 Northampton 20

Over 9000 are reported to have attended Welford Road for the local derby which leaves Northampton as clear leaders in the Northern section. Harlequins continue to lead the Southern section by a single point from Wasps.



London Irish XV: 15. Delon Armitage 14. Neil Whitworth, 13. Rodd Penney, 12. Kieron Geraghty, 11. Dominic Shabbo, 10. Ross Laidlaw, 9. Kevin Barrett, 1. Doug Wheatley, 2. David Paice, 3. Pierre Durrant, 4. Gary Johnson, 5. Ryan Strudwick, 6. Paul Gustard (Capt.), 7. Tony Roques, 8. Kieran Roche
Replacements: 16. Adam Halsey, 17. Simon Elkinson, 18. James Jones, 19. Derry Coughlan, 20. Mike Haslett, 21. Mark Mapletoft, 22. Richard Skuse, 23. James Grimes

Scorers:
Tries: Armitage (2), Whitworth
Conversions: Laidlaw (2)

NEC Harlequins XV: 15. Tom Williams, 14. Henry Barratt, 13. Tosh Masson, 12. Andy Reay, 11. Joe Mbu, 10. Andy Dunne, 9. Matt Henjak, 1. Tom Muggridge, 2. Cameron Dott, 3. Mark Lambert, 4. Opeta Palepoi, 5. Roy Winters (Capt.), 6. Mamma Molitika, 7. Tom Guest, 8. Nick Easter
Replacements: 16. Marlow Warrington-Mattei, 17. Alex Rogers, 18. George Robson, 19. Ben Thomson, 20. Chris Cracknell, 21. Duncan James, 22. Mike Brown

Scorers:
Tries: Lambert, Winters, Barratt, Cracknell
Conversions: Dunne, Williams (3)
Penalty: Williams

Referee: D. Richards (RFU)