Brothers, ex-players and flyers

Bring 'em on
By madhatter
October 19 2003

As we head off down to the stoop, both teams are experiencing contrasting starts to the season, with Quins having found their winning boots. The new found Ugo Moyne providing tries Frank and Stan style. Not to mention the Sanderson brothers fierce battle against each other.

After the last trip to the stoop, we have high expectations this time, beating Quins 45-0, who will ever forget! The Quins had given perfect motivation to our forwards by bringing in the sidelines on the pitch, the sight of Lander pacing the pitch before the game checking it would be ok will always be a sight to remember. Having just been niled at home to Gloucester, they will be looking to come out with a vengeance, incidentally last season after playing us, Quins went on to win their next home game. Is this going to say something?

Rather than looking back, look forward we have just had a good win against the titans so will go into the game with a bit more confidence than in previous matches this season as our away form is improving. Quins I don’t think will loose much confidence from the match against Gloucester as they had two injuries during the match which disrupted them, as they have recently been in good form pushing at the top of the table in a role reversal from last year having already beaten Wasps, Newcastle and the Irish at home, so life could prove difficult for us. Although the injury list is now adding up for Quins with 10 out of action which will give them something to worry about (and don’t we all know about injuries!).

On the field of play there are some quite interesting match ups between players not least between the two Sanderson brothers Alex and Pat. Both playing in the back row, have not (in the recent years) come up against each other due to one or another or both being injured. This area will be fiercely contested as each brother wanting to get one up on the other, Alex the more fiery of the two will have his work cut out as Pat has been in some good form this season. As for the rest of the back row Quins will probably use their captain Andre Vos and Tony Diprose both also in excellent form and have proved the doing of Quins this season having set up a lot of the tries at the beginning of the season, constantly securing ball and being able to break the gain line at will, not to mention very good at slowing the ball down for the opposition! Comparing to our back row of Chris Jones, Alex and Pinkers, all not yet performing quite to their potential. Maybe this will be the match where Chris will do his flying emu runs down the centre!

As for the rest of the forwards, the locks Quins will probably use Jim Evans, (in for the injured Simon Miall who is an up and coming star but got injured early in the season) and Bill Davidson, a club ever-present. In the front row the props should consist of Ceri Jones and Gomez with either Tani Fuga or James Haytor at hooker, Tani was injured on Saturday and first fears are that it is a serious knee injury so Quins will be down to their third choice hooker as Ace Tiatia is out with injury. With the performance of our pack in recent games this season this should be the key area where we have to attack as Quins are weakened and we should expect to win ‘the battle up front’!

In the half-backs Quins will probably play the ever reliable Paul Burke at fly half who is creative and an excellent kicker, bit like our Charlie. At 9 will be Ben Willis, a new signing for Quins this year, who like ours have very irregular displays, not quite getting the right mix each time. If we keep the same combination as at the weekend then I think Wiggy will be given a hard time by him but it should prove a free flowing match as Walshey and Burke like to get the backs moving to provide entertainment for us.

In the centres we should see our own (sorry ex-own) player Mel Deane and probably Andy Reay one of the promising U21s as Quins have a few injury worries in this area to Josh Taumalolo and George Harder. Deane moved over to Quins last season after the 45-0 showing, so this will be his first game against his old club, unfortunately for us with Dan Harris injured it isn’t quite the fairytale as the rivalry would have proved fruitful between the two players for the game as Dan kept Deane out of the team. Instead Bondi and Van Straaten should provide an even match for them one creative the other trying to break the gain line.

On to the back three and the new ‘flyer’ of the season, and no I am not talking about our very on Frank and Stan but the new found sensation Ugo Moyne who scored a hat–trick in his second match for Quins, I predict that we will see plenty more from him in the years to come as he is only 20 and a great sevens star so will know what frank can get up to! Making up the rest for Quins will probably be two of either Duffy, Keogh and Dunne all of which have had good games for Quins this season with brilliant displays of running and breaking the line. Our defence will need to be extra vigilant to keep this lot out, but every faith in Going at full back to put in those flying tackles.

The head to head count puts us 9-3 ahead having won 3 times at the stoop, so there is never a better time to get out there and stretch the legs, providing the backs can get enough ball. There are some interesting match ups here and I think it could be quite a close match especially with Quins loosing last time out. Lets hope the party atmosphere of the stoop carries on and the players can hold their heads up high in the east stand bar afterwards.