Take Your Seats For Round Two

By Chris Chaplin
March 26 2004

Last Friday a good crowd, but not a full capacity crowd, saw Tigers prevail in a patchy display which had them producing a good start, a good finish and a poor middle.

After last week’s welcome victory over Quins the combatants now have to do it all over again but will the outcome be different?

In this crackpot season Quins and Tigers have, for one reason or another, been obliged to play back to back fixtures while the Six Nations merrily (or in England’s case not so merrily) carries on.

With all the clubs having now played seventeen games Bath, Wasps, Saints and Gloucester have pretty much disappeared over the horizon with the latter two fighting amongst themselves as to who will be the third team in the playoffs.

Below this quartet things are close between Irish and Quins each on 41 points in fifth and sixth respectively. Sale are seventh just 3 points adrift on 38. Falcons are two further points behind on 36 and then two points behind them are Tigers on 34 followed 4 points later by Sarries and Leeds on 30 and 29 points respectively.

With London Irish away in another back to back at The Rec., it looks unlikely that they will add to their tally so a win for Quins could see them advance to fifth place and looking pretty safe as candidates for the Wildcard for the second year in a row.

Sale are home to Glaws and even in their weakened states I still think Glaws, courtesy of their pack, will have the edge similarly if Falcons don’t put in a more impressive display away at Headingley, than they did at home to National One’s Pertemps Bees before the part-timers ran out of puff after half time, then they too will remain on 36 points then Leeds could leapfrog Sarries, who are unlikely to get much change at Franklin’s Gardens, into tenth and be one point adrift of or even on the same points as Tigers should they fail to bring any points back from South West London on Saturday.

From Tigers perspective every game is a cup final now and if my forecasts are right a win at The Stoop would see them settling down with the Sunday papers in sixth or seventh place on either 38 points (level with Sale) or 39 points, (ahead of Sale) and also firmly in the Wildcard reckoning.

That’s the scenario, as they are so fond of saying at management training sessions, but what is the reality of the forthcoming fixture at The Stoop.

Well it must be acknowledged that Quins, in recording their loss at Welford Road, were shorn of several first choice players in George Harder, Ugo Monye, Andre Vos and Paul Burke.

Frankly I don’t think Burke’s absence was of great moment as Andy Dunne had a good game, kicking well and actually getting his centres into play better than the more conservative Burke may have done.

Matt Moore exploited the space on the flank provided by Tigers persisting in playing Ollie Smith on the wing where he looked thoroughly fed up and relieved to be replaced by Steve Booth. I watched Ollie and this lad is a centre born and bred and as a consequence he drifts in whether in attack or in defence and had George Harder been on parade this flaw, particularly in defence, would have been more ruthlessly exposed.

Leon Lloyd for all his bluff and bluster made little headway and drifted out exposing the 12/13 channel and Tigers were indeed fortunate that the ever excellent Daryl Gibson was on good form both in attack and defence. The splendid Josh Taumalolo, capped 26 times for Tonga and dragooned in to the centre from full back, really caught my eye joining with Mel Deane, who was lucky not to spend a bit of time resting after a blatantly dangerous tackle on Andy Goode was overlooked by the incompetent Ashley Rowden and his portly colleague Steve Savage who seemed only willing to award kicks on the respective 22 metre lines, presumably to avoid undue exertion.

Deane, Taumalolo and Moore were both given far too much space to work in with some indifferent defence out wide due in part at least to poor alignment and a certain reluctance to tackle by some parties.

If Moore and Keogh caused problems just think what Monye and Harder would have done!

Andy Goode acquitted himself well but was caught out of position a few times as his natural tendency is to take up that which would be natural to a fly-half, which is of course what he is. Gavin Duffy had clearly banished the gremlins that beset him against Wasps and looked assured in defence and dangerous in attack.

Tigers half back pairing again benefited from some good possession from the pack which was dominant at the set piece for most of the evening and Ellis and Jaco made good use of the gifts served to them, linking well with Daryl Gibson but with too many promising attacks going awry thereafter as the 13/14 combination got in to a mess with overcomplicated moves badly executed by players out of their natural positions. Happily Oz looked to be regaining some form.

I must say I was very surprised that Messrs Evans and Kingston didn’t start with Jason Leonard, Ace Tiatia and Bill Davison in the pack especially as it was only when this trio finally made an appearance for the final quarter that the Quins pack solidified.

I wonder if Evans initially viewed this fixture as a largely lost cause and determined to keep his big guns in reserve for the must win return and then having seen that the match was winnable relented but too late. Just a theory to explain the otherwise to me inexplicable.

On Saturday however I rather suspect things will be different.

Andre Vos and Ugo Monye are both back from wedding and representative duties respectively and available for selection although Sanderson will be missing from the Quins back row on England Sevens duty while Chris Bell, Andy Reay, Adrian Jarvis and Tom Parker are again in the England U21 squad.

Just to try Quins squad further last week’s full back Gavin Duffy had initially been called into the Irish starting 22 against Italy at Lansdowne Road on Saturday but with one bound he is free to start after all. While with the spat between Gloucester denying the England sevens team of Henry Paul’s services Quins’ Tom Williams is called up to join Kai Horstmann and Pat Sanderson in the England Sevens squad.

By my reckoning with Greenwood playing against France Quins have eight absentees before injury issues are considered.

Monye will take over from Matt Moore so any repeat of last week’s lack lustre defending from Tigers will be severely punished by the talented Ugo although George Harder doesn’t start as he tries to recover from a shoulder injury as does Paul Burke.

Keogh gave a good account of himself at Welford Road and while George Harder he ain’t his defence is sound and he’s pretty fleet of foot, lacking only Harder’s impact and instinctive play in heavy defensive traffic.

Josh Taumalolo again joins Mel Deane as the centre combination and a pretty impressive one they make as well and they will again target Leon Lloyd.

With Gibson and Lloyd again starting in the centre and Ollie injured Holtby reappears on the wing which at least is where he should be but I fear that unless something dramatic has taken place this week there will be more problems outside Daryl.

Andy Dunne proved a more than capable replacement for Burke and should keep his partnership with Ben Willis going but Jaco and Ellis should be able to get the better of things here, it’s after the ball passes beyond Gibson that it all becomes a bit of a worry

Of course as is the case with all half backs they need decent ball from their pack and with Andre Vos shaking the confetti out of his boots the Quins back row will benefit enormously from his presence both as a player and the leader. The Tigers back three will be without Martin Corry, newly discovered by Clive Woodward, so Will Johnson joins Henry Tuilagi and Neil Back in the battle of the breakdown which Backy won so successfully last week.

Quins will miss Pat Sanderson in this area and they have belatedly drafted in Samoan international Ace Tiatia in to join Vos and Diprose in a tough ball carrying combination but without the fluidity and pace that Sanderson brings, so Tigers may get a bit more change in the loose than they could otherwise have expected.

Tigers pack was pretty untroubled in the set pieces last Friday and once again with Johnno and Deacon playing well I’d have thought that Bill Davison and Jim Evans were the most likely combination to threaten the Tigers duo as Rudzki looked to struggle last time.

With Corry and Sanderson both missing the two sides lose useful lineout options but I still expect Tigers to again have the edge in this area.

Until Jason Leonard was wheeled out the Quins front row were having a difficult time against Rowntree, West and Morris with Tani Fuga perfecting his Meer Cat impression as his head and shoulders popped out of the scrum. After Leonard arrived on the scene though things became a little more complicated.

This time Leonard starts so Tigers’ will have more of a challenge but I still think they’ll edge the set pieces.

With no changes for the better for Tigers and the dogged persistence of playing individuals out of position likely to cause more problems in achieving cohesive back play I believe this to be a real weakness that Quins will have noted and with Monye at least on parade be in a better position to exploit than they were eight days earlier.

The return of Vos does, I believe, overall more than compensate for the loss of Sanderson and Backy will have a big job on against the Quins back row to again win possession around the breakdown and the tackle area.

If Tigers go on doing the basics well in the tight and keep it there then they can just win this but as they are more likely to spin it out wide where the frailties lay then I’m not overly optimistic of a third away win this season.