Not As Bad As It Looks

Banahan
By New Cherry
March 21 2021

On paper the 59-24 defeat at Quins looks like real thrashing.  In reality, a side showing 12 changes and which contained a whole load of up and coming players competed well for large parts with the sending off of Matt Banahan the reason the floodgate opened.

The in-form home side raced into a 24-0 lead but Gloucs actually came back to level through two Charlie Chapman tries and one from Freddie Clarke.

Quins regained their advantage through Care and Green before  Banahan was sent off for one of those head clashes in the tackle.

After that Dombrandt crossed twice and Northmore added the ninth.

George Skivington told the media : "If I thought there was an issue with our character then I would scream and shout - actually I thought the boys worked unbelievably hard.

"Those young lads that came on. They brought energy, it wasn't necessarily accurate but it was energetic. They played rugby together as kids and they're growing nicely."

 Quins: Brown; Green, Northmore, Esterhuizen, Murley; Smith, Care; Els, Gray, Kerrod, Symons, Lamb, Chisholm, Evans, Dombrandt (capt)

Reps: Baldwin, Marler, Louw, Young, Lawday, Landajo, Herron Tapuai

Gloucs: Sharples; Seabrook, Trinder, Banahan, Morris; Barton, Chapman; Rapava-Ruskin, Hunt, Balmain, Garvey (capt), Atkins, Clarke, Clement, B Morgan

Reps: Gleave, Seville, Ford-Robinson, Thomas, Howard, Jones, Marsh, A Morgan

Sent off: Banahan (70)