A Team Players Rebel

By Robin Clive
November 30 2004

No they haven’t (to my knowledge) but they should. Those away jerseys of ours (white with a central green stripe) bear numbers in white.

This renders the numbers nigh on illegible. So my advice to those who want to be noticed is either to nick Paul Sackey’s white boots, visit Tofty’s barber or else rebel against the outfit. Otherwise you could be muddled with one of your playing colleagues. I’m not saying it won’t start here, either!

You’ll have to wait for the final score, but it is less relevant than the fact that our guys all played well, several of them well above themselves. Every single one of them can hold his head up with justifiable pride. Every LI player tackled his socks off. Even when we lost possession our loosies and midfielders (and Kevin Barrett at scrum half) were often on it like a flash, getting their hands dirty - and amazingly nicking ball from their more illustrious opponents.

We made several forays in attack, and until we started playing musical shirts 20 minutes from the end I always thought we’d score. The fact that we didn’t is no disgrace.

This is where context needs to be considered.

The average age of the Quins pack (minus Damu, about whom I can find no information) was 26.57 years. They were taller and heavier, as well as far more experienced than the LI pack.

London Irish played four genuine Academy players in the pack and another four in the backs. Our seven main squad players included not a single International, and were up against 14 main squad players – and then some!

Quins only fielded one member of their Academy (Masson at 13, who was probably my MOTM), three full internationals (Duffy, Ireland at 15; Maling, New Zealand at 5; Molitika, Tonga at 8) a member of the Ireland Sevens team (Dunne at 9) and a member of last year’s England 6 nations squad (Fitzgerald at 1.) The other nine rats and mice were all main squad players, including five with England U21 credentials and a gentleman called Damu at 6 who is on trial. He may well be an international too, for all I know.

See what I mean about context?

The game contained a number of exchanges of handbags – six of one and half a dozen of the other. Our young guys didn’t back off however, apart from poor Ross Laidlaw, caught in a headlock by a lock and a back rower, miles from the ball during the first ten minutes. The ref didn’t seem to mind, so I guess everyone got the message.

Kieron Roche (8) was our on-field forwards coach and leader, and quite possibly the team captain. He patrolled every lineout, giving advice, and as frequently soaring into the air at the tail to take clean ball. He also tackled to the bitter end, and I imagine will spend tomorrow in bed. He certainly deserves a rest. Our young locks, Mallet and Johnson don’t resemble Twiggy in the slightest, but both somehow got airborne from time to time. When you are up against two International jumpers plus another 6’5” lock and a 6’4” flanker, you don’t come out top all the time. They competed well, however, and Quins noticed that they were around.

The front row looked as though it was coming second in the tight throughout, but did its job valiantly in the loose, getting stuck into whatever offered, to some effect. The back row of Thorpe, Haslett and Roche did the work of two back rows at least. They harried and chased, and won turnover ball, and they tackled (like everyone else). Oh how they tackled! Both fly halves affected the pull him down on top of you tackle, doubtless more comfortable for slightly built young gentlemen. No one else bothered with such finesse, and just clumped people down.

At 15 Ross Laidlaw had every right to feel hassled, put upon and generally bullied. However, he seemed unaffected as ball carriers, bombs and grubbers came his way. He simply returned the ball with interest, never put a foot wrong and must have been a great comfort to his 14 colleagues. A class performance under pressure.

In attack our ball seldom went beyond the quick Rodd Penney at 13, but he and his inner colleagues Barrett, Shane Geraghty, and Whitworth all made good yards at times, before the cover enveloped them. Poor Sackey and Ojo were never given a sniff of a run, although in the first half quite a lot of over-complex plays were attempted with Paul. Sadly, Quins weren’t having it, and interfered every time!

Mike Haslett was sent off for going over the top of a ruck pretty early on, perhaps a tad harsh given the number of unpunished copycat transgressions by both sides. Adam Halsey sustained a cut head and had a blood break, but I later saw him wringing his hand. I trust he hasn’t been having coaching from Mr Thorpe!

Quins first try was scored by Maling the All Black in the right corner, I think while Haslett was still off the park. Our cover had been sucked in and a simple cross kick to the advancing lock was way above the head of Topsy Ojo. 5-0.

Within five minutes or so they made it 12-0 when Masson, a solid-looking 13, took the ball on our 22 in heavy traffic. He turned and ran across centre field and then turned right and somehow twisted and turned his way through most of the LI team before dotting down under the posts. In reality, the only truly embarrassing score we suffered all night.

The rest of the half was principally spent in our half of the park, but we kept breaking out and advancing on the Quins line, where we either made an error or got turned over. The number of penalties conceded started to mount but the score did not.

In the second half an early penalty took the score to 15-0 but we were still (just) in it with a shout. Two breaks by Rodd Penney just about summarise our luck. The first took him laterally between the Quins 13 and 11, but with cover closing. He ignored the outside man and tried a flip inside, behind his back to Whitworth, but aimed badly. Minutes later the same move made more ground but this time he passed to the man outside. Topsy got man and ball in milliseconds.

With play back at our end, our front row went up in the air and the ball came out at the back of the Quins pack. Thorpe (6) dived and came away with possession, which was worked upfield but turned over. There was Thorpe again, making a kamikaze tackle on the carrier.

The next Quins try must have been wonderful for I wrote nothing about it. 22-0 however, and our coaches started to ring the changes, whipping off our wings and bringing on ‘others’. Whitworth took Sackey’s place at right wing. Later Paddy Gill appeared at 15. Sorry guys. The team sheet didn’t give numbers, so don’t moan!

Barrett broke across our 22, with three men on his outside. However, Mbu was marking them! Kevin feinted the pass, went inside and so nearly got away with it. To be fair the group were being chased down and had started crabbing, but still!

Shortly afterwards, Masson the hugely impressive nuisance at 13 then broke clear of our first line of defence, worked into the second and passed to Joe Mbu at 11. Joe, clearly a crowd favourite, bustled over and it was 29-0. Then Masson did it again, this time enabling, I think, the Quins 6 to score. 36-0. After that we held out, somehow.

Had this been a representative main squad reserves game, I’d say we got hammered. As it is, I absolutely refuse to do so. Quins were entitled to field whom they chose, but their choice made the result a foregone conclusion, foregone that is, except in the minds of the LI team who tried so hard to make fate look foolish. I am proud and delighted that they lived to tell the tale.

Teams:
QUINS. 15 Gavin Duffy; 14 Henry Barratt; 13 Tosh Masson; 12 Andy Reay; 11 Joe Mbu; 10 Adrian Jarvis; 9 Andy Dunne; 8 Maama Molitika; 7 Luke Sherriff; 6 Damu; 5 Simon Maling; 4 Karl Rudzki; 3 Jon Dawson; 2 James Hayter; 1 Maurice Fitzgerald.
LONDON IRISH. 15 Ross Laidlaw; 14 Paul Sackey; 13 Rodd Penney; 12 Neil Whitworth; 11 Topsy Ojo; 10 Shane Geraghty; 9 Kevin Barrett; 8 Kieron Roche; 7 Mike Haslett; 6 Richard Thorpe; 5 Ed Mallett; 4 Gary Johnson; 3 Pierre Durant; 2 James Greenwood; 1 Adam Halsey.