Prof's Positives - Week 2 - Leicester away

By The Prof
September 16 2002

Right so the results weren't good, we lost four games this week, three to Leicester (1st XV, U21 & U19) and the Reserves lost to Northampton at Franklins Gardens but what positives can be found?

On paper the result against Leicester 1st XV looks pretty poor with a losing margin of 24 points but we could have gone into the second half just one point adrift at 13-12 had we kicked all of our kicks. The third quarter of the game was all Quins with a lot of possession and territory - sadly this advantage wasn't turned into points because of a very strong Leicester defence.

The replacement for the injured Codling, Karl Rudzki, had a storming game popping up all over the field, doing well in the line out and to be honest making Kay and Johnson look average. Then again looking at the number of times Johnson went down with injuries every time we had a kick or scrum you would have thought he was a hypochondriac!

The new fullback, Nathan Williams, also had a good game, he was solid under the high ball, made a few runs and put in a couple of inch perfect, low spiralling kicks to touch.

We were more aggressive around the tackle and secured a few turnovers thanks to good plat by the back row of Sherriff, Sanderson and Diprose amongst others.

We finally saw Big Bill Satala playing in a first team game and he started well with some good runs and good offloads in the tackle. Sadly we didn't see him put in one of his trademark tackles on Healey but we can't have everything. With an injury to Bell it looks like we will be seeing a lot of Bill "Godot" Satala over the next month.

The small travelling Quins contingent were noisy and managed to make themselves heard which is often near impossible at Leicester.

Woody should be available for the Leeds game and hopefully Codling and Burke are on the mend.

JK was at Welford Road and at Franklins Gardens and we are glad to say he is looking very well - welcome back JK.

The seconds game against Northampton was also lost but again there were positives to come out of the game. Monye and Jewell had good games on the wing and it might not be long before we see them pulling on first team shirts. The fullback Wilcocks had a good game too and showed strength in the tackle far above what you would expect from his small frame. The 'semi-retired' Greenstock (he's 28 you know) had a good game in the centre for an old boy!

The pack performed pretty well and the front row of Starr, Caputo and Cardinali dominated for much of the game in the tight. Miall, the new signing from Oxford, had a good game at second row partnering Jim Evans.

From reading the U19 and U21 match report the U19 players Tom Guest, Ben Thomson and John Hammond all had good games and the U21s showed good skills in the backs so it seems we have talent for the years ahead.

The supporters' club coach had a number of 'coach virgins' on it who all seemed to enjoy the experience despite the terrible singing on the way back and it looks like they will come on future trips - the more support we can give our teams away from home the better.

The Amateur team were the only ones to have had a success this week with a big win (34-7) in a friendly over Sutton and Epsom - congratulations to them.

Finally the other good news was that Keith and Nicola Wood had a son, Alexander, congratulations to them.