Quins to beat Ringo's Stars

By KevT
October 17 2002

NEC Harlequins take on Caerphilly in the second leg of the first round of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup at The Stoop Memorial Ground (Kick Off 3.00pm). Quins take a 53 point lead into the second leg after their 73 – 20 victory at Caerphilly.

Quins have made a number of changes to the starting line up that won so impressively in scoring eleven tries on Saturday. Ben Gollings switches back to wing and replaces Matt Moore. David Slemen (subject to a fitness test) replaces Ben at Fly Half. Should Slemen fail the fitness test then Seb Fitzgerald will play. Jason Leonard and Laurent Gomez return instead of Bruce Starr and Pablo Cardinalli. Luke Sherriff switches to open side flanker in place of Pat Sanderson and Ace Tiatia returns at blind side flanker. Quins use of other players in the match squad has been limited by the Parker Pen player registration rules. Alex Codling and Will Greenwood are expected to return for next week’s game against Bristol.

Quins forwards coach John Kingston was pleased with the win against Caerphilly. “You’ve got to be happy when you score over 70 points and 11 tries. There were certain parts of our game which we were pleased with. There were excellent pieces of broken play but we didn’t put all of our structures together. We didn’t defend as well as we can, particularly after half time.”

The one big minus was the injury to Pat Sanderson. “We’re all disappointed as he’s been playing really well. He missed a lot of last season with the same injury. I don’t think he’s going to have an operation I think it’s a self repair job. Since I joined the club there doesn’t seem to have been a period of continuity. We don’t seem to have had a lot of luck with injuries.”

One of the good things about this season has been the performance of the younger players. “Quins made a bad decision a number of seasons ago to cut their player development. It was one of the first things that Mark Evans started when he joined the club. Huge strides have been taken which the supporters who watch the matches on Saturday don’t necessarily see. The 2nd XV beat a strong Saracens 2nd XV last week with nine players under 21 and nobody over 23. Players like Horsmann and Griffin are really starting to come on. They are reaping the rewards of 2nd XV football and now we are seeing these players come through to the 1st XV.”

I suggested that it has been a long time since a Quins pack has played as well as the current unit. “Quins has been a transient club which has needed continuity. Even this summer there was too much movement in players. We’d like to see only one to two players coming in next summer. If you look at the pack now and what it was like two and a half years ago there’s only Jason and Woody. Continuity is the key. We’re now being able to seeing the benefits of having a group of players together.”

I told JK that there were rumours of a big night out in Cardiff last Friday. “Ringo (Mark Ring) entertained us regally. I’m 100% fit now and it was only the second time I’ve been out for a pint since the illness. It was the first time I’ve been out with Paul Turner. We had a great night.”

“I don’t think we can kid ourselves about this Saturday’s game. The tie is won. Caerphilly aren’t going to turn around a 53 point deficit. We’ve chosen a very strong team. We have our own goals, patterns of play and routines which we want to go through. We need to be ruthless and professional.”

There are a number of young players in the Quins side who are pushing for first team places. They will want to impress the management and demonstrate that they can “cut the mustard” in the 1st XV. A number of supporters who couldn’t make it to Caerphilly will be looking forward to seeing the style of play that Quins adopt and seeing some of the younger players in a full match for the first time. In particular, Jim Evans received some nice reviews in the press for his performance against Caerphilly and Seb Fitzgerald who may play or come on from the bench has given some impressive displays for the 2nd XV. Quins will not be looking to play conservatively. Barring the absence of Alex Codling and Will Greenwood this is the strongest starting XV available.

Hopefully we will be able to see the style and pattern of play for which the management and team really aspire.

Caerphilly are likely to make a number of changes to their starting XV and at the time of writing their team was not available. Their impressive Fly Half Luke Richards was injured on Saturday and may be unavailable but we are likely to see the impressive Geraint Lewis at wing.

I can’t see anything but a Quins victory. I would predict that Mark Ring has given the Cheesemen a rocket and that a Quins victory will be less than last week.







NEC Harlequins: 15 Nathan Williams 14 Rob Jewell 13 Bill Satala 12 Nick Greenstock 11 Ben Gollings 10 Seb Fitzgerald 9 Nick Duncombe 1 Jason Leonard 2 Tani Fuga 3 Laurent Gomez 4 Bill Davison 5 Jim Evans 6 Ace Tiatia 7 Luke Sherriff 8 Tony Diprose


Caerphilly (Possible) 15 Sinone Tuipulotu 14 Sam Cox 13 Jarrod Murphy 12 Ryan Howells 11 Geraint Lewis 10 Fionn McLaughlin 9 Allen Chiltern 1 Lee Manning 2 Feao Vunipola 3 Darren Sweet 4 Nic Rouse 5 Paul Jones 6 Gareth Jones 7 Jo El-Abd 8 Mark Workman