The Good & The Bad: Quins v Leeds
By Battering Ram Winger
April 11 2010
Golly gosh, a good old fashioned thrashing - and not of us!
THE GOOD
1). Putting a team to the sword
Too often this season we've not done this for one reason or another so it was nice to be able to relax with five minutes to go knowing there was no way, even in the grand old traditions of Quins' last minute mess ups/great escapes, that we were going to lose this one. The difference was...
2). The backs
Our strength this season and every season of late, they were excellent in taking the chances offered, and indeed creating them too. Mike Brown, so often a crowbar, learned to pass the ball and pass it well, Strettle, forever "the next man in the line" as a try is scored, got a chance and took it brilliantly, Lowe as good as ever etc. etc. Up front, we were pretty even at times but when their backs got it, they looked less than sure of what to do, much like Newcastle and Worcester.
3). Nice maul
Having utterly stuffed up the one which eventually led to Lowe's try and not having been getting much change out of opposition packs in the maul of late, the forwards bit the bullet and created a lovely drive for their own special try. Just shows what organisation can do, why can't we see it more often!
4). Bonus point for win!
Rare as hen's teeth this season, it was nice to see us keeping our foot on their throat. Hopefully we've turned a corner, although I suspect we'll get little from Leicester away and will have to fight like mad for anything against Sarries.
BAD -
1). The ref
Oh, dear Lord, what a terrible ref! Consistently ignored crooked lineout throws (more from Leeds, but we got away with some), confusing hand signals leaving everyone around me scratching their heads - was that offside? Tackler not rolling away? Something he's just invented? Late decisions on straightforward issues - I mean, tackler not rolling away usually occurs at the start of the ruck, why wait until after it's finished and the ball is cleared to even indicate an offence has occurred? The players may know but there were 10,000 of watching, you know. Which leads directly to...
2). The scrums
Urgh. What in heaven's name was going on? Did any scrum end satisfactorily? I've never seen a match with so many scrum offences (often mystifying thank to Mr Richards' "unique" signals) without someone ending up in the bin.
3). Still some mistakes made
Make no bones about it, some errors were made which better teams than Leeds will punish. Danny Care's passing is still ropey, chucking to no one in particular on several occasions. The lineout was a mess in the first half (I thought Brooker did well in the second all round).
But let us not carp too much, it was a satisfying win on a nice sunny day and we hope for many more in similar fashion.
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1) Strong showings by Easter, Skinner, Guest and York - and we didn't feel the lack of Robshaw against a side whose back row are coached by Neil Back.
2) NEv had his (place) kicking boots on.
3) JTH looked more himself. Good to see him hitting the line hard.
4) We came through a very physical, intense match with a lot of credit, and outlasted Leeds in terms of fitness. Backy described Quins as the more streetwise team at the press conference; that's a big compliment, coming from him.
and
5) Defence. Quins absorbed a lot of pressure in the first half, and after the first wave of attacks looked pretty comfortable doing so. Been a long time since we've been able to say that.
The Bad:
1) Penalty count. Ok, so Mr Richards was frankly baffling and neither side came out well, but under other circumstances we could have been in big trouble.
2) Occasional aimlessness in the passing.
3) Lost our shape a bit when all the subs were on. But now I'm getting picky.
Quote:5) Defence. Quins absorbed a lot of pressure in the first half, and after the first wave of attacks looked pretty comfortable doing so. Been a long time since we've been able to say that.
I think we've always been pretty good at defending pick and flop, a tactic employed by too many teams in the lower reaches of the GP. We struggle more against a big mauling pack and also against big runners in the backs - Rambeni was making hay in the first half, but credit to whoever got the guys to realise you stop big backs by not allowing them to get going in the first place, and you go low on them - if you can't move your legs, you can't run.
good to see us take advantage of a sinbinning properly.
disappointing though to win a penalty, opt for the scrum, ruin them, then prompty lose the re-set scrum. although i thought the way their pack just disintegrated should have led to a penalty try rather than re-set, regardless of whether any warning was given or whether it was their first scrum offence. i'm pretty certain we'd have pushed them over if they'd stayed bound