Harlequins v Sale Match Report

And so we reach the end of a long and trying season, which in competitive terms ended for both Sale and Quins a week ago. So would this be a dreary dead rubber or a summer’s afternoon of exhibition rugby?

From the first minute it was clear that it would be neither. Under a menacing sky, both teams approached the game with an intensity that they have lacked at other points in the season. Quins drove into the Sale 22, NEv popping a lovely reverse pass to Strettle, but the attack ended with Sale securing a 22 dropout – and with Percival on the floor with what looked like a serious leg injury. He left the field on a stretcher, to be replaced by Vallejos.

From the dropout, excellent aggression from Easter and Cairns saw the ball fall to Quins without reaching the Sale 10m line. The backs worked it quickly out to Lowe, who had a straightforward run-in to the south-east corner. NEv’s conversion attempt was wide to the left, but Quins had made their intent clear. Revenge for three defeats earlier in the season was clearly on their minds.

The second try was not long coming. Good pressure forced a dropped pass from Sale in midfield that was gathered by Vallejos. A superb break from Lowe nearly put Ugo over in the SE corner again, but he was just brought down. Quins recycled the ball quickly and NEv put up a superbly lofted cross-field kick that dropped just behind the Sale defence and right into the expectant arms of Strettle, who sailed in to score near the posts. Although he was playing his last game for Quins, David looked as fresh, exciting and committed as if he’d just signed for us. He is a unique talent, one that England ignores at its peril, and we will miss him. So long, Dave, and thanks.

After NEv had added the extras, a rolling maul took Quins right back into attacking range from the kick-off. The backs took up the baton with some good running, but were ultimately penalised for holding on. This marked the start of a long period in which Quins seemed to have lost a bit of sharpness and focus. An exchange of interceptions and some poor lineout throwing from Cairns saw Sale make their first serious inroads into Quins territory.

After JTH was penalised twice in quick succession – once for getting up after being held in the tackle, and then for not retreating after the first penalty – Hodgson added Sale’s first 3 points. Quins attacked again, Sale narrowly managing to win a scrum, but losing Hodgson to a broken nose in the process. Styles came on, and Lee Thomas took over responsibility for running the backline. Bell had already been replaced by Jonny Kennedy (who was a serious threat all afternoon), so Sale did well to retain their shape. Quins continued to attack for most of the next 10 minutes, narrowly failing to score when Care slightly overcooked a cross-field kick to Ugo and struck the corner flag.

A break from Tait saw Sale put the ball back into Quins’ half, and after another overthrow from Cairns they began an attack that ended in Vallejos kicking the ball on from an offside position and getting a yellow card. Despite being a man down, Quins continued to play with aggression – disrupting the Sale scrum and sending Ugo upfield. In  the press conference afterwards, Conor O’Shea said that he felt that the tackle on Ugo was every bit as worthy of a yellow as Vallejos’s misdemeanour, and he was clearly furious that it had been missed. I wasn’t so sure, but I was incensed that Sale were awarded a knock-on advantage moments later when the ball shot forward from Mike Brown’s grasp at such pace that it must have had help from a Sale hand. Nevertheless, what followed was undeniably classy. Tait beat Lowe in midfield and ran in from thirty yards out, despite NEv’s attempt at a last-ditch tackle. Thomas converted to bring Sale within 2 points.

The twenty minutes around half time were scrappy to say the least. On the plus side, Quins put sustained pressure on Sale at the set-pieces and kick-off, but undid their good work through handling errors, giving away penalties or further bizarre knock-on calls from Mr White. It began to look as if Quins were going to let the game slip away from them, a feeling that was compounded when Thomas dropped a goal early in the second half.

NEv took a knock during another inconclusive passage of play that eventually ended in a Quins penalty. Clegg came on and calmly slotted the points, restoring the lead. The teams exchanged further sorties into each other’s territory for ten minutes, until on 59 minutes Strettle and Brown combined to take the ball from 22 to 22, and Clegg put up a nice pass for Easter, who charged through the Sale defence despite a high-ish tackle. 20-13.

The next ten minutes were a bit of an arm wrestle. The scrum in particular, now featuring Tani and Marler in place of Cairns and Jones, looked very effective – although Sale had fielded a front row featuring Lee Imiolek, their own England U20 prop. However, Quins couldn’t find a way to break through the defence. The one clear opportunity saw Guest (on for Skinner) put Williams (on for Brown) clear on the outside, but he was adjudged to have stepped into touch. Conor later fumed that Tom had been a yard infield, and promised that words would be had with the referees.

However, slightly later Tom won a penalty while receiving a blood injury (cue collective groan from the crowd), which Clegg kicked to take the score to 23-13. Shortly after, an offload from JTH found Sale hands, followed by a penalty and lineout, which they drove over the line for Koyamailbole to score. Thomas added the conversion to make it 23-20.

Quins were not slow to strike back. From a scrum in Sale’s half, Clegg found JTH, who charged over the line wearing several Sale players like a garland. Up to this point, I felt he’d had a poor game, with several missed tackles and passes failing to find their mark; but this was the JTH we know and love, and I hope it will boost his confidence for next season. Clegg converted: 30-20.

As the clock ran out, Sale lost the ball off their own scrum, and Quins decided not to take the easy option and kick it dead. Williams, Strettle and Clegg all made good yards, before getting the ball to JTH, who made a superb break past three or four Sale players and put Guest clear. Cueto closed him down, but Tom Williams was up in support and ran the try in under the posts. Tani, stepping up to take the kick to the delight of the crowd, missed wildly with his conversion attempt and the season was properly over.

Kingsley Jones handled his half of the post-match press conference with dignity, citing positives for both teams and pointing out that Sale’s 4 U20 players and 2 U22s had played well – and that “Quins did the same, bringing on a young prop who has a very big future.”

Conor O’Shea was in much more combative mood. Although he felt it was an emotional send-off for Tani and David, there was a huge amount of commitment from both sides, he agreed that Quins had gone off the boil after the first ten minutes and that our discipline had been poor in places. He quoted NEv, who had reminded the team at half-time that “you should never get bored of doing the simple things well”.

Looking forward, he confirmed that he wasn’t planning to make wholesale changes but that “we’ve announced a couple of signings and we may have a couple more”. He reiterated that he felt that the core squad  was strong – pointing out that our centres today were 20 and 22 and that Olly Smith knows that “he’ll have to step it up” to get into the side. He said he was looking forward to a full pre-season and again said that his focus would be on getting the players to “play as they should be able to,” with a big focus on starting the season strongly.

He confirmed that Mark Mapletoft will join after the U20 World Cup – “hopefully with a JWC under his belt” – and predicted that Easter, Care and Monye, and perhaps Robshaw and Strettle, would have “a long, hard summer down under.”

I felt there was something fitting in Tom running in that final try (and Mark Evans agreed when I bumped into him outside the press room), somehow drawing a line under the last year or so and – I hope – letting us focus on the future.