A Devil of a Game against Saints! Quins 16-20 Saints
By DOK
September 13 2010
Harlequins appear wearing the best shirt in the premiership (the second best is the away shirt, I’ve decided). Saints don’t appear to be in hair shirts, but wearing something that must be a lot more tempting to rip off and trample underfoot. “Spearmint” was the best description I’ve read of the colour, but basically it’s something Stade Francais would balk at wearing.
That should be a warning; it takes a certain mental toughness to walk out on the pitch wearing a shirt that looks like it was bought by a drunken sailor in the dark!
The game starts with a flourish for Harlequins. A great chase by Ugo at the restart (he was to do this all day, but from too many restarts!) results in Tom Williams hammering down the left touch line, but a kick out on the full puts paid to a promising move.
Still, the crowd are in good spirits. Prompted by the Northampton supporters, they erupt into the “Harlequins! Harlequins!” chant. Northampton now chase us down the other end of the pitch and only desperate defence holds them up on the try line. A resulting scrum sees our front row forced up. This is ignored by the referee Andrew Small, but is a sign of things to come.
Shortly after Nick Easter gives a stupid penalty away by coming in from the side. Geraghty slots it for a 0-3 lead. Another great chase by Ugo on the restart. A few minutes later Brown and Ashton get into a tussle. That man could start a fight in a phone box, and I think other teams know it!
Cue some end to end stuff with a lack of precision on both sides, Harlequins eventually taking a man out in their 22. Geraghty takes the pot, but the ball just skims past the upright.
Harlequins then get a penalty for holding on just inside the Northampton half. Evans debates whether to go for corner or posts but picks posts. Bad choice, he has the range but not the direction and it too slides past the upright.
More pressure from Harlequins and eventually a penalty caused by Lawes in at the side. The resulting lineout leads to some neat passing from Harlequins and the usual ineffectual attempt to batter over the line. With men outside, Danny Care goes for glory and encounters death. His attempt to slip between Day and Ward results in him not grounding the ball and a scrum to Northampton for a knock on. (I swear on the TV replay I could see one moment when the ball was under his control and on the line, but the TMO didn’t agree!)
On about the 20 minute mark our scrum is absolutely shredded by Northampton, and is under pressure from then on. Harlequins keep up the pressure, but Northampton continue to defend like Demons rather than Saints!
We nearly score when the ref calls Tom Williams back for the most marginal of forward passes (well its less obvious than the one we do eventually score from!).
Their advantage in the scrum means when they get into our 22 they are extremely dangerous, and only a loss of control at the last minute prevents their scrum taking a well worked try. However, Ugo messes up the 22 dropout and they kick the resulting penalty to go 0-6 up.
Then disaster happens. From a nothing breakdown as we passed the ball down the line, Downey kicks a beautifully weighted ball for Ashton to chase. He is so fast no-one can catch him and against the run of possession (if not play) he touches down and Geraghty converts. 0-13 down and we’re looking in real trouble.
However, we get some pressure back on and a penalty with a minute extra on the clock. Nick Evans coolly slots it and it’s 3-13 at half time.
The second half starts brightly with a penalty against Hartley for going in at the side. Evans easily slots it and 6-13 is looking like game on. The first scrum sees us give away a penalty for binding and management have clearly seen enough. Off come Jones, Brooker and Lambert and on come the cavalry in the shape of Marler, Cairns and Johnston. Their first scrum is a very steady job and from here on in, the scrum is not a problem.
Nick Evans slots a penalty for pulling down, shortly after that Geraghty hits the woodwork for a Northampton penalty. So it’s now 9-13. Some lovely passing from Harlequins sees Care pass to Guest, back to Care on to Lowe for a try just about in front of the posts. Evans duly converts and Harlequins are 16-13 up!
A few minutes later, Hartley does his traditional in at the side move and the referee gives him the traditional sanction. The referee is not interested in talk of yellow card. Evans in front of the posts, 25 metres out. Somehow he manages to miss the resulting penalty, so it’s just as well he’s not a Pakistani cricketer or I’d be worried.
Had Hartley been carded, he wouldn’t be there to score a finely taken try after some lovely passing from Northampton. They don’t have the problem of going over from 5 metres that Harlequins do! Geraghty kicks the conversion for 16-20.
Then comes a game changing decision by Robshaw. Within easy range of the posts we get a penalty for hands on the floor. I’m telling everyone around me we need to kick this, that we’ll get another chance for another penalty. So, naturally, Robshaw opts for the lineout which we immediately lose.
A few minutes later, guess what? We’ve a kickable penalty but now three points isn’t enough. Taken quickly this leads to another game changing event. The ref marches them back for not 10, and from this penalty it end with Marler against Foden for the try. Foden wraps him up beautifully and Marler cannot get the ball down.
From the resulting scrum, we have one pick and drive then Danny Care goes for glory, is stripped of the ball by Ashton and the ref blows that it’s all over.
At the press conference afterwards, Conor is resolutely upbeat.
“I felt overall 13-3 was an unfair reflection at half time. That’s undoubtedly the case and that second half we were outstanding. I said to the guys outside, this is not about one game, two games ; it’s about twenty two games in the season and even before this match if we reflect on how we performed against Wasps and if we do that like we did today, like we did last week for twenty two games things will come and we’ll put some teams to the sword playing like that cos we’re creating a shedload of opportunities It’s very hard for the guys to take that, because at times we played some outstanding rugby.”
On Danny Care being held up off the line first half
“It wasn’t held up, it was called a knock on; but if you look their defenders when Danny tapped the ball were two yards off the line. It’s almost a penalty try and it was given as a knock on”
On yellow cards
“We were lucky not to have someone binned in the first half, and then towards the end we felt they were probably lucky to keep 15 on the pitch”
On the penalty with six minutes to go
“It was the right call, absolutely the right call. The momentum was with us. I think they were out on their feet, they had made significant changes within their pack and we missed the line out. These are things you look at in terms of execution, of being very clinical. They had a couple of opportunities and they took them. The hack ahead for Chris Ashton, he took that really well and they took their trys well. They were clinical; we probably weren’t as clinical as we could be”
On the team
“I care deeply about how our guys go about their business both on and off the pitch and we’re going about it the right way. If we keep on playing and we keep on believing in what we are, this is going to be an outstanding season. Of that I have no doubt”
On the game
“I’m speaking almost as if we won a game here. I really do feel we put in a performance that deserved that win and there are so many people… A lot of people put their hands up but we just didn’t finish the job and also you are not going to win a game against a good side like Northampton, who’ll be up there with us at the end of the season, you’re not going to win it by 30 or 40 points. It’s going to be a battle and every week’s a battle”
Jim Mallinder
“We were a little bit disappointed in our attack. Even though we did score we failed to look after the ball and put any phases together and put them under pressure”
“To win two out of two at the beginning of the season is what you’re after”
“I think in the first half we didn’t get our just reward. We really did dominate in the scrum. Credit to them in the second half they made some changes and their scrum improved”
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Well I am with you on that 'knock-on' try. Split second or not the ball was grounded and that is not taking into account where the defendewrs were standing.
That said, I thought Danny's pass to George looked slighlty forward so it evens out I guess.
Young or not, we must start with Marler, Cairns and Johnston at Sale.
The game's afoot;
Follow your spirit: and upon this charge,
Cry — God for Harry! England and Saint George
Close match which could have gone either way. Some odd reffing - which we both suffered from and you highlight. Looking forward to the return already.
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin
Tetleys Block F E143
Shame we didn't win, but didn't seem to get the rub of the green with Small. He was clearly told that "green x was offside" before Danny's try that wasn't anyway. So even if it wasn't grounded and was knocked on then we should have had the penalty. But having said that I'm not sure we deserved to win...
Probably the best line in a match report so far this season. Made this Saints fan laugh out loud.
Looking forward to the return game. Good luck next week against Sale.
R.
That said, I think on balance Northampton deserved to win - they took their chances clinically, and Quins didn't. However, I'm with Conor in thinking that if the team can play like this week in, week out, it will be a good season. That's two games where the team has played well and not had the breaks. Keep at it, and sooner or later the luck will go our way.
However, sitting within earshot of Dorian West with the Saints coaching team up in the Lexus, it was difficult to hear any chanting from either set of supporters. Throughout the game we got constant cries of "UNBELIEVABLE" after just about every decision/failure to act by the ref.