Preview: Harlequins v London Irish - Big Game 3 27/12/2010
By Quinten Poulsen
December 25 2010
Hooray, it's that time of year when everyone's favourite fixture is upon us – The Big Game; this year in its third incarnation. London Irish are the opponents and will be looking to get back to winning ways having lost 7 fixtures on the trot.
What more could one ask for in terms of a Christmas rugby match? A crowd of 70,000+, played at one of the most famous rugby stadiums in the world; top class entertainment in the form of various X-Factor celebrities; fireworks; a large choice of food and drink outlets; a family day out… it's hard to beat… unless of course you're a grumpy Christmas grouch who thinks Twickenham is cold and soulless, the X-Factor and its contestants are the domain of the celebrity obsessed lowest common denominator, and the food and drink in the stadium is over-priced rubbish. Thankfully, for those fans who refuse to go to these games, the match will be live on Sky. Although a number of those who watch it on Sky will no doubt moan about Stuart Barnes, Miles Harrison, camera angles, the wrong kind of pixels and the standard of TV advertisements in Broken Britain.
Perhaps most of us fall somewhere between those two extremes though, and are happy enough to watch our team play a league match in their hometown in front of a huge crowd, while being able to zone out the peripheral razzmatazz.
Whatever your thoughts on the Big Game concept and occasion, there must surely be an appreciation of the Harlequins name having its profile raised in and around London for a couple of months and the end of each year, and it's hard to believe that out of 70,000 attendees we won't win some new regular or semi-regular fans at The Stoop.
So to the clubs involved – London Irish have had a bit of an Indian sign over Quins for the last few years, according to Will Greenwood, although I'm not sure I'd agree. Perhaps Irish have beaten us so often simply because they are, and have been, a better team. It's not all been one-way traffic however, as Harlequins have won twice in Reading over the last few seasons. So it's doubtful that the Quins squad in particular will have any fear about Monday's opposition.
Any doubts in the Irish minds will be as a result of those 7 consecutive losses, but personally I don't expect that short run of reversals to have any major influence in this game. Two of those losses were in the LV= Cup, two were against the highly rated Toulon in the HEC, and the 3 league losses were away against Northampton and Wasps, and at home to Leicester. The second half of the season is quite straightforward for London Irish as they can now focus solely on the AP, and being 4th in the league means they're very nicely placed to consolidate with a top 4 finish. It has been reported that this season Irish would not be able to concentrate on more than one competition, due in part to their small squad (though Quins have only two more players in their main squad), so there will undoubtedly be some benefits in having no distractions whatsoever outside the Premiership from now on.
Both teams should be close to full strength (Homer and Thompstone are close to selection again after long term injuries), and both teams will look to attack and take the game to the other. This won't necessarily be a great game to watch, thanks to the two defences and the weather. I expect the Irish forwards to have the better of the exchanges, and I find it difficult to predict a home win. Playing at Twickenham doesn't seem to give Quins the home advantage that The Stoop does, and to my mind this will be the main reason why Quins won't win. Merry Christmas one and all!
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Merry Christmas all
Cheers QP
Hope I'm wrong but i think we will still be searching for our first Big game victory next year!
Here's to a good match and a nice day out.
