PerryGo’s Premiership Perambulations
By PerryGo
December 24 2002
Well, folks, here we are at the half way stage - 11 matches played, 11 to go - sitting just six places off the top of the table. Or, five places off the bottom. Depending on how you look at it. So - should we be optimists or pessimists at this point?
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However you look at it, the next two weeks will be crucial in determining our
Premiership season. Next Saturday we have next-to-bottom club Bath away,
followed by a home fixture against fourth-from-bottom Bristol at home a week
later. Away in a Mangler One vital element in the Premiership is to get some away results. So far, all five Harlequins’ wins in the League have come at home, with six straight losses away from home. Whilst our League position may look reasonably comfortable (and there are certainly worse places to be in the table…) beware! - we have only four more home matches to go, and three of these are against title-contending teams: Leicester, Northampton and Sharks. That’s one reason why the home match against Bristol on January 4th takes on such significance.
On the other hand, apart from having to travel to Fortress Kingsholm at the end of April, our away run-in looks a little friendlier. After Bath, we have to go to Newcastle, Irish, Leeds, Bristol and, last of all, Wasps. That means 4 of the last 7 away matches are against the current bottom-four sides. Hopefully, by the time we get to Wycombe in May, there will be nothing much riding on the outcome, unless it’s a ‘wildcard’ place. In any event, if we are ever going to start winning away from home, chaps, now would be a good time to start. Looking at the surprises so far this season, I can do no better than start by reproducing my predicted final league positions from pre-season, alongside the current situation:
As you can see from my insightful highlighting, the party is currently being spoiled by Leeds and Leicester. Blast! Northerners, eh? Other than that, so far so good apart from a little jiggery-pokery at the bottom between Newcastle and Bath. The question is, will it last? Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright? I think Leicester will continue to grow stronger, although they will find life harder having now shown some uncharacteristic vulnerability. Teams know they can be beaten after all, even at Welford Road. It is probably beyond Tigers to finish the season at the top of the table, but, this time around Zurich is trying even harder to devalue winning the league than in previous seasons, which might just suit them. Expect Deano to be praising the new format come May 31… Leeds on the other hand have had their day, I believe. They have already done outstandingly well, and way beyond anyone’s predictions.
But it is beyond them to stay in the top four and I now expect them to slip and slide, to finish 8th or 9th. We made very hard work of winning on Saturday, they had very little to offer except for some brave last ditch defence. Van Straaten’s kicking will continue to serve them well if he stays healthy, but I think the rest of their season will be spent dogging it out for points here and there. What impact will the Six Nations have on all this? Well, on the one hand, unlike with the Autumn Internationals, the clubs are not playing through. Match weekends are rest weekends for club rugby. On the other hand, the preparation time always seems to be disruptive, especially with England, where Clive Woodward’s demands on the players’ time and attention seem to know no natural boundaries, prompting the odd public spat when he asks for yet-more squad sessions and the clubs are accused of being unsupportive to England by whingeing about it. Then there is the ever-present risk of injury, exhaustion or just plain distraction. Still, in theory every Zurich Premiership club faces similar risks so let’s hope that overall the effect is at worst neutral for Quins. ‘Player Burnout’ - By Harlequins’ Accountant The timing and impact of the Six Nations matches is outside any club’s control. But you might think that arranging additional, unnecessary fixtures between crucial league matches is well within a club’s control. So why, may I ask, have Quins arranged to play a meaningless midweek friendly fixture against a Super 12 team on Tuesday February 4? Apart from ‘for the money’?
Just to remind you, the weekend before, we play bottom club Newcastle away, which must be a target for a win. The Saturday after, we play Sale at home, one of only four remaining home League fixtures. So, allowing for the fact that rugby union is too bruising a sport at the highest level for players to play three such matches in eight days, what is going to give? I guess it will be like last year, where we put out a ‘close to first choice’ team for the first forty minutes and then rendering a meaningless event even less meaningful by bringing on a slew of reserve team players to ‘give them experience playing the top sides’. Or, as it is currently the vogue to express it, ‘operating the squad system’. Anyway, it is what it is, and I have already got my tickets… So if the players were bringing home end of term reports right now, what might their mummies and daddies be reading about them?
Time does not permit a report card for each player (although some message-boarders might wish to have a go...) but here are a few of my personal highlights and lowlights so far this season, player-wise. The Forwards Move Forward Overall, I must say I’m impressed with the forwards this season.
We have a powerful pack and our set-pieces seem to be under control. It was slightly disturbing to see the lineout functioning less well on Saturday, but let’s hope that was a blip. Looking at Saturday’s starting line-up, with the exception of Sanderson (about whom it is early to comment, given his recent return from injury), all have performed commendably and some outstandingly. The forwards are the bedrock of our game, and when they play to their best we are always going to have a chance against any side. Vos, Fuga, Codling, dear old Jase, Gomez, Dippy… where does one stop? All are more than worthy of their pay cheques so far.
Expect to see Jim Evans playing a bigger part over the rest of the season, alongside Codders, especially when the weather improves (does English optimism know no bounds..?) and his athleticism can be better exploited. Special mention here must go to Ace Tiatia too. I have been somewhat critical of his industry-leading yellow card collection and unsure of playing him as an openside flanker, but his consistently high standard of performance has won me over to him as a number six, and he
does bring a certain ‘dog’ to the position that is welcome, certainly in the absence of the unfortunate Roy Winters. On the flip side, Pablo Cardinali has been notable by his absence, reflecting (I suggest) some disappointment in him. We shall see by the end of the season whether his absence becomes more permanent. Meanwhile, the Backs… So that no-one accuses me of male chauvinism, let’s move on now to the backs. I wrote in the preview to an earlier match that the question was whether the forwards would win us the game or the backs lose it for us. That was no doubt harsh. But was it fair? One of our problems is that we simply do not have the available cover in a number of positions to the extent we do in the pack.
On a positive note, Greenwood has shown good commitment on the field this season to match with his natural skills, even though one always sort of suspects he has more than half an eye on England. But maybe that’s not fair. Equally, despite some surprisingly dodgy passing at times on Saturday, Duncombe is clearly our number one in the position by some way and has a big future. So too Chris Bell, outstanding for his age and a wonderful prospect - it is great to see him recovered from injury. Nathan Williams has also had a good half-year, with some superb touches showing him to be a natural and classy footballer.
Finally, Ben Gollings. We haven’t yet seen the best of him, I feel, but a dependable guy with good pace, worthy of his place. And on the downside? Well, forgive me for sounding like a broken record, but we have a major problem at half back that needs solving for next season. I am not just getting on Burkey’s back because he had a ‘mare on Saturday, although he did. Nor am I criticizing the missed kicks - he’s a great goal kicker and that can, on occasions, happen to anyone. No, the problems are (a) no running game, cutting down on the attacking options and making our play more predictable (b) moderate execution in relation to the passing game (vis - the pass that led to their try on Saturday) and (c) failure to ‘boss the game’. Of these, I think the last is actually the most serious. A number ten has to be a cocky, dictatorial, game-running so and so. He must call the plays, like a good quarterback. The guys around him, including the scrum half, must know what he wants, in no uncertain terms. So far as I can see, Burkey does not do that - hence, on occasions, confusion on the field as to what we’re doing. He is still our only real option, though, right now, in terms of a ‘qualified number ten’ although the thought of (wait for it…) playing Greenwood at fly half should be a real temptation for Mark Evans. Hard Nut or Soft Centre? Or it could be, if we had any options at centre…maybe life is like a box of chocolates after all… Oh dear. Big Bill Satala is the Pablo Cardinali of the threequarters, I am afraid. Perhaps with these foreign-sounding names we just got confused and hired the wrong guy? Or maybe Mark Evans timed his trip to the South Sea Islands just too late to see him play and had to make do with a long, relaxed weekend on the beach and a few old Fiji match videos instead? I will be delighted to be proven wrong, but so far poor Viliame has looked slow, shown poor handling and passing and, with one mighty exception (was it in the Saracens home fixture or Northampton away?), absent without leave in tackling. He looks lost in both attacking and defensive formation and doesn’t seem to have a clue about Paul Turner’s backs moves (“OK, Bill, don’t worry - why don’t you just sit this one out and watch while the others do it? Laurent, maybe you could just stand in for Bill?”). In the absence of Nick Greenstock (who was an admirable stand-in this year until he got injured) I would play Rob Jewell ahead of Satala, when necessary. I have just noticed that the Bic Biro Bowl Player Performance Evaluation Stats (for the two matches v. Stade) show that you all rated Burke (2.57) and Satala (2.32) at the bottom of the heap. Interesting.
Backs to the Future And come back soon, Dan Luger. Matt Moore may be our leading try scorer, with 6, but he has shown himself prone to shortcomings - both technical and judgmental - rather a lot lately, Saturday included. Ugo Monye may not be too far off the first team, if his temperament is ready for it. Wouldn’t it be nice if he could do for us what Marcel Garvey has done for Gloucester? There must be something to be said for playing an unknown commodity. Unfortunately, Quins tend not to have too many matches where we get far enough ahead to have the luxury of blooding a few youngsters for the last 20 minutes without them being under enormous pressure in a close, tense finish. Nonetheless, I admire the efforts to give some game time to players like Evans, Rudzki and Sherriff. It would be nice to be able to do the same in the backs. Have a wonderful Christmas everybody, and let’s hope for a happy New Year.
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