Harlequins 33 – 43 Leicester, 22 April 2012

It’s not the end of the world as we know it... and I still feel fine.

At half time, I was going to go with “I’ll take the Wayne”, but to misquote another (and more famous) R.E.M. song seemed ultimately more appropriate. As an armchair rugby fan, I grew up watching Leicester win on the telly, week-in, week-out. Since becoming a Quins fan, I have measured the team’s progress by the yardstick of their performances against the Tigers. In that time, we’ve had some close losses, a memorable draw in the Big Game, a win in the LV= last year and this year’s victory at Welford Road between sides depleted (admittedly them more than us) by RWC and injury. But I’d never seen Quins beat a full-strength Leicester side.

And I still haven’t, but I saw enough on Saturday to make me think that it won’t be that long before it happens. It wasn’t long before we got the first sign. After an early penalty to Quins resulted in a not-straight lineout, Leicester opted immediately for the scrum. Later, they would be considerably more hesitant about taking that option. Quins hit with a ferocity that Tigers clearly hadn’t anticipated, drove them backwards and won a penalty. Allowing for the vagaries of refereeing, it looked to me as if Quins never had less than parity, even after Castrogiovanni replaced Cole. Quins still need to develop more strength in depth at prop and lock, but considering how early in their careers our starters are, the future is looking bright.

Mike Brown failed to find touch from the penalty, and although Quins attacked from the return kick, they were penalised. After Mr Barnes had called the quick take back for Quins not being 10, Leicester turned to the lineout and rolling maul as weapons. Considering we pitted a hooker fresh out of the Academy against a team with Chuter, Parling, Skivington and Croft in it, Quins did OK, but Leicester got reliable ball from this setpiece all afternoon, and frequently managed to turn it into a rolling maul. They won a penalty from this first one, with a very, very long advantage played. A second lineout, a second rolling maul, and this time a try. Both kickers enjoyed a flawless afternoon off the tee, so it was 0-7.

After Ugo impressively claimed the restart, it was Quins’ turn to get a long advantage, which eventually allowed NEv to narrow the gap to 3-7. Quins took the next restart as well, but JJ was penalised for holding on in the tackle. It looked to me as if he was on his feet and trying to rip the ball from Murphy, who was also hanging on, but what do I know? A second penalty brought Leicester within kicking range. 3-10.

Quins could have narrowed the gap minutes later, when Mike Brown chipped through after a great sequence of play and Ugo was clearly held back. A second great passage of play took Quins to the 5m line, only for us to find that Mr Barnes had been playing advantage from somewhere near the 22. Although it benefited Quins, it seemed incongruous that 20m of ground, through several passes and phases, was not deemed sufficient advantage. Still, 6-10.

Both teams went at the game with intensity from the restart, Tigers forcing a turnover on the 10m line before a loose pass from Flood was intercepted by Ugo, who jogged home to score under the posts. 13-10.

Easter took the kick-off and chipped Alesana Tuilagi. Youngs gathered the ball but was pinged for holding on, giving Quins a lineout in the Leicester 22. A great take from Robshaw and pass from Nev released JTH at speed, but Manu pulled Lowe back when a scoring pass was on. It earned him a yellow card, and took the score to 16-10, but arguably it could have been a penalty try. Still, at this point I wrote in my notes “Have we finally learned how to play Wayneball?”

Minutes later, NEv forced a lineout on the 5m line, and Quins for once put enough pressure on the lineout that Leicester fumbled while trying to clear their lines. Easter broke off the back of the resulting scrum, and powered over the line, poleaxing Croft en route. The Tigers flanker was down for a long time. Murphy protested foul play, but after a long chat Barnes waved him away. Cockerill explained later that the two backrowers had clashed heads, giving Croft a serious stinger. Although he was carried off under the standard medical precautions, Cockers reported that there was no damage to his neck and a good chance he’d travel home on the bus with the team. “And if he stops missing tackles, he might even get a game.”

The score was 23-10, but both coaches would subsequently claim that the injury and substitution turned the game. Leicester emerged with renewed ferocity from the enforced break, and almost immediately secured a penalty off a Quins lineout. From the ensuing Tigers lineout, another long advantage allowed Flood to bring the score to 23-13. From the kick-off, there was a moment to remind us why Chris Robshaw is held in such high regard by Quins fans. Having chased hard enough to tackle Youngs as he caught the ball, Robshaw was on his feet almost in time to charge down Flood’s clearance. The pressure led to another penalty – 26-13.

Leicester struck back quickly, after Easter was pinged for holding on – peculiarly at a point where Danny Care already had his hands on the ball. On the front foot, the Tigers backline found space for Mafi to break through and run in for 26-20. Another penalty soon followed, and when Quins were marched back 10m for dissent, Flood narrowed the gap to 26-23 at the break. He levelled them following a penalty against JJ for binding on the arm early in the second. 26-26.

Quins turned to the scrum, having knocked on at the restart, and from the resulting pressure won the ball back at the breakdown, and rocketed downfield for Lowe to score from a NEv chip. Those closer to the action called him offside, but it was only one of a number of potentially decisive offsides, from both teams, that were missed. 33-26.

There followed a long period of pressure in which Quins were forced to defend their 22 – at one point tackling ferociously enough to drive Leicester from the 5m to outside the 22 – but never quite relieved the pressure. Danny’s box kicking repeatedly failed to clear our lines, often because Mafi got a hand to them. In the midst of this, my notes report “Cole off, Castro on. Quins win scrum.” Castro was clearly not very happy with whatever Joe was doing to him, and they ended up grappling on the floor long after play had moved on. How the Assistant Referee failed to see the blatant punch from Castro that ended the scuffle, I do not know. He clearly saw something, and Mr Barnes gave the Leicester man a jolly good talking to, but a jolly good talking to is not an official sanction. I hope that the citing officer sees fit to deliver a little retrospective justice in time for the playoffs.

Shortly afterwards, Leicester found a chink in the defence and Alesana went over in the corner. 33-33. And broke again for Waldrom to score under the posts. 33-40.

We’d noted before the game that Leicester had a far scarier bench, and as the substitutions began on both sides the difference started to tell. Easter, Robson, Monye and Evans were all replaced; Conor later confirmed that Ugo was the only injury worry, but he was clearly not risking injury to key players.  The difference was largely one of composure. Cockers claimed after the match that Leicester had known that they needed to stick to their gameplan for 80 minutes and it would come good. Quins did what they’ve done a little too often this season when chasing the game and tried to force it. Sam Smith made a decent run but didn’t take the simplest option and Danny couldn’t take his eventual pass. Although Quins won a penalty from the scrum, they lost the ball after the resulting lineout. Leicester kicked upfield from the next lineout and despite heroic covering from Brown (excellent all game), Quins couldn’t break out of their own half. The match effectively ended when Mr Barnes awarded a penalty against Lowe for tackling Youngs as he extracted a ball from a ruck. That seemed harsh to me, since it looked like the Leicester player had hands on the ball before Lowe moved. 33-43.

The better team won on the day, but the scoreline – and the lack of a losing bonus point for Quins – did not to my mind reflect how close the sides were. As Conor said in the post-match interview, “we’re disappointed, with the effort we put in, to get nothing from the game,” but he was relaxed about the team’s performance, and the chances of winning a future encounter. “What a game of rugby. We lost that battle, but hopefully there’s another battle to come, and hopefully a war yet to be won. Margins in games like this one are so small; they took their chances, we didn’t. The better side won on the day, and we didn’t come out of the stoppage for Crofty with the same level of intensity. But we can take a lot of stock from that game, and we will learn the lessons.”

If Quins have shown anything this season, it is the ability to learn how to turn around a defeat. Personally, I feel enormously positive about Quins’ chances should they meet Leicester again. Quins had several chances before half time to open up a more commanding lead. Had they taken them, even Leicester might not have been able to fight back.

I’ll let Conor have the final word with his response to being asked if Leicester were peaking at the right time: “Hopefully, they’ve already peaked.”