Preview: London Irish vs Harlequins

By Wyddy
October 23 2012

So, back to the bread and butter of the Premiership after the hard fought exploits in Europe, which seemed to come as a welcome relief after a couple of reverses to Exeter and Saracens.

This weekend we travel to Reading to take on London Irish, a side who at the start of the season resembled an Alfa Romeo, glitzy looking on paper but with enough electrical faults to give you an aneurysm. Their start to the season was nearly as bad as Sale’s, this took most pundits by surprise after a fairly good pre-season including a win over Munster away from home. However their first win was only registered against a decidedly dodgy Bath team, however in the last round of Premiership action they registered a significant win over top of the table Northampton. Are their new signings starting to gel and begin to deliver on the promise that was shown in pre-season?

The problems that were endemic to their play in the early part of the season seemed to stem from a lack of forward firepower, not to mention that the playing side experienced a bit of a revolving door during the close season, with many leaving and many coming in. However in the game against Saints their pack showed up well at the breakdown and in collisions and bossed the tight areas for the first 60 minutes. The same areas Quins have drawn criticism for in their losses against Exeter and Sarries. What has changed for Irish? Well their wrecking ball smash on Saints began with a line out steal that was fed out to a back line, that for the first time this season seemed to work together. The dynamo at the heart of it was Joseph, who had a hand in everything that was good for them, delightfully splitting the Saints defensive line with a grubber which a couple of phases later he touched down. He then set up two further tries in the first half, drawing defenders for Paice to score then slipping a pass through to Topsy Ojo who just managed to get over the line. All this without prodigal son, Shane Geraghty, who was meant to be the catalyst to spark Irish’s potent back line.

Their forays into Europe in the Challenge Cup will have bolstered their confidence, a significant beating of Bordeaux-Begles by 43 – 16 away from home was impressive. Yet this was followed up by an even more convincing 11 try rout of minnows Mont de Marsan, even though they conceded a couple of tries in both these games they were far out in front by the time the reprisals occurred.

Fortunately for Quins, Irish continue to be a side who like to play the ball. We’ve seen in the past that Quins can sometimes get undone by teams who come with a game plan to frustrate and stick it up the jumper. If Irish intend to play us on the front foot, with ball in hand this should be an entertaining match up. Their scrum has not functioned particularly well throughout the season although they did gain parity with a normally intense Saints pack. They feature some significant talent in their forward division, Garvey who is continually touted for eventual England honours has impressed only in spurts. They also added proven Premiership quality in Skivington, whilst Gibson and Treviranus have also shown their potency, however in the early part of the season there seemed to be a disconnect, maybe this has been corrected. Confidence will clearly be high after their last 3 wins, but the visit of the champions will have them on their toes.

Quins for their part have come back strongly from the debacle at the Sandy Park stadium. The Biarritz game started with what can only be described as a Quins fans worst nightmare, Nick Evans off injured after 13 mins with a nasty tweak. However Conor had gone for Botica on the bench in preference to Rory Clegg. Clegg continues to draw differing opinions from fans, some say that he needs to be given time at the coal face to establish his confidence rather than 10 minute cameos. Others say that he’s had his chances but his consistency is all over the shop and it becomes like waiting for a Nascar crash when he’s playing. Yes he didn’t have the best of games against Exeter – but who did? We were dominated up front and played on the back foot for the majority of the game. Clegg remains a conundrum. Conor publicly backs the player (of course he would), however the majority of fans on this site, including this writer, seem to have had their wishes granted and we’ll get to see a little bit of Ben Botica.

We weren’t let down when he came on much earlier than expected against Heineken cup finalists Biarritz. The most glowing comment Botica garnered in the game against Biarritz when he came on for the crocked Evans, was that there was no change in style or in quality. High praise indeed. He found his feet in the remainder of the first half, and then along with the rest of the team, really kicked on in the second half. He split the line with decisive running, he passed well out of hand, when the offload wasn’t on, he took the ball into contact well and ensured a smooth recycling. His kicking was imperious both from the tee and out of hand, with only one small error. In short it was a significant notice of arrival from a player who had previously only had one of those 10 minute cameos... he scored a try in that too. Naturally the papers went over the top and he was even mentioned in terms of playing 10 for England by virtue of his UK passport. This is more a damning indictment of the current floundering for the best English option at 10 as opinion wavers between Farrell, Flood and the as yet uncapped, Burns.

However this was no one man show, there was significant development in the centres with Matt Hopper having a storming game and, hallelujah – his tackling was much improved as was his defensive line, coupled with Jordan Turner-Hall doing what he does best and breaking the gain-line, this set up the backline for a couple of sustained attacks. Danny Care continued his sparkling form of earlier in the season going over for the first try following a slick training park line out move, he continued to spark off the pack and break the line with impunity in the second half. His breaks helping Matt Buchanan register his first try for the club with a grin that would have seen off floodlights, and for which he has been roundly ribbed by the rest of the team. His performance matched the rest of the pack as they atoned for a lack of intensity against Exeter, eventually getting on top of a powerful Biarritz scrum. However Robshaw continues to hang back at the breakdown in his first receiver role. Yes this gives us the option of him deciding whether to crash ball it again or to fling it out, but this season I believe other teams in the Premiership have read this and are subsequently prepared for it. The flip ball to an onrushing Big Mo having been made on a number of occasions resulting in Mo being thumped backwards a metre or so. What was successful last season, won’t necessarily be so this season. Time to reassess or adjust?

Nevertheless a bonus point was controversially gained as Seb Stegman crunched over for the 4th try, managing to nil Biarritz in the process is a significant achievement in the group. This was also built on by a bruising and challenging encounter with perennial foes Connaught. Botica retaining his spot at 10 with Cleggster on the bench and Sam Smith coming in for the injured Ugo.

Connaught put up some seriously stiff opposition and but for a 2 try burst from the on fire imp, Danny Care, we could have come up short again at the Sportsground. Honourable mentions for Nick Easter, who claimed more kick off ball in Connaughts territory than I would have thought possible and for DC and Botica who continued their embryonic double act. Botica still has a tendency to get too stuck in at rucks, however that’s a positive as well as a negative and his decision making in this area will develop with time. On the negative side big Ollie Kohn seemed to have trouble keeping on the right side of the ref and Hopper’s old problems with defensive positioning seemed to recur.

Barring any injuries from the win at Connaught, the side should pick itself for the London Oirish fixture, in what I am sure Conor O’Shea will have picked as a must win on the road map for the season. Joe Gray should be fit to return and possibly Tom Guest to start at 6 over Maurie Fa’asavalu. With running rugby on the cards it will be intriguing to see how Jordan Turner-Hall deals with his England rival Jonathan Joseph. Irish will be looking to get Joseph as much ball as possible and if he continues where he left off against Northampton then JTH is in for a busy day, he’ll have to hope that Hopper recalls his form from the Biarritz game and the defensive line holds.

Quins should have enough in the armoury to win this one, however they need to retain the passion and commitment to both the breakdown and collisions that has been apparent in Europe, cut out any channels that will be inviting to Josephs and dominate at scrum-time. Anything less and Irish eyes could be smiling.

COYQ!!!!

Posted by: ComeAllWithin.co.uk (IP Logged)

Date: 23/10/2012 13:36

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