Harlequins 25-21 Leicester Tigers
By Poorfour
February 18 2013
Those of us of a certain age may remember that in 1981 the UK charts were graced by at least two birthday-related hits. Seeing as Saturday was my birthday (and also, it seems, Mrs Prof's), I came to the Stoop wondering whether I'd be leaving humming Altered Images' “Happy Birthday” or Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin's cover of “It's My Party (And I'll Cry If I Want To)”. I have only been watching Quins since 2004, so I had never seen Quins beat Leicester at home; I was hoping for a birthday present.
In last week's defeat to Wasps, Quins made most of the running but were ultimately undone by an early, gifted try and the unusually errant boot of Nick Evans. Evans was due to play again today, but withdrew an hour before the match having, according to Conor “just jarred his ankle, and he had a bug as well.” COS went on that he would have played had it been “a Heineken cup final or the Premiership final, but it was just another game.” The fact that Botica was starting was received with a small amount of relief on the Tigers' messageboard, but perhaps they haven't seen him play. I know that I would rather see a fit Botica play (apparently he'd had a bug last week but had recovered) than Nick Evans at 80 or 90%. The only slight concern was that Evans' withdrawal left us with no recognised fly half on the bench.
Pennsylvania celebrates Groundhog Day on February 2nd, but the opening of this game was so similar to what I'd seen the week before – even down to the opposition's bright blue change strip – that I began to wonder if they'd been playing “I Got You Babe” instead of “The Mighty Quinn” before the game. Quins began brightly, moving the ball quickly, hitting the lines hard, making breaks and half-breaks. And throwing an interception pass that saw us 0-7 behind within minutes. Nick Easter tried to float a long miss-pass out to the wings, and it was picked off by Toby Flood who ran in unopposed to score.
Quins restarted with intent, Botica spotting an area without Tigers cover and placing the ball on a pinpoint for Easter to reclaim. Somehow his take was ruled a maul and when the ball didn't emerge quickly Mr Barnes awarded the scrum to Tigers. The first scrum wheeled, and was reset, but then Mulipola engaged early and Quins won a free kick, and opted for the scrum. The first attempt was again reset, but the second saw Mulipola drop his bind and resulted in a penalty. Even at this early stage, Mark Lambert seemed to have his opponent in all sorts of trouble at scrum time. The first Altered Image of the evening: even a year ago, who would have expected a Quins pack to boss a Tigers one, albeit that neither one was at full strength? 3-7, 13 minutes gone.
Tigers kicked long from the restart, and after an exchange of kicks and turnovers, Leicester had their first meaningful piece of possession. Flood flicked the ball behind his back to Manu Tuilagi, who fended off four or five defenders on his way across the pitch before turning upfield and being felled by Matt Hopper. Altered Image Number Two: Hopper's defence was tested, and was not found wanting. His positioning was consistently good and he dealt with Manu in a way that not only prevented him gaining ground but forced him into making errors. Quins were aggressive but disciplined in defence, forcing turnovers on a regular basis but without conceding penalties. Unfortunately, the discipline slipped when Care chased a Chisholm clearance despite a warning from Mr Barnes, and Flood took the score to 3-10 with 19 minutes gone.
Ugo reclaimed a short kick-off and Quins continued to make mileage upfield, alternating between deft offloads before contact and hitting the line with power runners – JTH had his best game in attack for some time, regularly drawing three or more tacklers. Leicester were determined to slow Quins' ball down and frequently strayed offside in defence or flopped over the ball. Cockers was incensed after the game, arguing that Quins had played the breakdown the same way and not been penalised. Altered Image Number Three: the difference, from watching the game on Sky, seemed to be one of precision. Quins were spoiling just as much, but doing a much better job of staying on their feet. Who'd have expected Quins to be more streetwise at the breakdown than the team that produced Neil Back?
A Tigers offside was eventually spotted, and the points were duly slotted. 6-10, 22 minutes gone. Minutes later, a fumbled ruck allowed Danny to break again. He was unable to chase his chip, being bundled (legally) into touch by Thompstone, but Flood did not handle it well and from a resulting lineout well within Tigers' half Quins earned another penalty for side entry. 9-10, 27 minutes.
Flood restored the difference on 31 minutes after Quins failed to use good lineout ball effectively and gave a penalty from the resulting scramble, but Quins marched upfield and won a penalty when Mulipola got stuck in a ruck impeding the ball. He was pretty well trapped, but certainly didn't make much of an effort to get out of the way of the ball, and followed it up with a couple of ineffectual swings. Mr Barnes asked the TMO for an opinion on foul play but nothing extra was recommended. 12-13 on 35 minutes.
The half ended with Tigers camped on the Quins 5m, working the ball left and right until Flood put a finely weighted grubber through for Thompstone to ground. Mr Barnes asked the TMO to check for a knock-on, offside and the grounding, which took a while because clips of the first one weren't immediately available. Eventually, Mr Grashoff was able to confirm the try, but Flood was unable to convert it. The half ended 12-18.
Tigers seemed to emerge for the second half with a determination to defend their lead by forcing Quins to play in their own territory. An inconclusive opening few minutes saw Quins playing nicely in attack, but failing to retain possession long enough to be threatening. Tigers, by contrast, did threaten when a loose ball was hacked downfield and Botica's short clearance was shipped to Sam Harrison. The scrum half broke to well within the Quins 22 but Ugo was strong enough in the tackle to win a penalty for holding on.
The pattern of a few good phases, followed by a turnover or a kick continued until Quins flooded the breakdown from a Fa'asavalu tackle and forced the ball free. At the next breakdown Flood, offside, grabbed Lambert's shirt and obstructed him from getting to the ruck. Mr Barnes awarded a penalty, and Danny Care took it quickly. Only Tait had any chance of stopping him, but Care jinked inside, outside, inside and outside again, burst through the fullback's ineffectual tackle and rolled over the line with Anthony Allen on his back. Botica made sure of the conversion and Quins led for the first time in the match. 19-18 on 51 minutes.
Quins began to make substitutions, Ollie Lindsay-Hague for Chis, Buchanan for Gray, Trayfoot for Guest. The pattern of the game continued. Lots of commitment and willingness to play from both sides, and lots of entertainment value, but the defences were too good not to be able to force an error or a turnover. A penalty for Quins near the Leicester 22 allowed Botica to take the score to 22-18.
And then it was time for the TMO again. Quins ran a powerful backs move from outside the Tigers 22, and Botica sent Ugo over. At first glance it looked like a try, but from the replay it was very clear that Hopper had blocked Matt Smith and Tigers won a penalty. Back in Quins territory, OLH got caught in possession in kicking range. 22-21 in the 69th minute.
Tigers chipped through to the Quins 5m line, but pulled Robson down in the air. At the next lineout, they were called by the Assistant Referee for being so offside that they more or less joined the maul from behind Quins' back feet. With 4 minutes left, Quins secured a scrum in Tigers territory, took total control and earned a kickable penalty. Botica maintained his flawless record. 25-21. Altered Image Number Four: As Will Greenwood put it – slightly disingenuously – on Sky, “We thought there was no life for Quins without Nick Evans. Conor O'Shea will … be delighted that someone other than Nick Evans steered the ship home against a big gun.”
With just one minute to go, Flood experimented with the short restart and Easter claimed it. Quins drove over the half-way line and won another of the penalties that incensed the Tigers' DoR so much. At this point, I would have kicked for goal, but Quins opted for the lineout, Robson secured it safely and the ball was cleared. Altered Image Number Five: Harlequins defeating Leicester at the Stoop. Happy Birthday indeed.
At the press conference, Conor was his ebullient self (“At half time I was jealous that they were playing in a game like that, because that's what rugby's all about”), and effusive in his praise of Man of the Match Danny Care: “I said to Danny [after Ireland v England] that it was the right decision [to leave Youngs on] and the right reaction was to come back and play like that. That try was world class. Stuart Lancaster must be delighted to have such depth. I think you're looking at two British Lions scrum halves right there.”
But he also felt that “we were magnificent as a team.” I would concur. Conor had wanted a reaction from last week's loss, and he got it in spades. The closest anyone came to a poor performance was a couple of loose throws against one of the Premiership's best lineout operations, and a couple of moments when Lindsay-Hague tried a little too hard to be clever rather than do the basics. Lambert and JTH put in season's best performances; the “experimental” playing of Easter at 4 worked well; Chisholm showed signs of being back to full fitness; Hopper, Wallace and Botica gave the clearest indications yet that they are ready, willing and able to mix it with the best. Care was on fire throughout the game and sent a timely reminder to Stuart Lancaster and Warren Gatland that he is a player who can turn a game on its head, single handedly if need be.
Thank you for my present, Quins. It was just what I wanted.
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I m pleased that you enjoyed your Birthday present P4 I had exactly the same present as you on my Birthday last year in September 22-9 up at Welford Road
What a satisfying day that was too!
