Harlequins’ defence of their Premiership title ended at Welford Road as they were out-played in a bone-crunching, physical display by a Leicester side that has never lost a semi-final at that ground. With thirty-nine and a half minutes of the first half gone Quins had the advantage and the lead when Tigers turned over possession and moved the ball swiftly left for Goneva to finish a fine try.
If that try was the catalyst to change the game and remove Quins’ edge in the contest, a harsh yellow card for Danny Care after twelve minutes of the half was the beginning of the end of the champions’ hopes. They were also hit with an increased ferocious physicality which would have been difficult to match with fifteen men, let alone fourteen. The importance of a scrum half on the field was emphasised when O’Shea immediately replaced Fa’asavalu with Karl Dickson.
It was a mark of that increase in pace, determination and physicality that Tigers brought to the second half that they found space and opportunity for three more tries, from Croft, Morris and Tait, and ensured the game was theirs. Harlequins, however, did not give up. They created a try for Ross Chisholm and played with ball in hand for long minutes after the clock had run past zero. They had been beaten by the better team and there is no dishonour in that.
After the match, Conor O’Shea expressed his pride in his team and accorded magnanimous praise to Leicester saying: “In the second half Leicester were absolutely outstanding, but I will have nothing but admiration and pride for the way we came up here and tried to play. We didn't go into our shells - we gave it our best shot - but in the second half it was an absolutely magnificent performance by Leicester. I thought we played pretty well today. We just came up against a force in the second half that played at a level we couldn't match.
"We knew it was going to be ferocious. We probably took them by surprise in the first half the way we went about our business, and I don't want people to forget just how well we played in that first 40 minutes. But they just ramped it up. They were brilliant today, they were like rabid animals at times the way they were going into it, and sometimes you lose composure away from home. If we had played like we did in the first half against the majority of teams then we would have been out of sight and over the hill at half-time."
TITLE DEFENCE ENDS: Leicester 33 - 16 Harlequins
Posted by: ComeAllWithin.co.uk (IP Logged)
Date: 12/05/2013 18:11
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One of the worst match reports I have read. It almost completely misses out the first half, makes hardly no mention of the fact we were on top for most of the first 40 minutes (apart from a CoS quote) and doesn't tell you who scored our other points.
I thought Croft scored a try for Leicester.
Were you even at the game?
0/10 from me!
RleQ
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:05:13:02:03:29 by RleQuin.
woe quin No need to be rude though - just basic manners
If you are accusing me of rudeness and you think it is an excellent match report, so be it.
If you put yourself forward to do the report for this site and I have read many of AlanQuin's previous reports, you should at least cover all the relevant points in the match - this report does not do that!
RleQ
I think you can at least afford Alan the fact that he is probably still gutted by the result! As a regular reader of his then you should know his quality. To denigrate this review in the manner you did, is disrespectful to a fellow Quins fan.
Alan frequently takes time out of whatever he is doing to write match reviews for this site. He is doing something constructive and unless you want to put your money where your mouth is and also do something constructive, suggest that you give one of our regular correspondents a pass on the above grounds!
It is not even a match report is it?
I too am absolutely gutted that we lost but, if I was writing the match report, I would have done a far better job than that!
RleQ
But you didn't do one of this match did you, you simply "rubbished" someone who did make the effort. Whether it was a good effort or not, it was more than you made for this match.
The whole point of writing a match report is so that, in 50 years, someone visiting this site will be able to read a report on the game and understand what happened. This report will not give you a complete picture of this. If you believe this is a good match report then that is your choice. In my opinion, it is not.
RleQ
I'm not sure I agree with you on this, RlQ, any more than forawrd passes!
I write match reports. I write them from the point of a fan going to the match. I have no thought of anyone reading them the week after next, let alone 50 years time. My view is there are people out there paid to write what happened in the match, give you each scorer's name, record the salient points of the match.
I write as a piece of entertainment. Of course the match features large in that, but it's never my intent to write a historical document for future generations to refer to.
And that's what I tell every new scribe who steps up to the plate. Write about YOUR day, how it struck you. What you want to talk about. The Telegraph, Guardian and maybe the Independent will cover the factual stuff. So write it how you want.
Each to his own DOK, isn't that what these boards are all about? I quite frequently have CAW match reports in my archives but not this one.
Not starting the forward pass discussion on here but, as you have mentioned it, I still don't and never will see how Tait's pass is not forward
RleQ
I don't need to justify my position Steeevo. Just because you don't agree with me, there's no need to get abusive.
DOK - are you going to take action?
RleQ
Each to his own, indeed, RlQ. If you like to store reports as a bit of the club history, that's up to you. Just saying I've never viewed these reports as recording history. Rather as an alternative/fan's view of the day. Glad I checked my last one and it had times, scorers and everything, so I hope it passed your high standards!
Don't worry Wyddy, I do and maybe one day you will read all about it?
DOK, that would have passed the test!!
Congratulations to all those reporters throughout the season who have put pen to paper to tell us about their match day experiences.Your efforts are appreciated.
RleQ
Jayzuz, there is much bitterness with RleQuin isn't there?
Having read his various missives on "Taits forward pass" and the accomplished cheats for the last 40 years from the East Mids, I'm relieved to see that his anger isn't reserved solely for Tigers, Tait and the Ref. Indeed his spleen has been vented evenly between both friend and foe! You're an inspiration and a credit Chap!!
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