Relief in Reading
By PerryGo
March 19 2003
It was difficult to overstate the importance of the Irish v. Quins match – for both teams – in the battle against relegation. SKY television tried their hardest, of course, but to Quins’ fans it all sounded like understatement…
Before we
revel in the glory (and the relief) that Sunday’s four Premiership points
allows, let’s just reflect on where we were just a few short weeks ago.
The internationals in between may have dulled the memory a bit, but in our last-but-one game before Sunday against Sharks (sorry, Sale), we were absolutely put to the sword, losing 45-0. And it was at home!
Then came a trip down to Bristol. Another massive heap of points conceded – 48 this time – and another defeat.
The final scoreline of 48-41 is significant in two ways, though.
One, that we gained two precious bonus points (one for scoring four or more tries – we managed five - and one for finishing within 7 points of the opposition’s score, thanks to that extraordinary last-kick-of-the-game penalty from Paul Burke).
Two, that we fought back from a potentially devastating deficit. We were 21-3 down inside 20 minutes (mathematicians amongst the visiting supporters were at this stage fearing an 84-12 defeat…and those were just the optimists) and at one point in the second half, Shoguns were ahead 41-17…
Those two bonus points – and the spirited, if still scrappy, second half performance – were equally as significant as Sunday’s result against Irish in Premiership survival terms. Our position would not be as relatively comfortable as it is today had we lost heavily in Bristol without any bonus points being gained.
The Bristol performance should also be viewed in context: the trauma of Nick Duncombe’s passing away (his funeral had been just three days before) was casting a long shadow over the team, as I’m sure in many ways it still is.
The second half of that match was a seminal moment.
And So To Reading
What kind of pressure were both teams feeling at the MadStad that afternoon? We all know how significant it is to be playing at home, and especially in front of a packed house (remember the atmosphere at those Stoop sell-out days?). Irish had attracted their largest-ever crowd (a staggering 18,500…) for what they hoped would be a St. Patrick’s day celebration.
Quins were all over the place on paper, going into the match. Injuries continuing to rule out many first-choice players (Codling being the latest victim), no away win for two years, and confidence about as low as you can get. Or so it would have seemed…
Just as well rugby is played on grass.
Modesty prevents me saying “told you so” about the result. But I will just recap on last week’s column (purely to contextualize this week’s remarks, you understand):
“ I
confidently predict we will break our away form hoodoo and beat London Irish at
the Madejski, which should secure our safety from the threat of relegation.
Whether we are in fact now ‘safe’ – in the light of the weekend’s other results and the remaining fixtures to be played – is a theme to which we will return later, but you have to at least say we are ‘safer’ at this point. London Irish would gladly swap places with us right now.
And what of the game itself?
Well it was no classic in rugby terms, but Prof would be able to find some of his famous Positives in it, aside from simply the result (which is enough of a positive for me..!).
For one thing, we didn’t concede any tries. OK, so Everitt was a bit off-form with the boot, but the discipline was pretty good too. No point congratulating yourselves for keeping a clean sheet in tries if the cost of doing so is to concede 21 points in penalties. No, good defence has to incorporate both.
It’s easy to say “Yeah, OK, but Irish didn’t play well”. Sure they didn’t. But you can only play the team that shows up on the day. And how well an opposition plays does have some effect on how well you play, so credit to Quins please.
Negatives? Well, the error rate continues to be too high. Better teams have punished that in the past and will do so again if we don’t tighten a few things up.
The lineout was struggling (but then again, there was no Codders to throw to, Winters at the tail was playing his first match of the season and Miall was making his Premiership starting debut). Settled teams and combinations make fewer mistakes.
But then again, I thought the scrummaging and the mauling was pretty good. I was impressed by the front row – indeed the front five – and Ceri Jones looks a good acquisition, however briefly.
And in the back row, the forever-excellent Andre Vos performed very well (I note he is ahead in the CAW MOTM poll as we speak), Roy Winters made a great comeback (my personal MOTM) and Ace Tiatia was, well, Ace Tiatia. Except he stayed on the field for the entire 80 minutes. Despite going walkabouts – legitimately, I think, but who’s counting? – when Doc Venter decided uncharacteristically to have a lie down on the wrong side of the ruck.
I suppose you could say the backs never really fired, as a unit, but there were still some strong performances. Billy Fulton is a good signing. He has that essential quick-pass attribute that fly halves need to give them those vital extra milliseconds, especially when your number 10 isn’t a natural playmaker, and he made Burke’s task easier.
Mel Deane also played well, I thought. Benji Gollings has yet to produce the kind of scintillating performance he is well capable of, but hey, not everyone is going to have a good day at the office every week.
Anxious
thoughts were cast when Paul Burke had to go off with a dead-leg (or, as the
snobs say, a haematoma)
and I don’t just mean because Bill Satala had to come on as the replacement.
Actually, Bill did OK. Or
rather, he didn’t do much wrong. Which
is enough for me.
First-Choice Team?
Maybe at some stage kwin and Prof will fancy running a CAW survey on what people think is our first-choice team, assuming the recently-signed players remained available for selection and that the rest of the squad was injury-free?
What do you think?
Before I take a stab at mine, I would just reflect again on what good signings Deane, Fulton and Jones seem to have been, and at such short notice too. Well done the management.
But why couldn’t one or more of them have been signed earlier (like pre-season, for instance)? I’m sure there are contractual and availability-at-that-time type reasons. But it makes you wonder. Especially Deane.
Here goes:
FB: Williams
Wings: Gollings and Luger
Centres: Deane and Greenwood
Outside Half: Burke
Scrum Half: Fulton
Number Eight: Winters
Openside: Sanderson
Blindside: Vos
Second Row: Codling and Davison
Propos: Gomez and Leonard
Hooker: Wood
Not that I think it will be that next season…
And Relegation?
If you are a visitor from the Planet Zog, or for any other reason have not yet downloaded kwin’s excellent relegation calculator (fast becoming legendary amongst Harlequins’ supporters, for obvious reasons) – do so. You can play with all the permutations to your hearts’ content. Most permutations keep Quins in the Premiership, you’ll be pleased to learn.
Just a final thought though, as promised.
If you run the scenario that we lose all our remaining games, without any bonus points (worst case scenario, I think it’s fair to say), we stay up - if the rest of the bottom clubs win all their home games and lose their away games with no bonus points. Even if the other clubs all get a bonus point in each of their losing away matches, but we still get none, we still stay up. By one point, over Irish.
At least, I think that’s the result. Check it. Spreadsheets are not my strongpoint…
All hypothetical, I know. But it means it’s all still tight, so Evs is right that we still need a couple of points to be statistically safe.
Download it and have a play. More fun than watching Scotland…