Quins seek to carry on where they left off

By KevT
September 12 2003

NEC Harlequins take on Wasps at the Stoop Memorial Ground on Saturday 13th September (Kick off 2.45pm) in the first match of the Zurich Premiership season. The game will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

In their last league game of last season Quins beat Wasps 25 – 21 at Adams Park and in their first game of this season they hope to continue that trend.

I think Quins make three changes to the team that beat Saracens at home 28 – 20 in their final pre season friendly last Friday night. George Harder moves from wing to outside centre and replaces Josh Taumalolo who has strained medial ligaments in his knee. Simon Keogh replaces George Harder on the wing. Ace Tiatia replaces James Hayter at hooker.

Jason Leonard and Will Greenwood are absent due to World Cup commitments. Tani Fuga, Laurent Gomez, Karl Rudzki, Mel Deane, Chris Bell, Rob Jewell and Josh Taumalolo are not likely to be considered due to injury.

Quins did the double over Wasps last season beating them 27 – 14 at The Stoop and 25 – 21 at Adams Park. In the match at The Stoop, Paul Burke produced a memorable performance when he completed a full house scoring a try, conversion, four penalties and a dropped goal. Nick Greenstock also scored a very well worked try. Wasps replied with a try from Phil Greening and three penalties from Alex King. At Adams Park, Quins produced one of their performances of the season. They scored two tries excellent tries through Ugo Monye, one from Matt Powell and Burke finished with two conversions, a penalty and a dropped goal. Wasps scored two tries, one through Kenny Logan, the other from Craig Dowd.

Speaking exclusively to Comeallwithin.co.uk, Quins’ second row Simon Miall said “Pre-season training has gone well. I think we really got together as a team. We spent a lot of time together in France which was important because we had quite a few new faces in the backs. They’ve all fitted in really well and it was a great trip.”

“It’s going to be important to get a good start. The players are really keyed up for the first game. We want to keep our good record at home going. We also had a good record against Wasps last season which we also want to keep going. Looking at their players, it’s going to be tough and last season’s form doesn’t mean anything but we are really looking forward to it.”

I mentioned to Simon that Wasps’ second row pairing of Simon Shaw and Richard Birkett are very strong. “It’s been interesting this week. There’s been a few things written about how Simon Shaw is going to want to get rid of some his frustration over not going to Australia on the pitch on Saturday. It will be interesting for me because I will be playing directly against him but I hope I can compete well on Saturday. You always want to measure yourself (and others measure you) against how you perform against the best players.”

In Simon’s two matches that have been in front of the Sky cameras, Stuart Barnes has made him Man of the Match (against the Sharks and against London Irish). I asked Simon whether he was going to make it a hat trick. “I’ve been lucky with Stuart. I don’t know what it is and not sure why he has picked me out but I hope I can play well on Saturday.”

Wasps name a much changed side compared to the one that beat Gloucester 39 – 3 in the Zurich Premiership Final at the end of last season. In the forwards, Joe Worsley and Lawrence Dallaglio are with England for the World Cup. Peter Scrivener, Wasps usual replacement for Dallaglio at Number Eight has damaged his shoulder. In the backs, Alex King is out for six weeks following an injury sustained when away with England. Stuart Abbott and Josh Lewsey are also with England whilst Kenny Logan is with Scotland’s World Cup squad.

There are obviously a number of key absences to Wasps side but the front five remains the same. Craig Dowd continues to be one of the more successful signings from the Southern Hemisphere. Phil Greening at hooker is excellent around the park and can almost play like another centre. His only real frailty is a tendency to give too many penalties away. We are likely to see Trevor Leota come off the bench in the second half and he will enjoy playing against his cousin George Harder. Will Green at tight head has proved himself to be one of the best tight heads in the country, a fact acknowledged by Clive Woodward. At second row Simon Shaw will be anxious to prove a point or two to Clive Woodward following the decision not to take him to Australia. Richard Birkett has represented England at Under 21 level and must be considered one of the best of the next generation of youngsters coming through. Together with Simon Shaw they form one of the best partnerships in the league. In the back row, the absence of Dallaglio, Worsley and Scrivener will be a big blow for Wasps. James Haskell starts at blind side flanker and will be one of the youngest players to play in the Premiership. Ian Clarke starts at Number 8. Paul Volley is a very good open side but he will miss his usual hunting partners and against Quins’ excellent back row we may find that Wasps will struggle to stop Quins turning over ball.

The evergreen Rob Howley plays at scrum half. He was on a number of shortlists for Premiership player of the season. Wales will really miss him in Australia. He and Dallaglio formed a key partnership for Wasps in the second half of last season. Whether it was from the base of the scrum or from rucks, opposition defences would be sucked into covering Dallaglio which released Howley. It will be interesting to see if Howley is as effective without Dallaglio at the beginning of this season. Quins will need to disrupt Wasps possession in the scrum, line out and tackle area to ensure that his quick pass does not release the Wasps backs. Mark Van Gisbergen starts at Fly Half in place of Alex King. Mark is a former Waikato Fly Half. He played quite a few games for Wasps last year at Full Back. It will be interesting to see if his kicking can match that of Alex King.

At centre, Wasps revert to the tried and tested pairing of Mark Denney and the excellent Fraser Waters. At six foot and sixteen and a half stone, Denney has a big physical presence but reports suggest that he has not been playing all that well in pre season matches. I have seen Waters play for England ‘A’. He is an underrated player who always seems to run good lines. Quins’ new pairing of Andy Reay and George Harder will be up against a very experienced combination. Before the rise of Stuart Abbott, Denney and Waters were Wasps first choice centre pairing. On the wing, Shane Roiser plays right wing. Roiser has been in and out of Wasps’ first team, having to contend with competition from Josh Lewsey and Paul Sampson. On the left wing, Wasps’ management have high hopes for John Rudd who has represented England at all junior levels plus sevens. At fifteen stone he is strong for a wing, hence the nickname “Rhino”. Rudd and Roiser may be in for a tough afternoon against the more explosive Ugo Monye, Simon Keogh and George Harder. In the summer Wasps acquired Tom Voyce from Bath and have converted him from a wing to a Full Back. Voyce is very quick (he has played a number of games for the England sevens side) and by all accounts has had a good pre season. It will be interesting to see whether Quins can take advantage of some tactical inexperience in this position.

Warren Gatland spoke on the Wasps website this week. “Our priorities are to get the best possible start while our World Cup stars are away. Wasps are traditionally slow starters to the season and it’s something we want to shrug off.

“We achieved so much as a club last season, but still failed to beat Harlequins, it’s unfinished business and something I want to cross off my to-do list”.

Quins’ front five will have one of their toughest tests of the season against the Wasps front five. We are unlikely to see the Quins’ scrum push a front row of Dowd, Greening and Green around as much as they did against Saracens last week. It will be interesting to see how Jon Dawson fares against someone of Craig Dowd’s experience. I seem to remember Dawson having a stormer at Adams Pack last season. Quins are likely to have a bit of difficulty in stealing ball from the excellent Shaw and Birkett in the second row.

I think all Quins supporters will be looking forward to seeing some fast service from Ben Willis at scrum half for Paul Burke. With no Dallaglio or Worsley to slow down ball, Quins should be looking to get ball out to the very fast Ugo Monye and very strong George Harder. Gavin Duffy will also represent a threat, particularly in broken play from Full Back. Reay and Harder have not played many times together in the centre and not against as experienced opposition as Denney and Waters. They will need to show quality in defence against this combination.

I think the decisive areas of the match will be the performances of the inexperienced players against the experienced. In the back row Wasps have an untried combination of Clarke, Haskell and Volley up against one of the best and most experienced back rows in the league in Vos, Diprose and Sanderson. The Quins’ back row have proved that they can disrupt and turnover Wasps’ possession. In the Centre, we have Reay and Harder against the more experienced combination of Denney and Waters. Quins will want also want to get a nudge in the scrum to disrupt the possession of the dangerous Robert Howley at scrum half. I’m not sure that Ace at hooker helps the scrum because of his size. Another crucial facet of the game will be Quins’ ability to secure decent possession against Wasps’ excellent second row combination. If Quins can secure decent ball then I can see their exciting back line taking full advantage. Whatever happens it will be a close match and I predict that Quins’ back row will give them the edge and they will win by less than a converted try.


NEC Harlequins : 15. Gavin Duffy; 14. Simon Keogh; 13. George Harder; 12. Andy Reay; 11. Ugo Monye; 10. Paul Burke; 9. Ben Willis; 1. Mike Worsley; 2.Ace Tiatia; 3. Jon Dawson; 4. Bill Davison; 5. Simon Miall; 6. Pat Sanderson; 7. Andre Vos (Capt.); 8. Tony Diprose

Replacements: 16.Tani Fuga; 17. Ceri Jones; 18. Jim Evans; 19. Luke Sherriff; 20. Henry Barrett; 21. Andy Dunne; 22. Matt Moore


Wasps: 15 Tom Voyce; 14 Shane Roiser; 13 Fraser Waters; 12 Mark Denney; 11 John Rudd; 10 Mark Van Gisbergen; 9 Rob Howley (capt); 1 Craig Dowd; 2 Phil Greening; 3 Will Green; 4 Simon Shaw; 5 Richard Birkett 6 James Haskell; 7 Paul Volley; 8 Ian Clarke.

16 Peter Richards; 17 Jonny O’Connor; 18 Ayoola Erinle; 19 Mark Lock; 20 Martin Purdy; 21 Tim Payne 22 Trevor Leota.