October Player of the Month


By Worried of Whitton
November 18 2003

October was a disappointing month on the field, with the first team squad hit hard by a series of injuries. It was also very controversial month on the board with much, sometimes heated, debate around the merits of players - most especially about who should start at the position of fly half.

This is can almost wholly be attributed to a climate of a “blame culture” that surfaced, from a group of “fair weather fans”, after Quins’ were displaced from their lofty position at the top of the Premiership, to drop to sixth place. Quins fall in fortunes were caused by a close away defeat at Saracens but much more disappointingly, two home defeats by Gloucester and Sale. Two matches which we should have won and which saw disenchanted supporters leaving the ground long before the matches were over. Those who left the Sale match early missed an epic Quins revival scoring 12 points in as many minutes and just missing out on a bonus point, with the last kick of the game. The month was characterised by a pattern that saw Quins loosing the match if they put the first points on the board. Coming from behind, with the exception of the Gloucester match – we won.

On a more positive tact, October was a month with five games played, where two players both featured in every the CAW man of the Match Poll, and generally being first or second, these players being the omni-present Andre Vos, and Simon Keogh.

There are only four nominees for the award this month, based solely on the responses received in the weekly polls. Whilst there is a lack of Quantity it is certainly more than made up for in the Quality of play given by these individuals.

Simon Keogh was never out of the polls this month, a month that could be typified by the reported line “…and a late try by Simon Keogh.” He was voted CAW Man of the Match no less than three times this month in the matches against Saracens, Sale and also against Leeds. He was also runner up behind Captain Vos, in the debacle that was the home match against Gloucester. He is one of a number of multi -faceted and talented players from the shrewd summer recruitment programme. Keogh is equally at home as Scrum Half or as a Winger.


Keogh in Action against Sarries (Robshew)

During September the start of the month he was on the bench and a regular in the second XV but as the month progressed he played his way to become a first choice on the wing, ahead of Moore and Jewell and due to injuries to Harder and Monye. Those matches where he didn‘t start, he had the ability to make a difference, as a “super sub”. As Sleepy Hollow so succinctly wrote in his Gloucester match report “…. Simon Keogh who had given a couple of brief but livewire showings in the previous two weeks”., Pre season down at Gwent, he certainly struck me as someone who is tenacious in his play . He is fast, has pace and positively dances down the wing and is very successful in the tackle area. As scrum half, he is also a natural poacher as demonstrated in the Second XV matches he has played but then this he was just the sort of player that Evans was looking for in assembling his 2003/2004 squad. In the match against Saracens, he came on to replace Jewell on the wing. He played a key role in the Quins comeback from 39-23 down and he enabled Harlequins to gain a bonus point with his very late try in stoppage time. Against Sale at 30 – 9 down he broke free, with less than ten minutes to go, with a well worked try, after large number of fans had left thinking the match was beyond Quins grasp. With the conversion from Dunne, Keogh had put us back in contention for a bonus point, unfortunately that kick went wide.

At the end of the month he started for the first time playing along side his Leinster team mates as Willis, Dunne and Keogh took to the field against Leeds as 9, 10, and 11 respectively. Living up to his opportunist tendencies he snatched a brilliant try at the end of the match, after intercepting a wayward pass from Dan Scarborough and ran some 70 metres to put down under the posts.

The management team are going to have a very difficult team choice once Harder gets back to full fitness.

Paul Burke with 35% of the vote was the clear CAW Man of the Match v Newcastle. His match winning performance was described , by Mark Evans, as “a goal-kicking master -class”. It was a match winning performance as Paul Burke kicked 6 penalties to secure the win for Harlequins. Ironically, the headline “ Is that all you’ve got?” that was levelled at Jonny Wilkinson could equally have been applied to Paul Burke in this match

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Master Class  (Andy Hancock)

With the little possession Quins had in the second half of the Newcastle match they were able to do enough to gain sufficient territory for Burke to kick from. Surprisingly his opposite number in the kicking department, a Mr Ben Gollings late of this parish, received a staggering 19% of the vote, such was the perceived help he gave in the Harlequins win! Burke finished the day with six kicks out eight.

Against Gloucester Burke made some good kicks from hand, but he was harangued as being too slow, with poor kicking to touch but he was not fed any decent ball in from the scrum and he can only work with the material he is given

Sadly Burke has come in for a lot of criticism of has performance during the Gloucester and Sale games when a number of “fickle “CAW boarders” sought to blame him for the defeat . Some posters wanted their cake and it, complaining of his decisions to kick for goal rather than for touch and a possible push over try, whilst equally complaining that he kicked for touch when three points were there for the taking. Against Gloucester, there was a very strong wind blowing, hence the decision to decline the kicks for goal. Equally in that match Henry Paul was not having much more success with his place kicking. Quite simply the Gloucester match was a very poor affair and not one individual player could be singled out as the cause. No one wants to see Quins loose but the verbal bashing he was given was, in my opinion, over the top. One poster suggested, with Rotherham being “a relegation banker”, Quins should take a chance a go with Andy Dunne for the rest of the season. The hope is that he would unleash the try scorers outside him and that the kicking from Burke's boot would become less necessary. In the match against Newcastle it was his boot that won us the match!

Paul Burke is an experienced International fly half, who has greatly benefited from his summer training with the Irish World Cup Squad, and he is serving his Club well.

Andy Dunne did not win a Man of the Match vote, but came a close second to Keogh following the match against Leeds. Dunne is another of the signings from Leinster and the other half of the “Donnybrook Duo” that enabled Quins to salvage an unlikely bonus point against Saracens. Dunne, who had come on to replace Paul Burke stuck a penalty from very near the halfway line deep into stoppage time, after just converting a try scored by Keogh following his a sniping run. He too has an air of “super sub”.


Super- Sub (Andy Hancock)

He has the ability to stamp his authority on the game. He replaced Burke late in the Sale match, when he became injured. With the match apparently slipping away from us, Quins began a revival with two late tries. Dunne converted one, but unfortunately was unable to convert the final try scored by Keogh at the very end of the match. Although this was disappointing , the late rally did inspire a heated debate comparing the abilities of Dunne and Burke. A groundswell of opinion was whipped up to have Dunne start at number 10 ahead of Burke. Both players are excellent fly halves. Dunne was brought in specifically for cover, if Burke had gone to the World Cup. It was perceived that the doubters had got their way following a CAW poll, when it was announced that Dunne was to start against Leeds, however Burke was suffering from the after effects of an injury picked up the week before. Dunne had indeed picked up three-quarters of a low turn out vote.. The match at Headingley was a Premier event as Willis, Keogh and Dunne lined up for the first time in their multicoloured shirts. Dunne had a good game, matching penalty for penalty with Duncan Hodge, in the first half, despite the lack of courtesy afforded by some of the home fans. Dunne also brought the scores level in the second half when he went over to score a try which he subsequently converted. Burke replaced Dunne against Leeds in the second half in order to close the game down,

We have the luxury of two fly halves who complement each other, they should not be pitted against each other. Lest we forget, there is a yet another fly half in the Academy, so Adrian Jarvis could soon also be seeking a regular first team place.

Andre Vos, played his Captains’ role in the game against Gloucester and he deservedly won a massive 58% of the vote. This speaks volumes about how well the rest of the team played in this match and after seeing his Springboks beaten by England. Vos was also runner up in Sale match just behind Keogh with 30% of the vote, and for the match against Newcastle.

Vos is a regular nominee and like Keogh, featured in every match poll in October. We are all fully aware of the massive positive influence he has made at the club in just one year. It has been his enthusiasm and the way he leads by example that has been an inspiration to the team. His disappointment at losing to Gloucester was clear for all to see, yet his leadership ensured a revival in the match against Sale and he was able to galvanise the team in to giving a great defensive display to pull off the away win at Leeds.


"Yes, Boss?" (Andy Hancock)

The end of the month saw a number of the injured players returning to the first team, Bell, Fuga, Monye, Rudzki and Taumalolo, and a return to winning ways. During October the amount of first team players out injured has affected our performance, and we all eagerly await the return of George Harder in November, for the match against Bath.

Nominations

Nominations, therefore, for the CAW October Player of the Month in alphabetical order are:

If September “belonged” to Ugo Monye, then October definitely belongs to Simon Keogh, who without question gets my vote as CAW Player of the Month.