Pest Control - Quins 15 Wasps 27

Dawson
By King of Mediocrity
January 4 2005

This was the final match to be overlooked by the old west stand and as such perhaps a celebration was in order despite the team’s results since September; however, given the events in the Pacific over the last week perhaps a reminder about comparative suffering.

Wasps lined up without a number of very familiar names, no Dowd, Leota, Greening, Erinle, Waters or Skivington amongst others - Quins were likewise shorn so I reckoned that made it about honours even for the start.

The first of a number of long Quins restarts set the tone for much of the game - kicking long towards a team who are so well drilled was never likely to produce any ball for us and so it proved for much of the game. Still, at least we managed to keep Wasps out for three minutes longer than the away match last year but it was an ominous start when we went down so early. A huge hole developed at the fringe of the ruck on the blindside, quick hands and rucking leaving Dawson with the simplest of tries under the posts which van Gisbergen converted.

A deep return of the restart went to the newly reinstalled Duffy at full-back and his reply stayed in but the ball was recovered in midfield. Keogh received from the following ruck which showed Wasps' interesting application of the offside law, but his final pass to Harder was very poor as he was tackled 10 yards from the line - slim opportunity missed.

Although the lineout was lost some fine tight work from Maling and Diprose saw a steal in the ensuing maul which was again lost - a fly hack from Alex King who had a fine game all round ended up with Keogh displaying some previously unseen juggling abilities and a midfield knock-on leaving Wasps with an attacking scrum on the Quins 22.

This was the first scrum of an interesting afternoon - the Wasps front row threw every trick they had at the Quins front row and thanks to some slack refereeing which was only tightened in the second half there were a series of broken and lifted scrums throughout. King received the ball in plenty of space but the drop-goal was wide to the right.

This time for me showed the ultimate difference between the two sides, man for man I don't feel that there was much difference, but the Wasps machine was much better drilled - every time a forward went into contact the recycling was swift and accurate. The Wasps Centres I thought were exceptionally good as a pair, Hoadley and Abbott seemed attached to each other, so close were they whenever the breakdown came.

Some good work from Quins followed for the next ten minutes with Harder, Keogh, Deane and Duffy all flying at the Wasps line, all hauled down and tidied up on every occasion.

However, all of the industry was undone by one quick incisive break from Wasps down the West touchline leading to their second try on 32 minutes which van Gisbergen failed to convert - score Quins nil, Wasps 12. It then got worse only seven minutes later when another break down the east wing from Lewsey saw him walk through tackles from Keogh, Duffy and Harder for a try which should never have happened, another surprising van Gisbergen miss, score 0 - 17 and things were looking very grim.

Finally there was something to smile about as Dallaglio was forced to kill the ball following a fine return by Duffy.

A penalty from Staunton, whose performance seemed far more confident than recently, made the score 3-17 at the break and to be honest Wasps were more than worthy of it.

As well as Wasps played I couldn't shake the feeling that there was more they could draw on whereas Quins remained largely disjointed although the individual effort could never be faulted.

Half-time brought Mad Max and Mad Max 2 to the pitch although I think MWTM shaded the repartee - also a fine display of ball-handling by the ball boys in front of the east stand which was rather better than they tend to show for Teddington RFC - lads I know where you live!

Half-time brought Ace on for James Hayter - JH in particular had a fine game but is clearly not fit, Ace was either wearing spats or was carrying an injury himself. However, history repeated itself with an all too easy try for van Gisbergen - conversion again missed, score 3 - 22, 41 minutes gone.

However, from this point the Quins team started to gel - a series of drives from Ace, Nick Easter and George Harder made yards to the halfway line with the defence pulled across the field but unfortunately Staunton tried to go alone, got scragged and the resulting knock-on gave the scrum and possession to Wasps.

At this point Hoadley and Abbott produced a series of driving runs which showed a high degree of skill and class - whenever one of the Centres went into contact the other was invariably on his shoulder on the open-side, with the 11 or 14 covering the touchline. The forwards would pile in, Dawson's passing was crisp all afternoon, (although I do wish he would shut up), and the Centres were there again on the other side of the pitch.

A long passage of play produced little reward but great effort from both sides - LBND gave the kind of commitment I wish he had shown more as an international, King ran his backline well, AV fought as hard as ever and Duffy and Staunton's kicking from hand was much improved.

On 55 minutes Maling, Dippy and Staunton were replaced by Miall, Sherriff and Dunne and almost immediately the pattern of the game shifted. Roy stole a Wasps lineout, the Quins maul rumbled on well bossed by So'oialo until another interesting interpretation of offside by LBND stopped the momentum. Keogh set off on one of many runs through Wasps cover only to be halted but possession was kept for a collapsed maul. Sadly territory won in the penalty was lost by good defence.

Mel Deane then ran for fully 40 yards and offloaded perfectly to Harder but he had nowhere to go but out, Roy stole his second lineout but was forced into touch. All of a sudden the team was talking to each other so much more ' James marshalled the backs, AV ran the forwards and Quins looked so much more cohesive than in the first half. Vos then stole a Wasps lineout himself but was pinged for going through the line, King cleared the penalty and the pressure was lost.

More midfield scrapping followed with at one point a rather entertaining scene with Miall getting an ear bashing from Matt Dawson which he suitably ignored. Wasps replaced their loose head and hooker Gotting with Barrett and Payne and for a while their scrum was more solid.

Duffy arrowed a superb 50 yard grubber right through the Wasps defence but again the Wasps defensive machine coped well and returned play to the halfway line. The referee then made an unusual stop in play when a ruck was heading towards two Wasps players receiving treatment - nice to see any official concerned for the risks - Chris White may have been a little variable in his application of scrums and lineouts but did not spoil a full-blooded game between two committed sides.

Van Gisbergen scuffed another penalty low and short after a threatening period of pressure from the Wasps pack and backs but then things changed. Roy made a bid for hand-off of the week following a sublime stop of King from the latter's own clearance, unloaded to Andy Dunne who showed real pace down the west touchline before unloading to Keogh for Quins first try on 74 minutes, conversion missed, score 8 - 22.

Wasps by this point had their hearts set on a bonus point, a short restart was well recovered and desperate but fine last ditch defence resulted in a penalty to Wasps which they chose to scrum. LBND made another fine pick-up and carry almost to the Quins line and despite Quins efforts Matt Dawson went across for his second try at the end of normal time. Conversion shanked again, 8 - 27, and sadly the fans' exodus began.

Lewsey, Dawson and O'Connor were replaced by the Wasps management who had the 5 points I am sure they had identified before the match but Quins hadn't quite finished yet.

A quick midfield dart by Keogh led to a pass to James who sped to the Wasps 22 where the inevitable penalty was conceded, a quick tap by So'oialo to Ceri fed on from the ruck to Miall, So'oialo, and Andy Dunne for arguably the easiest try of George Harder's career. Conversion made in the fifth minute of injury time, final score 15 - 27.

Positives - several, the team fought throughout, their heads never dropped even on 80 minutes with Wasps' bonus point. Dunne gave the backs an incision I haven't seen since the victory over Sarries, Staunton and Duffy seem to have recovered confidence, the front row seemed to have fun all day against a good Wasps 5, the lineout worked well and there were some good steals against a fine side.

However, and with any defeat there is always a 'but', there was an obvious gap in the quality of the team play between the sides. Wasps can and will play better than that, particularly with more of their first-choice players, but they were carried through by clear thinking and well-drilled patterns all game. Quins still look like 15 individuals much of the time, there doesn't seem to be any plan B and I'm not sure that plan A is working - letting Mel Deane bash up the middle isn't much of a tactic and everyone knows that Harder will do exactly that if he is off his wing - we're still very predictable much of the time.

If MOTM was announced I didn't hear it but my vote would go to Rob Hoadley with a close second to Stuart Abbott for unceasing and well-crafted effort.

Wasps won and deservedly so, yes they live offside, but so do all successful sides, it's nothing more than a reflection of professionalism to play the referee - a bonus point was perhaps deserved for effort if not skill even when ignoring unusually poor kicking from van Gisbergen, but I can't help but worry about the direction these 15 individuals are following - we are not the team we were either individually or collectively.

But hey ' what do I know, I'm only a fan.