Mehrtens Kicks Plymouth Down

By AlanQuin
December 12 2005

Six penalties from the boot of Andrew Mehrtens and a try from Nick Easter saw off Plymouth Albion and extended Harlequins unbeaten run to twelve wins in the League with a victory by 16 points to 23.

The Brickfields ground is an unlovely place to watch rugby.  At the moment it is a building site with an unfinished stand on one side and virtually no paved areas to walk or stand on.  The visitors’ dressing room was a portacabin hardly designed to contain twenty-two large rugby players and their attendants.  There is a small seated stand holding about 700, all of which had been sold to their own supporters long ago. The remaining 5000 spectators stand around the pitch in the concrete dust and the mud.  The local support was strong and passionate.  There was also a goodly number of the growing band of Quins travelling support. 

What the crowd of 5551 saw was a determined physical encounter with Quins grinding out a victory, twice coming from behind to win, despite trailing 16 – 11 at half-time, with four unanswered penalties slotted by Mehrtens in the second half.

Quins started the match at pace exerting great pressure and with good penetrating run from George Harder and Jordan Turner-Hall, the latter a late inclusion in place of an unwell Tajiv Masson.  They had carried deep into the Plymouth twenty-two when, following an intervention from the touch judge, Quins were awarded a penalty for an offside offence which brought Rouse, the Plymouth lock, a stern warning from the referee.  Mehrtens kick made the score 0 – 3.

From the restart the Quins forwards commenced a rolling maul which Albion stopped at the cost of a penalty and shortly after repeated the offence.  From this penalty a well weighted kick to the left corner intended for Keogh to run onto just beat the winger to the touchline, but the referee had been playing advantage and Quins had another penalty for offside on the twenty-two metre line.  Another successful kick put Quins six points in front after ten minutes.

Then after some rather inconclusive midfield play Quins turned over possession and a concerted Albion attack led by Saumi with a superb chip over the defence collected the ball and passed to Sestaret inside him and took the return pass to score a fine try in the left had corner.  Saumi missed the conversion. 5 -6. This success clearly encouraged the home side and a fine dummy sold by the fly-half, Barnes, took the attack into the Quins’ twenty-two and gained a penalty which Saumi kicked to take the lead for the first time 8 – 6 after twenty-three minutes.  Shortly after, injury saw Tom Williams replaced by Mike Brown.

Plymouth had another successful penalty when Keogh was isolated in the tackle as he sought to run the ball out of the Quins’ twenty-two and Suami kicked the easy score to increase the home lead to 11- 6 with the first half-hour gone.  Quins were clearly determined to come back and good attacking runs by Turner-Hall and then by Fuga saw Nick Easter eventually cross for the try.  Mehrtens’ conversion attempt curled across the front of the posts but the scores were equal at 11 points all.

Determination was not all on Quins’ side, as Albion continued to attack and another chip and chase saw Keogh just reach the ball first but his sliding gather took him over his own try line.  Despite the resulting scrum apparently being wheeled more than ninety degrees, Plymouth were able to set a maul and successfully push over the Quins’ line with Alfie Toola touching down.  Saumi again missed the conversion but Albion led 16 – 11.

Quins came back on the attack with slick passing almost reaching the Plymouth line,  Harder and Keogh both threatening to score until an attempted flick back pass was knocked on.  Further attacks foundered on similar errors as half-time arrived.  Quins ought to have had two more tries and only desperate defence had held them out inches from the line.  The forwards were certainly not outplayed and the set piece, apart from the pushover try, had been solid.

Quins started the second half with clear determination and only a few minutes elapsed before they gained a penalty just inside the Plymouth half.  This time Quins chose to take the points and Andrew Mehrtens slotted the ball through from 45 metres to close the gap.  Both Duffy and Mehrtens were forced to deal bravely and skilfully with high balls and only a fine interception by Duffy prevented another Albion try as they attacked down the left wing.  Another chip and chase by Fisilau had the crowd baying for a sending off as the follow up was blocked by a covering defender, but play was waved on.  Ultimately a penalty against Albion for offside relieved the pressure.

Further Quins’ attacks, started with a good series of pick and drives, broke down with the ball knocked forward just short of the try-line. The as the third quarter neared its end, a penalty from an offence at a scrum gave Mehrtens an easy kick for Quins to regain the lead at 16 – 17, But Quins had stepped up a gear or two and continued to exert pressure on the home team by forwards picking up and driving through numerous phases,  A stupid lack of discipline gifted Quins another penalty after 21 minutes  and again Mehrtens made the home side pay as he increased the lead to 16 – 20.  Quins made their next substitution as Robshaw replaced Sherriff.

Play was now deep in the Plymouth half of the field and again great pressure was abated by simple errors with a penalty to Albion relieving the pressure.  A further attack broke down when the ball was lost forward in contact, but Quins forwards disrupted and turned the resulting scrum and from the next scrum Mehrtens kicked accurately into the corner to set up an attacking line-out.  Quins now substituted Lorne Ward for Nebbett and James Hayter for Fuga. For Plymouth Graham Dawe arrived.

Another scrum deep in Plymouth territory, saw Steve So’oialo make a characteristic dart for the line, but his pass to Harder, who must have scored, was adjudged forward.  The home side were defending very well and soaking up the considerable pressure which was keeping them in their own twenty-two.  But almost inevitably with about ten minutes left Quins were awarded another penalty for offside and Mehrtens again made no mistake.  Vass replaced So’oialo.

Plymouth needed two scores to win and bent all their energy towards the converted try that would salvage a draw.  An off the ball incident between Dawe and Easter resulted in a yellow card for the latter as injury time arrived.  From the resulting penalty Plymouth had a good attacking platform for the first time in the half with a line out only 10 metres from the Quins’ line.  Despite being a forward short the defence of the catch and drive and disruption and resistance to the Plymouth pack was superb and a penalty to Quins relieved the pressure as Mehrtens kicked to the half way line.   A yellow card shown to a Plymouth forward for an illegal tackle was almost the last act as the final whistle followed the simple kick to touch.

There was palpable relief and pleasure mixed in the Quins’ camp afterwards. Dean Richards said he was very pleased at the win. “It was not pretty” he said. “Plymouth played with a lot of passion and energy and are difficult to defend against.  It was right up there with the win against Bedford. I am delighted.”  Asked about the incident which saw Easter sin-binned he said, “When Dawsey comes on you expect that.  It was much ado about nothing.”

Andre Vos, too, expressed his satisfaction.  “Quins fought very hard” he said, “the guys dug very deep and it was a good win”.  Andrew Mehrtens thought it had been a ragged game and that Quins had squandered opportunities but that a win here was something achieved.

The pack was excellent and in the centre Jordan Turner-Hall had a particularly fine game.  As Dean Richards also said: “Sometimes you have to win ugly!”.  So Christmas will arrive with Quins unbeaten since the lost pre-season friendly at Saracens when a single point divided the teams.  Fourteen straight wins in succession ia a club record and a win against London Welsh at The Stoop on Boxing Day will mean that Quins have beaten every other team in the league this season.

TEAMS:

Plymouth Albion
15.Luke Arscott; 14.Nacaniela Saumi, 13.Regardt Van Eyk, 12.Keni Fisilau, 11. Nicolas Sestaret; 10. Edward Barnes, 9.Nigel Cane; 1. Maran Rice, 2.Stewart Pearl, 3.Ryan Hopkins, 4.Nicholas Rouse, 5.Tom Hayes,  6, Martin Schusterman, 7.Danny Thomas (C) 8.Alfie Toola
Replacements: Sam Leung-Wai, Jon Fabian, Matias Albina, Scott Zimmerman, Graham Dawe, Brett Luxton, Chris Lowrie
Scorers: Tries: Saumi, Tooala. Penalties: Saumi 2

 

NEC Harlequins
15. Tom Williams, (Mike Brown 26) 14. George Harder, 13. Gavin Duffy,
12. Jordan Turner Hall, 11. Simon Keogh, 10. Andrew Mehrtens, 9. Steve So’oialo (Ian Vass 75) 1. Ceri Jones, 2. Tani Fuga (James Hayter 69) 3. Ricky Nebbett  (Lorne Ward 69) 4. Jim Evans, 5. Simon Miall’ 6. Andre Vos (C), 7. Luke Sherriff ( Chris Robshaw 64) 8. Nick Easter
Replacements:  16. James Hayter, 17. Lorne Ward, 18. Pablo Bouza, 19. Chris Robshaw, 20. Adrian Jarvis, 21. Ian Vass, 22. Mike Brown
Scorers: Try: Easter. Penalties:  Mehrtens 6

Referee: L. Apgeraint Roberts

Attendance: 5,551