A case of familiarity breeding contempt
Saturday 17th February 2018: Aviva Premiership Round 15; Leicester Tigers v Harlequins at Welford Road, kick-off 3.00pm; Result – Leicester Tigers 33 Harlequins 18; Leicester Tigers 5 points (win plus four-try bonus point), Harlequins 0 points; Standings after Round 15 – Leicester Tigers 7th on 37 points, Harlequins 9th on 32 points.
I strapped myself into my armchair yesterday at 2.30pm and set the television dial to a BT Sports HD channel for the 30 minute preview followed by Nick Mullins’ commentary on this game, aided by pundits Lawrence Dallaglio and Ugo Monye.
Summary: the BT Sports rugby unit’s coverage was good – these days I’d choose it over Sky Sports if given the option – the standard of the game less so. On the day the best team undoubtedly won but the 15 points margin of victory flattered them.
And thus ended yesterday Quins’ Premiership campaign for 2017/2018.
John Kingston effectively admitted this much in advance during his pre-match interview on BT Sport when stating that a loss would render a Top Four finish beyond us – all that would be left to aim for would be a Top Six position, qualifying us for the senior European Cup competition next season, which we only achieved last term at ‘squeaky bum’ time in the final game by gaining a losing bonus point away at Northampton Saints.
That alone speak volumes about how little progress the team had made since.
Yesterday as I switched channels after the game without bothering to stay to hear the analysis or post-match interviews – I couldn’t see the point – I drew comfort from the thought that even Quins could not get relegated from here.
Hopefully.
Welford Road is always a tough place to go on the road. Tigers had also been playing poorly of late so proceedings were bound to be a bit tense.
The first half was forgettable – a bit messy, both teams making ‘rushed’ errors and trying too hard – and ended 9-8 to the the hosts, albeit that Quins had opened the scoring with a nifty second-minute try by Alofa Alofa in the right hand corner.
The second unfolded with an oh-so-familiar pattern. Quins played brightly in patches, this alternating with porous defending, and then fell away in the last fifteen minutes during which the home side gradually turned the screw, upped the pace and ultimately scored three tries, the last of which secured their four-try-bonus-point in overtime.
There were a few positives for the visitors – the only worthy of mentioning here being the performance of Luke Wallace, at bind side flanker on this occasion, who put a storming shift after only retrurning recently from almost six months out with a ghastly dislocated hip at the start of the season.
Frankly, for all their earnest huffing and puffing, Quins continue to give a definitive impression of a sports team bereft of confidence simply going through the motions.
