A evening of stirring farewells in south-west London
Aviva Premiership Round 21: Harlequins v Wasps at the Stoop: Result – Harlequins 32 Wasps 13: Harlequins 4 points, Wasps 0: League positions – Wasps 1st (79 points, 5 ahead of second placed Exeter Chiefs who have played one less match, Harlequins 6th (51 points, 3 ahead of seventh-placed Northampton Saints who have played one less match).
This game was the occasion of one of the great nights of recent years down at the Stoop, being the last home game appearance of Quins’ 36 year old All Black fly half Nick Evans after nine seasons at the club, ditto of 33 year old scrum half Karl Dickson (older brother of Lee, of Northampton Saints and England) who was twice called into the England squad but never quite made an international appearance and also of your 65 year old author after 24 years as a non-playing Quins member and 17 a season ticket holder.
Rumour has it that Evans will retain his connection with the club by moving onto the coaching staff. Meanwhile Dickson will stay involved with the game by continuing his rise through the refereeing ranks – he has already officiated at a Championship game – and your reporter by watching rugby solely on television in future and continuing to remain a notional Quins supporter through thick and thin without ever having to endure the frustrations of actually attending another game.
Well, apart (that is) from Quins’ last match of the regular season, the absolutely crucial away clash with the Saints next weekend, which may well decide which of them finishes sixth in the League table and thereby automatically qualifies for European Champions Cup rugby next season. I shall be making my annual pilgrimage to Franklin’s Gardens with my former in-laws to see that one!
To be perfectly fair to the Harlequins playing staff and coaches the on-pitch performances in recent weeks (ignoring the indifferent results for this purpose) have been greatly improved from the unremitting dross of the bulk – i.e. the first 80% – of 2016/2017.
Despite our star-studded notional ‘best’ A grade first XV – when all available as, of course, they never are during the autumn and New Year international windows but also too often through injury this term as well – Quins’ squad has lacked the basic maturity and gravitas in depth required to be a ‘top four’ (knock out stage) challenger for the Premiership title these past three season anyway. In addition – despite all the huffing and puffing – from 9 to 15 among the backs available for selection in any given week, we have been sorely lacking in penetrative power and verve.
All season we fans have waited in vain, match after match, for signs of daring initiative and the type of inventive running and bewildering off-loading and inter-passing that both made us one of the livelier and more entertaining teams in the Premiership and also enabled us to shred even the strongest of defensive systems and become irresistible both on the scoreboard and in the minds of even the most uncommitted (and even sometimes opposition) onlookers.
It just hasn’t been there. Not only that, at times the players’ body-language and attitude has been hang-dog and disinterested – as if, although working as hard as ever on the training paddock, they have jogged out onto the pitch time and again in the mood to do nothing more than ‘go through the motions’ rather than give any team on the day a real spanking.
However – thankfully, and not before time – both players and home supporters at the sold-out Stoop ‘came good’ for once last night.
Fittingly, it being the last-ever home appearance as a player of our iconic stand-off Mr Evans, Quins defied both league positions and form to give our hero a royal send-off.
He responded (like the great player he is) by giving us one last virtuoso performance, full of deft touches, great vision, neat kick-throughs, tremendous ball-gathering, elusive wriggling out of tackles and on one occasion an electrifying break straight up the middle that brought a roar of appreciation from the stands and which – in times of yore – would have allowed him to scoot way from his pursuers for a solo try under the posts but in April 2017 saw him brought to ground thirty yards short with not enough back row forwards having both the awareness and speed in support to secure the ball and flick it on to a new phase of play.
In all, on the night, ‘Snapper’ notched himself another 22 points in total from the kicking tee and a deserved Man of the Match award from Austin Healey, the chosen BT Sport adjudicator.
Once I’d returned home after the game, I could not help myself flashing through the ‘as live’ television recording of BT Sport’s coverage to review again some of the highlights of the proceedings.
I’ll therefore begin bringing things to a conclusion by adding a postscript to the ongoing Rust debate on ‘live’ spectating versus watching sport on the box – and it is something that, even as I retire from live attending of rugby matches, I shall have to come to terms with gradually over the next ten to fifteen years (if I live that long).
Taking the enormity of the Nick Evans’ contribution against the backdrop of his impending retirement out of the picture at this point, the most exciting performance last night came from Quins’ highly-rated 20 year old centre Joe Marchant (a two-season England Under-20 player), who has just picked for the England squad for summer tour of Argentina at the end of his break-through first XV season.
He oozed class and made umpteen incisive contributions, creating space for those around him, off-loading telling passes and making several breaks. He made his direct opposite number, Wasps’ Elliot Daly – who has had his own breakthrough season with the full England team this term – look very much second best throughout and then capped his tremendous evening by scoring a solo try under the posts to put the outcome well beyond doubt – it had only been just about thus beforehand!
My point is this. It doesn’t matter how good the high-definition video camera coverage might be, or indeed the quality of the commentary, the insights provided by the on-site pundits, or even the director’s expertise – and indeed how many times a recording allows you to replay an astonishing incident or piece of skill, the better to appreciate it.
None of the above can match the sheer excitement and wonderment provoked by watching the play of someone like Joe Marchant, when he performs as he did in this match, in the flesh.
