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Finally – an oasis after an ocean of desert sand

Saturday 25th March 2017: Aviva Premiership Round 18 – Harlequins v Newcastle Falcons at the Stoop, kick-off 3.00pm: Result: Harlequins 53 Newcastle Falcons 17: Harlequins 5 league points (1 bonus for scoring 4 tries), now 6th in the table on 47 points, 1 behind Bath who play Saracens away today and 4 behind Leicester Tigers now in the fourth and last play-off place.

At last a Quins game – a win at a sold-out Stoop with seven tries (Buchanan, Brown, Marchant, Yarde, Luamanu, Care and Swiel) and 18 points from Nick Evans (2 penalties, 6 conversions) – with some positive aspects about it and which also leaves us clinging by our fingertips to hopes of nicking a place in the play-offs.

The victory certainly had something to do with my upbeat glow whilst trudging homewards afterwards, but so had the bright sunshine, the bracing strong winds and the return of practically our full complement of internationals from Six Nations duty.

The Falcons, wearing a lurid orange and grey strip with tights-thin socks, were uniformly large partly due to the fact that their 23 was packed with Pacific Islanders. Even their scrum half and wingers were built like props but were lightning fast with it. The omens from the off were not good – Newcastle scored under the posts (playing with the wind in the first half) after only two minutes!

Subsequently, of course – the score line tells its own story – Quins gradually shook off their ring-rust and down-and-out body language of recent matches to end by playing some delightful rugby. In our current league position that fact was almost incidental, of course – even a 3-0 win following a dour, boring struggle with endless scrum re-sets would have sufficed for most long-suffering home fans. As a contest the match was over well before half-time and, once we’d had the snowstorm of replacements midway through the second half, it was inevitable that some of the intensity drained from the home team’s performance.

I’ll end with my version of a school report on three of the pupils:

Mike Brown deservedly won Man of the Match by doing what he does very well indeed – at least two try-saving tackles, faultless under the high ball, huge touch-finding kicks, and a constant threat with ball in hand. He’ll never be a play-maker or slick passer of the ball but even when taking the ball into contact he invariably made extra yards and never failed to present the ball back. He looked very much the returning international among a sea of ordinary mortals.

Danny Care, club captain, put in another sub-standard club performance. Dropped balls, knock-ons, fluffed passes, avoided or missed tackles, indifferent box-kicking. On this form I cannot see him being picked for the Lions squad, let alone the first team.

Chris Robshaw, out for nearly five months with a shoulder injury that required serious surgery, was making his return and played a solid but not spectacular full 80 minutes. He needs game time and probably at least one if not two outstanding outings to catch Warren Gatland’s eye (there are only about three weeks to Lions Tour Party announcement time).

I’ve got to be honest. After all my dog-in-the-manger ‘end of the world is nigh’ posts this season, it was spiritually rewarding last night to get home and relax for once with a spring in my step.

 

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About Derek Williams

A recently-retired actuary, the long-suffering Derek has been a Quins fan for the best part of three decades. More Posts