Articles by Derek Williams

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

Quins-watch (13) …

[The Stoop, Sunday 9th February: Harlequins 11 London Wasps 10] … and I wished I hadn’t bothered! Yesterday I had committed to attending a lunch in honour of a Canadian cousin’s offspring and his fiancée who had flown in from Moscow at short notice, this whilst erroneously believing that [...]

February 10, 2014 // 0 Comments

A pricked balloon

My highly-anticipated schedule yesterday involved attending the 3.00pm Harlequins’ LV= Cup match against Leicester Tigers at the Stoop and then dashing home to watch the Six Nations second team clash between England Saxons and Irish Wolfhounds, kick-off 5.00pm on Sky Sports 2. In the end it [...]

January 26, 2014 // 0 Comments

Rugby – international and club news

Earlier this month, as a staging post on the way to the first round of Six Nations matches over the weekend of 1st and 2nd February, England head coach Stuart Lancaster named a long-form squad of 35 players. It was bigger than normal because of the need to have cover firstly, for [...]

January 18, 2014 // 0 Comments

Quins-watch (12) – … and it’s ‘Goodnight Vienna’ from us

The Heineken Cup receives its fair share of criticism – one of the reasons that its future remains in doubt even as this season’s group stages approach their finale – but, whenever it comes to town, it provides great entertainment and brings with it a special excitement and glamour. Yesterday [...]

January 12, 2014 // 0 Comments

Quins-watch (11) – that’s it for this season, folks!

Sometimes the lot of a true club supporter includes an instinctive urge to attend away games, where a key plus is the necessarily heightened sense of fan camaraderie and bonding to be gained amidst the trials and tribulations of being ‘on the road’. Last Friday, in rugby terms, I had the [...]

January 5, 2014 // 0 Comments

Quins-watch (9) – one step forward, two steps back

In prospect, Saturday’s away match against Bath – against a backdrop in which these two and Leicester Tigers are currently contesting what, next spring, will become the fourth and last play-off spot – was a mouth-watering clash. Both teams like to play rugby and Bath had strung together a [...]

December 23, 2013 // 0 Comments

Quins-watch (8) – a 17-3 victory over Racing Metro

Yesterday to the Stoop, to see Harlequins record the second of back-to-back Heineken Cup victories over Racing Metro, this time by the margin of 17-3. Racing continue to play up to the Anglo-Saxon stereotypical view of French rugby. Having moved last week’s ‘home’ game 241 miles from Paris to [...]

December 16, 2013 // 0 Comments

An incident on the way to a rugby match

On my way down to the Stoop this afternoon for this afternoon’s Heineken Cup clash between Harlequins and Racing Metro, I happened to be listening to a studio discussion on Radio Five Live. The subject was that of CCTV cameras being installed in taxi cabs. Apparently, one council that had taken [...]

December 15, 2013 // 0 Comments

Quins-watch (7) – Racing Metro 8 Harlequins 32 … Heineken Cup group stage

[Before I begin, a couple of brickbats in the direction of the sub-editors on the websites of The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. The above photograph appears above the Telegraph’s report on the match, with the Quins player identified as ‘Nick Evans’ – our fly half – [...]

December 8, 2013 // 0 Comments

Quins-watch (6)

It’s now nearly the end of November and the Harlequins’ season progresses as before, uneasily and without much of the trademark dazzling, off-loading, game upon which their reputation has been built. There is no sign of any form to speak of. They play in patches – good then average, [...]

November 27, 2013 // 0 Comments

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ITV COVERAGE OF CHELTENHAM

March 14, 2026 // 0 Comments

I am in the camp of watching on tv rather than attending for the 3 Cs: cost , convenience and comfort. With the cost of travelling and attending Cheltenham and last [...]
Max Schmelling/ The Good German

March 4, 2026 // 0 Comments

In the unlikely event that I would be asked to nominate a Great Life on Matthew Parris ‘ show my choice would be the Black Uhlan Max Schmelling. In the 1930s thee [...]
The Tanner Report : Fulham 2 spurs 1

March 3, 2026 // 0 Comments

Prior to Fulham ‘s comfortable win over Spurs (2-1) I watched the big match Revisited featuring Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2 i guess in the early 70s It would be foolish to [...]
The Six Nations

February 24, 2026 // 0 Comments

The Six Nations continues to throw up surprises. England could not bounce back against Ireland , a resurgent Wales gave Scotland à close game with the Millennium Stadium [...]
Brentford 0 Brighton 2

February 23, 2026 // 0 Comments

The heat is off Fabian Hürzeler with Brighton ‘s 1st win in 13 games. Club owner Tony Bloom was not at the G Tech stadium due to a long planned family engagement but had [...]