Rugby

In family circumstances yesterday in which I watched the whole of England’s 24-17 victory at Twickenham against Argentina and then the first half of Ireland’s 27-24 win over Australia in Dublin on television, it is fast becoming a moot point as to which of these home nations will be favourite [...]

20th November 2016: Aviva Premiership Round 8: Leicester Tigers v Harlequins at Welford Road, kick-off 3.15pm: Result – Leicester Tigers 25 Harlequins 6. Overnight yesterday it had rained with something like a vengeance and in the morning, as I discovered when I nipped across the road to collect [...]

Wednesday 16th November: Harlequins v Maori All Blacks at the Stoop (part of the club’s 150th anniversary celebrations), kick-off 7.45pm: Result: Harlequins 10 Maori All Blacks 26. About three weeks ago, both because I was being repeatedly reminded of it by the club and felt something of an [...]

Saturday 5th November: Anglo-Welsh Cup Round 1: Harlequins v Exeter Chiefs at the Stoop, kick-off 5.30pm: result – Harlequins 29 – Exeter Chiefs 15. By way of introduction for the benefit of those who may have little or no interest in rugby union or – hard as this may be for the rest of us to [...]

Saturday 29th October 2016: Aviva Premiership Round 7: Harlequins v Worcester Warriors at the Stoop. Result: Harlequins 36 (5 league points including 1 bonus for scoring 4 tries) Worcester Warriors 14 (0 league points). When you think about it I should imagine that there are probably as many [...]

Saturday 22nd October; European Rugby Challenge Cup group stage – Edinburgh Rugby v Harlequins at Murrayfield, kick-off 3.00pm. Result: Edinburgh 36 Harlequins 35. As it happens, I am happy to report that, due to family circumstances, while this game was taking place ‘north of the Border’ and [...]

I have blogged about this before, but the first weekend of the 2016/2017 European Rugby cup competitions has reinforced my impression that Northern Hemisphere rugby union is rapidly going the way of top flight football with bells on – and not necessarily in a good way. Let me list some of the [...]

Thursday 13th October: European Challenge Cup group stage – Harlequins v Stade Francais as the Stoop, kick-off 7.45pm. Result: Harlequins 43 (five points) Stade Francais 21 (0 points). Last night’s trip to a less than 60% full Stoop (why do organisers of these competitions insist upon midweek [...]

Saturday 8th October 2016: Aviva Premiership Round 6: Harlequins v Northampton Saints at the Stoop. Result: Quins 20 (4 league points) Northampton Saints 9 (0 league points). Latest league position: Harlequins 8th, Northampton Saints 9th. The above brief details will just about provide the reader [...]