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Phew! Another close call …

Aviva Premiership Round 9: Sunday 27th November 2106: Harlequins v Bath Rugby at the Stoop, kick-off 3.15pm: Result – Harlequins 21 Bath Rugby 20: League points – Harlequins 3 Bath Rugby 1: (New league positions – Bath Rugby third in the table on 31 points, Harlequins 6th on 21 points, five behind Leicester Tigers, currently occupying the fourth and last of the ‘end of season’ play-off places).

Although this match will go down in the record books as a further extension of the Harlequins’ unbeaten home run in the Premiership this term – for all the entertainment and nail-biting last-minute excitement accompanying the long-range winning penalty by substitute fly-half Tim Swiel – it was yet another jittery, error-ridden, unsatisfactory outing by the home team.

Last night, watching my ‘as live’ recording of BT’s coverage after returning home, the stats told their own story – Quins had 67% of the possession and made 9 visits to the opposition’s 22 metre-area (compared to 3 by Bath) and yet, with the clock showing less than five minutes to no-side, were still behind 18-20. That alone tells an all-too-familiar recent story of lack of precision and ‘white line fever’ errors when in the red zone, a fundamental weakness that rarely troubled us in the days of yore leading to the 2012 Premiership triumph.

Different club’s crowd atmospheres tell their own. The Stoop is never a raucous one-eyed bear pit of a ground like those of West Country stalwarts Gloucester and Exeter Chiefs. It always begins relatively quiet but expectant, waiting for the home side to earn its howls of encouragement and momentum. The team knows this. Yesterday they came out of the blocks faster that the visitors, who were perhaps mindful of the fact they last tasted away victory against Quins some eight matches ago. Quins dominated the first half but ended it only 11-10 to the good, having lost vet fly-half Kiwi Nick Evans to injury after about ten minutes – this in his 200th game for the club, to be replaced by the young South African Swiel who continues to impress. The crowd had failed to ignite, no doubt fearing that this could be another of those irritating games in which Quins sparkle but still finish on the thin end of the wedge.

The second half duly saw the development of a dog-fight which could easily have gone either way. At times it seemed that Quins would turn the screw and sweep to a stirring victory but finishing their breaks and capitalising upon the pressure they were bringing to bear was proving elusive. Meanwhile Bath – sensing that Quins, without their England internationals and lacking in confidence after their recent results on the road (league positions don’t lie), might be there to be taken – dug in and upped their efforts.

In the end Swiel settled it with his pot shot from near the halfway line. The crowd never quite erupted – their reaction at the death was more relief than joy.

I don’t want to dwell long on the ‘club versus country’ debate, but every season without fail English rugby’s Premiership is badly affected by the international calls in November and during the Six Nations window.

Last year, for example, the Harlequins were handily placed in the league at Christmas time and then, from the moment the Six Nations camps began, lost (I think it was) six games on the bounce and sank down the table to a point where, even if they’d won every game after the Six Nations was over, they still couldn’t qualify for a ‘top four’ place. As it was, they then coughed up a couple of poor results anyway, and failed even to finish in sixth – which they had needed to do in order to gain the last English place in this season’s top European Cup competition.

Yesterday both squads were notably diminished by their international absentees and it showed.

In their private ‘battle of the England wing threequarters’ Bath’s Semesa Rokoduguni and Quins’ Marland Yarde ended about honours even. Roko made one absolutely sensational break and did fine defensively (the alleged weakness that caused Eddie Jones to drop him from England’s game against Argentina) whilst Yarde continually put himself about with gusto – sometimes to no effect – but his twice-applied silky skills were instrumental in Quins’ late try by Karl Dickson.

cliffordElsewhere promising Quins’ back rower Jack Clifford made his first appearance back after ten weeks out follow  an ankle operation (this apparently three weeks ahead of schedule) and did okay. For me, this was a slightly weird one. BT pundit for the night Lawrence Dallaglio made Clifford his ‘Aviva Premiership man of the match’ – and I heard on the radio overnight that Eddie Jones has immediately recalled him to the England squad – but though he did put himself about, in my view Clifford remains three or four matches away from any sort of international fitness or form.

I guess that this demonstrates the fact that some players are luckier than others because – through early-spotted talent, favouritism or whatever – they get special treatment. Others can play brilliantly season after season, even get nominated for ‘player of the year’ awards, and never get a sniff of an international call. This statement is intended to take nothing away from Jack Clifford, but right now it does seem that he is one of the ‘chosen’ ones of rugby life.

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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