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#Post#: 20949--------------------------------------------------
Match Report: Worcester vs Harlequins
DIR By: Admin
Date: April 4, 2019, 3:03 pm
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Worcester vs Harlequins
Saturday 30 March, 2019
by Bedfordshire Boy
Eight fifteen on a Saturday night, what a silly time for a game
of rugby, just demonstrates once again the power of the
television companies, or rather the money they pay into the
sport. Anyway, just as with the Brexit process, we are where we
are so we just have to get on with it.
Not the strongest Quins team on paper with a couple of forced
changes with Alofa Alofa and Lewis Boyce replacing the injured
Joe Marchant and Joe Marler and Renaldo Bothma, George Merrick
and Cadan Murley starting in line with Paul Gustards policy of
player rotation. With Worcester somewhat surprisingly fielding
close to a full strength team as well as having home advantage,
Quins will do well to come out on top by the end of the day. A
couple of milestones with Ross Chisholm and Will Collier playing
their one hundredth and one hundred and fiftieth games
respectively. This was another game with the teams lining up to
join the supporters in a one minutes applause, this time in
memory of Rene Fontes a European rugby administrator who died
recently.
Marcus Smith got the game underway with the hundreds of Quins
supporters in good voice but an indication of things to come was
demonstrated inside the first couple of minutes when Worcester
drove the Quins backwards in the scrum. With only five minutes
gone George Merrick had to leave the field to be replaced by Ben
Glynn, a change probably sixty minutes earlier than planned.
Most of the play was inside the Quins twenty two and it was
worrying to see Will Collier requiring a lot of attention from
the medical team. Despite immense pressure from Worcester the
Quins defence held firm and with about 10 minutes played,
following a break from Ben Tapaui, a Marcus Smith kick finds
touch on the Worcester twenty two to relieve the pressure.
Worryingly Will Collier requires more attention. As play
continues, Worcester are penalised on half way allowing Marcus
Smith to find touch, Quins win the line out and set up a maul
with Danny Care eventually releasing the ball to the backs. Mike
Brown gets the ball in midfield, passes to Marcus Smith who
passes to Cadan Murley on the Worcester twenty two who shrugs
off four tackles to touch down in the corner. The conversion
attempt by Smith drifts wide but Quins are five points ahead
with seventeen minutes gone and a couple of minutes later sees
Will Collier eventually having to leave the field to be replaced
by Josh Ibuanopke.
[attachimg=1]
Quins Relieve The Pressure
Normal service was resumed straight away but it took nearly ten
minutes before Worcester managed to get some points onto the
scoreboard. Following a penalty against Bothma Quins find
themselves defending a five metre line out and although they
defend the resulting play, they are again penalised when they
collapse a Worcester maul. Worcester continue to play, Scrum
half Hougaard passes to Duncan Wier who chips the ball to the
left wing for Bryce Heem to collect ahead of Mike Brown and
touch the ball down just before the dead ball line. Wier misses
with conversion, Worcester 5 Quins 5 after 24 minutes. The match
continued in very much the same vein with Worcester pretty
dominant in attack but the next points came with one of the few
periods that Quins spent inside the Worcester half. After being
awarded a scrum Quins set up a series of attacks which end with
Worcester being penalised for a high tackle followed by not
rolling away about 30 metres from the Worcester line. A well
taken kick by Marcus Smith brings the scoreline to Worcester 5
Quins 8 four minutes from the break and Worcester miss the
chance to level the scores from a long distance penalty on 40
minutes as the kick from Wier is wide of the posts. No doubt
that Worcester had the better of both possession and territory
without this being reflected in the scoreline. Compare this to
the fortunes of Quins who had a very good return from their
visits to Worcester half.
Only a minute into the second half and Worcester replace lock
Fatialofa, centre Ryan Mills as well as their complete front row
with Max Crumpton coming on for Elia Elia. Quins take the game
to Worcester at the start of the half with Ross Chisholm making
a good break but the attack breaks down when Bothma spills the
ball and suddenly Quins find themselves defending their own line
but manage to get the ball safely into touch. More frantic
defence required by Quins before Worcester are rewarded when a
neat kick through the Quins defensive line by fullback Chris
Pennell saw winger Tom Howe win the race to the ball to touch
down for second try of the game for Worcester. Another missed
kick from Weir so Worcester have a two point advantage only
seven minutes into the half. There was no respite for Quins as
Worcester continued to apply the pressure but they were unable
to add to their points total until the game reached the three
quarter point. After having turned down a number of penalty
conversion attempts throughout the game, Worcester obviously
decided that they were in dire need of some points so a very
well taken kick from Wier saw them extend their lead to five
points. In this period Quins replaced three players with Bothma,
Boyce and Chisholm being replaced by Luamanu, Auterac and Saili.
Demetri Catrakilis joined the action to take the restart kick
which was spilled by Worcester giving an attacking scrum to
Quins. Mat Luamanu makes a great break before offloading to
Murley who makes progress to the Worcester twenty two and
instead of going to ground with the ball the youngster throws a
speculative pass behind him which is pounced upon by the
Worcester defence. In a matter of seconds Quins once again find
themselves defending deep inside their own half but manage to
get the ball safely to touch just outside the twenty two. As
time marches on things are looking a bit bleak for Quins but
they get a chance when Ben Taupai scoops up a loose pass from a
Worcester attack to take the ball deep into the Worcester half.
Mike Brown gets the ball away from the tackle, passes to James
Horwill and as he is tackled Danny Care gets the ball who
progresses as far as the Worcester five metre line. The ball is
quickly recycled and when Danny Care gets the ball we are again
treated to one of his trademark chips over the Worcester defence
which Tapaui gathers and takes over the line for a try. A good
conversion from Catrakilis and Quins have edged in front on the
scoreboard with just over ten minutes to play.
I must admit that it took me a minute or two to take on board
that Quins were ahead as the balance of play had been so one
sided. The experience of Catrakilis is clear to see in this
crucial part of the game as he plays the ball deep into the
Worcester half whenever he gets the chance but a high tackle by
Ibuanopke gives Worcester the chance to add to their points
tally. With six minutes to go a successful conversion by Weir
from 40 metres out and Worcester are back in front but they are
immediately penalised from the restart giving Quins an
unexpected chance to redress the balance. With the kick by
Catrakilis bringing the score to Worcester 16 Quins 18 we are
all set for a very nervous last five minutes of the game but
luckily Quins successfully get through the period to record a
very hard fought win.
I imagine that Worcester are still wondering how they lost that
game but it is points that win games, not possession and
territory. They had a number of opportunities to take points and
either turned down the opportunity to take three points or did
not take care of the ball well enough at critical times. Add to
that the dogged Quins defence and they simply failed to score
enough points. Compare that to Quins who spent most of the game
inside their own half but were very clinical whenever they had
the chance and seemed happy to rely upon a good defensive
performance. This was a real team performance from Quins but
Chris Robsshaw and Danny Care both had outstanding games and it
was good to see something of what Demetri Catrakilis has to
offer. A very disappointing turnout by the home supporters and
the five to six hundred travelling Quins fans made up a fair
proportion of the 6000+ crowd.
[attachimg=2]
The Squad Thank The Travelling Supporters
[attachment deleted by admin]
#Post#: 20950--------------------------------------------------
Re: Match Report: Worcester vs Harlequins
DIR By: Admin
Date: April 4, 2019, 3:05 pm
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A great report made all the better for being completely
unexpected.
Many thanks for a great read.
#Post#: 20958--------------------------------------------------
Re: Match Report: Worcester vs Harlequins
DIR By: InsertQuinsPunHere
Date: April 4, 2019, 6:30 pm
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Cheers for the write up :-)
#Post#: 20961--------------------------------------------------
Re: Match Report: Worcester vs Harlequins
DIR By: Comet
Date: April 5, 2019, 12:40 am
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Thank you. Really well done.
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