DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
ComeAllWithin (Harlequins Rugby)
HTML https://comeallwithin.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: ComeAllWithin Board
*****************************************************
#Post#: 69939--------------------------------------------------
Telepgraph Reports and Analysis
DIR By: T-Bone
Date: June 21, 2021, 9:00 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Hi, cheeky request, but could someone with a subscription copy
Brian Moore's article and also another one about how Marler was
the key to our win
#Post#: 69947--------------------------------------------------
Re: Telepgraph Reports and Analysis
DIR By: Jay
Date: June 21, 2021, 9:23 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Here's the Brian Moore article.
If Harlequins v Bristol was not the best top-flight game I have
seen, it is in the top one
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the play-off system,
Saturday's games – especially Quins's comeback – produced some
unforgettable rugby
BRIAN MOORE
21 June 2021 • 7:09am
Brian Moore
Harlequins players celebrate their win over Bristol Bears - If
Harlequins v Bristol was not the best top-flight game I have
seen, it is in the top one
Harlequins's extraordinary comeback against Bristol Bears was an
unforgettable game of rugby union CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Wins for fourth placed Harlequins and second placed Exeter
reignited the old debate about whether the Premiership’s
play-off system is fair or whether it devalues the competition.
Whatever your view, the following points do not change.
Firstly, all teams know what it is and that it is not enough to
finish top of the table at the end of the regular season. If you
do not plan for that and fail, you cannot complain.
Secondly, the way that season is structured means that some
teams lose more players to international duty than others. The
play-off system might not be a perfect solution, but it does
give those teams who lose more players a way to stay in touch
with rivals.
Thirdly, the play-offs make money and maintain tension for an
extra two weekends at the close of the season.
Bristol fans can feel aggrieved that their team led the way in
the Premiership for three-quarters of the season and did not
make it to the Premiership final. For me, they have been the
best team overall and I would like to see the Premiership adopt
rugby league’s idea of giving a trophy for the team who head the
league at the end of the regular season, independently of who
goes on to win the play-offs.
Of course, your view on the play-offs will also be influenced by
whether your team benefit or are disadvantaged by them and Quins
and Chiefs fans will not be complaining. For neutrals, when you
have two belting semi-finals like the ones we had at the
weekend, the system can be justified on this point alone.
Sale’s chances of making the final were hampered by the fact
that they did not beat Exeter when they were vulnerable in the
final round of the regular season. Once the Chiefs had home
advantage and had been given a wake-up call, they were always
going to be difficult to beat. Missing key playmakers like
A J MacGinty, Sale just could not control the game and a
fast start by Exeter left them with too much to do.
Of the semi-final between the Bears and Harlequins, to
paraphrase Brian Clough – if it was not the best Premiership
game I have ever seen, it was certainly in the top one.
Momentum is an oft-debated issue. Some claim it does not exist
but my experience is that it is very real and taking advantage
of it when you have it is vital. Conversely, recognising that it
has turned against you, understanding why and being able to
reverse it is the hallmark of great teams. This is why Bristol,
for all their season-round excellence, still have to learn this
most important of lessons. As the journeys of Saracens and
Exeter prove, this usually means failing before you succeed.
If you had made this point at the end of a first half, when
Bristol had racked up four tries, you would have been accused of
counselling perfection, but however dominant the Bears had been,
the fact is that they left points unscored. Not just missed
try-scoring opportunities but three missed conversions. When the
denouement came, those points were the difference between
winning and losing in both regular and extra time.
For Quins you cannot give enough praise for their spirit to stay
in a fight in where they were almost on the canvass. The Alex
Dombrandt try before half-time gave them a toehold, and
out-scoring Bristol by seven tries to one in the second half and
in extra time is something they and everyone watching will never
forget.
Louis Lynagh, Joe Marchant and Tyrone Green ran Bristol ragged
in the second half and in extra time Bristol looked the more
tired. Seeing such a lead dwindle away added to their
discomfort, whereas Quins rode the momentum.
You can debate referee Wayne Barnes’s decision not to call a
high tackle in the dying seconds but Bristol looked battered and
were down to 13 men. Whether they could have gone down the pitch
and scored was open to debate and it was not the reason they
lost.
Of many Quins’ heroes do not forget one of their oldest and
colourful, Joe Marler. A momentum-making drive in a second-half
scrum against a fresh John Afoa was the moment from Quins fans
began to really believe their team could win. He was still
making scything tackles at the end of normal time and played 105
minutes – what a warrior.
#Post#: 69950--------------------------------------------------
Re: Telepgraph Reports and Analysis
DIR By: T-Bone
Date: June 21, 2021, 9:29 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Thank you
#Post#: 69952--------------------------------------------------
Re: Telepgraph Reports and Analysis
DIR By: poorfour
Date: June 21, 2021, 9:34 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Written like a true member of the front row union.
#Post#: 69954--------------------------------------------------
Re: Telepgraph Reports and Analysis
DIR By: Quinten Poulsen
Date: June 21, 2021, 9:41 am
---------------------------------------------------------
In the thick of Harlequins' mesmerising comeback over Bristol,
with both sides absorbed in the tightrope finale, no one had
time nor the presence of mind for anything as rational as
thought. But, among the chaos and confusion, if a moment of
clarity had presented itself, then reflection should have
immediately turned to the front-rowers. Poor devils.
The conditions for the heavies were far from auspicious: 100
minutes played, first-phase tries, end-to-end attacking and
back-three players dominating the post-match player ratings and
statistics, in ordinary circumstances this match would have
reduced front-rowers to the passenger seat, doubled over and
gasping on the oxygen at every break in play.
But, as we all know, this was no ordinary match, with no
ordinary circumstances. Within the blockbuster thriller, within
the overturning of a 28-0 deficit, Harlequins' props, usually
resigned to a supporting role in such events, became as
prominent in the plot's denouement as any hot-stepping
three-quarter or pass-flinging half-back.
And leading the front-row pre-eminence, as ever, was loosehead
Joe Marler. It was an extraordinary Saturday for Marler - but
not just on the field. Harlequins gave their star prop the star
treatment, flying Marler to the semi-final via helicopter on
Saturday morning because his wife, Daisy, had given birth to
their fourth child on Thursday; Quins wanted him to spend as
much time as possible with both mother and child before the
biggest game of their season. How that paid off.
Marler was phenomenal for Harlequins against Bristol, seeing off
the considerable challenge of England (and former club)
team-mate, Kyle Sinckler, before ensuring John Afoa had an
uncomfortable afternoon off the bench. The size of Harlequins'
comeback broke a Premiership record, but their loosehead broke
one, too. The 94 minutes (as well as uncounted injury time) that
Marler spent toiling on the Ashton Gate turf is the longest a
prop has stayed on the field in one Premiership match since
Opta's records began in 2008. With displays such as this, it
remains a mystery as to how Marler could have been overlooked
for this summer's Lions tour. It simply cannot be related to his
on-field form.
The loosehead was a diamond in Harlequins' immensely rough
first-half performance, but it was after the break where Marler
came into his element, emerging from half-time with a glint in
his eye and a smirk on his face.
He had the bit between his teeth. The two turnovers he won
during his 94-minute shift were more than any other Harlequin;
and no Bristol player made more, either. The below shows the
energy and momentum he brought. Tracking back for a kick might
be meat-and-drink to any flanker or back, but to see a gnarly
loosehead prop playing with such intelligence and dynamism would
only have boosted morale.
Marler's work-rate never dropped. Bristol fly-half Callum Sheedy
hoodwinked the Quins defence into thinking he would drop a goal
for victory, late in normal time, but wily Marler was on to him.
And how's this for work-rate. With the 80 minutes almost up,
Harlequins find themselves on the counter-attack, with momentum,
searching for a late, miraculous winning try. Joe Marchant and
Tyrone Green probe down the left, eating up the yards, and who
is the second player (and only second by a whisker!) there in
support. Marler, of course.
Marler's poise continued into added time, too. The mental
sharpness and athleticism he showed here to get down onto the
deck in extra-time, after 80 minutes in one of the sport's most
heavy-duty positions, was staggering. What does it say to you as
a Harlequins team-mate when your 30-year-old loosehead, who has
played the entire match, is beating the Bristol flankers - and
your own - to a loose ball on the floor? Some fillip.
Work-rate as a prop is all well and good, but if the
bread-and-butter - the scrum - is fallible then the rest is
pointless. Thankfully, Marler excels in this regard, too, with
his chef-d'oeuvre coming in injury time of the first half of
extra time.
Quins showed tremendous courage, turning down the easy three
points and back themselves to claim a match-defining try. That
try, scored eventually by Green, came off the back of two
consecutive scrum penalties for Harlequins. The visitors took
the first period of extra time into a sixth extra minute as they
bludgeoned their way to the line.
It was not just Marler who led Harlequins magnificently from the
front, however. Tighthead Wilco Louw had a barnstorming match,
and replacement tighthead Will Collier, as much a stalwart of
this Harlequins contingent as Marler, played his part, too.
Bristol possess arguably the finest two tighthead props in the
Premiership, yet Harlequins' scrum, marshalled by former Wales
and Lions prop Adam Jones, was too much for them on several
occasions.
This was Collier's first scrum of the game, at a crucial moment
when fly-half Marcus Smith had just put his restart out on the
full. What a welcome - and what a time to put your side back on
the front foot.
And in Louw, Marler had a suitable partner-in-crime on the
tighthead. Louw's defensive mobility in tackling Bristol wing
Luke Morahan (below) and then centre Semi Radradra (below that)
- after both Louis Lynagh and Danny Care had failed - was
remarkable.
Related Topics
Harlequins Rugby, Gallagher Premiership, Bristol Rugby
The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts
are on topic, constructive and respectful. Please review our
commenting policy.
More stories
Related Topics
Harlequins Rugby, Gallagher Premiership, Bristol Rugby
#Post#: 69955--------------------------------------------------
Re: Telepgraph Reports and Analysis
DIR By: WellingQuin
Date: June 21, 2021, 9:45 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Quinten Poulsen link ---
>
> The size of Harlequins' comeback broke a Premiership record,
but their loosehead broke one, too. The 94 minutes (as well as
uncounted injury time) that Marler spent toiling on the Ashton
Gate turf is the longest a prop has stayed on the field in one
Premiership match since Opta's records began in 2008.
>
--- End Quote ---
That is just incredible. What an amazing player, absolutely love
watching him play.
#Post#: 70024--------------------------------------------------
Re: Telepgraph Reports and Analysis
DIR By: poorfour
Date: June 21, 2021, 12:39 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
"Your side was good"
"I thought it was world class"
It was, Joe. It was.
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 1