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#Post#: 7098--------------------------------------------------
Bristol vs Harlequins Match Report
DIR By: Admin
Date: September 24, 2018, 3:50 pm
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by Quintessentially Quins
As I sat in my office on Friday waiting for the team to be
announced, I started to think about our season so far. A solid
performance against a (currently) struggling Sale side that is
lacking many of their big-name players, a solid defensive
performance against another (currently) struggling Northampton
side that managed to shut us out at the death to continue our
poor away form & finally a solid start and strong finish
flattered a terrible 60 minutes of rugby that was very
reminiscent of last year! All being said this has not been the
ideal start to the season for Quins but if we had won 2 of our
games and had no bonus points and been on 8 points I think we
would all be happy, the issue is winning breeds confidence which
we clearly lack. The question is what will we get down in
Bristol?
Bristol have looked good value so far in the premiership,
defeating Bath on the opening day of the season and although not
quite the same level of shock as when Exeter did the same to
Gloucester when they came up, it was still a surprise. To then
have to travel to Saracens and Gloucester, arguably two of the
hardest away venues to come away with wins and have the lead at
half-time in both was commendable. Against Sarries they were
always going to struggle once Smith was shown a (rescinded) Red
Card and at Gloucester they seemed to run out of energy a
little, but although both of those scorelines looks very one
sided, it certainly was not the case for most of those matches
and Bristol will not be an easy win for any team this season.
By this point Quins have now announced their team for the match
and will be buoyed by the return of Marler and Sinkler in the
front row, Lang gets his (thoroughly deserved) first start of
the season in place of Smith and Ross Chisholm comes in to
replace Walker on the wing after some strong performances for
the A team. It is a solid team, that is dripping with quality,
however this is not new to Quins fans and the question will
always remain as to which of our many sides will turn up on the
day!
As I head down to Bristol the weather starts to look more and
more like it will have a big affect on the game, the recent
sunshine has descended into driving wind and rain, meaning the
forwards and tactical kicking will become much more important.
This thought fills me with dread as our forwards have
unfortunately not quite yet shown that they can dominate in any
facet of the game, and our tactical kicking from both 9 and 10
is something that has always been lacking as we have always
preferred to play with the ball in hand.
Arriving at Ashton Gate the rain is falling and although the
wind has died down it will still be a war of attrition with the
small margins and the dreaded penalty count coming strongly into
play. Ashton Gate itself is a nice stadium, I didn’t sample the
food on this occasion but there seemed to be some good options.
From a drinks point of view you certainly do benefit when you
visit a stadium of that size when it is not full as you are
easily able to get a drink without having too much trouble with
the queues. So I now have my Thatchers Gold in hand and take my
seat in the South Stand to watch the match.
After a nice hanging kick-off and good chase from Marchant Quins
are able to pin Bristol immediately back in their 22 and put
them under some good pressure. After a decent clearance from
Madigan Quins take control of the possession and have the
majority of the ball, after some sustained pressure Quins win a
penalty for a Bristol player not rolling away and decide to kick
to the corner. The call is made and Crumpton hits his mark and
Quins set up a great maul, with Quins moving forward Bristol
infringe again and Quins get the penalty advantage. This gives
Care the ability to make his move, quickly getting the ball and
searching for his options, luckily Madigan makes the decision
all too easy by rushing out in defence and leaving a huge hole
for Care to dart through and score the first try of the game
(also overtaking Ugo in the list of all time Quins scorers and
now only 1 behind Mike Brown), Lang adds the extras to give
Quins a 7 point lead and a dream start to the match.
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(Danny crosses for the first score and closes in on the Quins
try scoring record)
Quins are able to maintain most of the possession, but the
attack seems blunt and lacking in any ideas. Quins do manage to
steal a penalty as George Smith gets (wrongly in my opinion)
penalised for not releasing the tackler before going after the
ball, Lang steps up and puts Quins 10 points ahead after 15
minutes. At this point the Quins fans in the stadium have their
pre-game nerves settled and would not be blamed for starting to
think maybe this is it, maybe we are going to play for 80
minutes!
Sadly that was not to be the case, Bristol begin to get their
hands on the ball, mostly thanks to Quins poor kicking, and
start to make ground with relative ease, after a few passages of
play Marler (wrongly in my opinion due to Thacker taking him out
from the side) gets penalised for not releasing before going
after the ball and going off his feet. Madigan is more than
happy to take his opportunity and nails the kick to cut the
quins lead to 7. From the resulting kick-off Quins and Bristol
exchange a couple of knock-ons before Bristol work their way
round the side of Quins, Chisholm and Tapui manage to bring down
Leiua, however Tapui was unfortunately to be deemed to make no
attempt to roll away (I think he did and was then trapped and
held in by a Bristol player) and was subsequently penalised and
harshly yellow carded for his trouble.
HTML https://comeallwithin.createaforum.com/gallery/comeallwithin/1-240918214107-381646.jpeg
(Marler giving away a penalty, with Thacker seemingly coming in
from the side)
Quins managed to weather the yellow card well, with Bristol
putting the pressure on but the Quins defence holding up to the
challenge and forcing mistakes. At this point Lang had to go get
some attention to a nose injury so Smith came on in his place.
On the 30 minute mark Smith put up a speculative high kick, the
chase at first looked good however a gentle nudge from a Bristol
player meant Morris overran and although Earle made his tackle,
the ball was allowed to be offloaded to Leiua who made a surging
run into the Quins half and a deft little kick sat up before the
line and forced Care to carry the ball over the line giving
Bristol a 5m scrum during the last seconds of Tapui’s card. From
the resulting attack Quins managed once again to stand up in
defence and force Bristol to make a mistake and knock-on,
allowing Quins to clear their lines.
Bristol still have all the possession and after a couple of
phases from a line out the Bristol 9 found Thacker running a
sublime line back towards the ruck and stormed through before
offloading to Madigan who was tackled a couple of meters short
of the Quins line. Quick rucking and one pass to O’Connor meant
he was diving over the line and getting Bristol their well
deserved try, Madigan subsequently decided to take a quick drop
kick at goal, which he missed, indicating that Bristol where
worried about a potential TMO intervention. Having looked
closely at the footage the only potential issue would be a block
on Wallace who, arguably, would have made the tackle on Thacker
or at the very least slowed him and allowed others to make the
tackle. It happened very quickly and was missed by most, so I do
not blame the referee for this miss and Bristol used the rules
in their favour to stop any chance of the TMO getting involved.
This cuts the Quins lead down to 2 with only 4 minutes left of
the first half.
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(The arms of Luke Wallace being blocked from making tackle on
Thacker that led to try)
Quins were able to put Bristol under pressure and after Danny
manged to latch on to an overthrown lineout he put a lovely chip
in behind, which Bristol subsequently carried over their own
line to give Quins the 5m Scrum. I was very excited at this
point, our scrum had been holding up well and this is one of the
best attacking platforms we have managed to get since the first
10 mins. The scrum got set and as they engage the Bristol prop
dropped to his knees before the whole scrum collapse, a standard
collapse in premiership terms cue a reset, Ian Tempest took a
couple of seconds but suddenly blows his whistle and gives the
penalty to Bristol! Leaving myself and many other Quins fans
near me dumbfounded, apparently Tempest decided that Sinkler had
changed his bind and proceeded to pull the Bristol prop down,
something that even the commentators for the match had a
hard-time seeing. A great opportunity missed and with Quins when
it rains pens it pours, another penalty at the lineout and
another great attacking chance for Bristol, during the attack
Glynn gets penalised for his hands going passed the ball and on
the floor. At this point Quins are lucky that the Bristol 9 asks
for the pen and Tempest delivers, if the 9 had not asked and
just whipped the ball out they would have been on for a try,
still the pen allowed Bristol an easy 3 in front of the posts
and ended the first half in front 11-10.
The second half started much the same as the first went, with
Quins seemingly not wanting the ball and if they did get it they
would proceed to kick it aimlessly back to Bristol and allow
them to attack. On the 48th minute the game was halted for a
long period of time as the Bristol 9 received some treatment
after Marler went on the charge. As the replays came through all
the Quins fans in the stadium knew what was coming, Marler
(innocuously) led with his elbow and caught the Bristol 9 in the
neck/jaw and due to it not being his ball carrying his arm he
was subsequently penalised and then shown a yellow card for his
troubles. It is a tough call and at the time I did not agree but
it seems like the ref was left with little choice after seeing
it slowed down etc… however how many times do similar incidents
happen in a game and not get punished?? (I comment more on this
at the end of the report) Madigan slotted the conversion and
took the Bristol lead to 4.
HTML https://comeallwithin.createaforum.com/gallery/comeallwithin/1-240918214107-40894.jpeg
(Marler getting in trouble by leading with the forearm)
Bristol continue to hold possession and set up a good driving
maul on the 51st minute, as the maul came around the corner Ward
is penalised for taking it down as Quins penalty issues continue
to dominate the performance, Madigan again answers the call and
slots the pen to take the lead to 7. Within a couple of minutes
Quins finally get their hands back on the ball and even manage
to stop the run of points against them as they win a penalty for
Madigan not rolling away at the ruck, Lang stepped up well to
slot the kick and score quins first points since the 15th minute
but sadly also our last of the match. Another quick penalty from
Stan South for hands on the floor (called as harsh by the
commentators) gives Madigan a chance to take it back out to a 7
point lead and he duly delivers on the 59th minute.
There was not much to discuss for the next 17 minutes, other
than the unforgivable long throw at the lineout 5m out from
Bristol’s line, as Quins blunt attack made no headway and
Bristol made nothing of their possession. On the 77th minute
another talking point emerges as Bristol are on the attack, as
Lasike, who has been delivering some thundering shots in
defence, clatters into Madigan as he attempts to quickly hit the
ball on. Tempest does not immediately call any issue with the
tackle but after seeing a replay once again goes to the TMO,
after consultation Tempest rules that Lasike made no attempt to
use his arms and then therefore must go to the bin. I,
personally, have a different view which I share below after the
end of the match report section. Quins manage to get their hands
on the ball again just before time and can attack Bristol,
finally they start to show some menace and determination and
even make ground! However, after a few phases, getting into the
22 and Bristol straying offside Morris unfortunately drops the
ball under pressure, the ref is happy with Bristol’s defence and
calls an end to the game.
It was a sad end and unfortunately reminiscent of last years
form, we still do not have a win on the road since November 2017
in the Anglo Welsh Cup and we are staring down the barrel of
Gloucester Away and Sarries who have won all 4 of their matches
this season with a bonus point. Any other side in the league
would have killed us in that match and we would certainly not
have not a losing bonus point. We somehow sit in 6th place in
the league but that is perilously close to 12th who are only 5
points behind, we knew that Gustard had a hard task on his hands
and I am sure he knew it too, the question is can he pull us out
of this rut? I am going to be optimistic and think he can, it
will take time and I think we will be lucky to finish in the top
6 let alone higher than 10th this year, anyway I will still get
fully behind the team and support them as loud and proud as I
can, COME ON YOU QUINS!!
(Here are now some ramblings about the Lasike and Marler card’s
and some issues I see creeping into rugby, happy to hear others
thoughts 😊 )
For the Lasike card I believe that he is committed to making the
tackle, he brings out his arms ready to hit but, as Madigan does
a quick tap on and begins to spin Lasike tries to pull out of
the tackle and unfortunately runs into Madigan (who subsequently
milks the hit for all it is worth). Was Lasike in the wrong for
running into Madigan? Maybe. Was it a penalty? Maybe, but how
many times to players run in to people during a match. Was it a
yellow card? In my opinion no. Do I think that this would have
changed the game, I am not so sure but that is not really my
point.
HTML https://comeallwithin.createaforum.com/gallery/comeallwithin/1-240918214107-41562.jpeg
(Lasike with both arms out, Madigan’s spin seems to cause the
problems)
We are at a point in rugby that in my opinion is leading to some
serious issues entering the game, for both Marler and Lasike’s
cards the only reason these got a second look is due to the
reaction of the player on the receiving end. The scrum half
grabbed at his throat and spun away (granted it may have hurt)
however it is when he started to grab around his left eye which
is an area that as far as I could tell was not touched during
the collision that I start to wonder how much pain he was
actually in. If he had not had that reaction (like the many
other people who probably get hit in much the same way during a
game) then Marler would not have been yellow carded as it would
not even have been looked at. The same could be said of Madigan
who rolled around on the floor, again maybe it did hurt a bit
but probably no more than any other tackle during that match. Do
we need to protect the players from dangerous play that could do
serious long-term damage? Of course, and no one would argue
otherwise, my concern is that young players may see these
players reacting so aggressively to these incidents and feel
that this is the way to milk a pen and even a card for the
opposing team, but even worse that this is what rugby is
actually like! (End of rant)
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/>
(Don’t think Marler caught you there??)
#Post#: 7099--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol vs Harlequins Match Report
DIR By: Everyone’s a Quinner
Date: September 24, 2018, 3:52 pm
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Good in depth report 👍🏽
#Post#: 7103--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol vs Harlequins Match Report
DIR By: BedfordshireBoy
Date: September 24, 2018, 4:32 pm
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A great read, thanks QQ.
#Post#: 7110--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol vs Harlequins Match Report
DIR By: Quintessentially Quins
Date: September 25, 2018, 1:21 am
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Thanks!
Looks like we might have actually been lucky with the Marler
decision based on the Leinster v Edinburgh game:
HTML https://www.rugbydump.com/news/prop-red-carded-for-leading-with-the-elbow-but-former-players-disagree<br
/>
#Post#: 7122--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol vs Harlequins Match Report
DIR By: rdc
Date: September 25, 2018, 3:34 am
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Good analysis, thanks
#Post#: 7124--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol vs Harlequins Match Report
DIR By: deadlyfrom5yardsout
Date: September 25, 2018, 3:46 am
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Good read, thanks!
#Post#: 7129--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol vs Harlequins Match Report
DIR By: DOK
Date: September 25, 2018, 5:32 am
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Enjoyed that, thanks
#Post#: 7275--------------------------------------------------
Re: Bristol vs Harlequins Match Report
DIR By: Comet
Date: September 26, 2018, 4:50 pm
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Terrific, thanks. I especially like the building up to the
match and the wider implications you discuss afterwards. I do
think Marler's yellow was harsh. Lasike's was a bit more
difficult to defend. Tapuai's was inexplicable! The poor guy was
clearly pinned! Anyway, excellent write-up, thank you.
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