Harlequins 30 London Irish 23

Having lost 40 minutes of my life on Friday evening, watching the second half of Sale Sharks vs. Worcester Warriors, it was with some trepidation that I travelled to The Stoop on a freezing cold, but clear Saturday afternoon. These sides last meeting here, way back in 2009 due to the London Double Header, ended in a nine all draw, so the omens were not exactly looking good for a high scoring thriller. A quick look at the team sheets showed that Quins were without three of their most influential players who were on England duty, and Irish were crippled by injuries in the back row, where they would play the match with locks wearing the 6 and 7 jerseys.

However, from first whistle to last, this was a pulsating encounter in which two teams attempted to play a high tempo, entertaining brand of rugby. It was the Exiles who struck first, and early, Quins having not yet (legally) touched the ball when Tom Homer scored in the left hand corner. The details of the try being a Homer kick off, touched back by Matt Garvey, then 9 phases, containing some great hands from Jonathon Joseph, and a powerful run from Sailosi Tagicakibau, before Homer handed off the England Saxons hooker Joe Gray to dive over. He duly added the extras, and with two minutes on the clock it was the visitors who lead 7-0.

From their own kick off, Harlequins appeared to want to show that anything their opponents could do they could too, and threw the ball around attempting to find gaps in a resolute defence. Irish however were a little over eager in their defence and having infringed at a ruck Nick Evans stepped up to reduce the arrears by three points. If the rate of scoring had continued as it was in the first 5 minutes, we’d have ended up with over 150 points in the match. As it was, both Homer and Evans missed their next attempts at goal, and we had to wait until the 21st minute for the next score, but boy was it worth waiting for.

After a brief kicking duel between Evans and Homer, Tom Guest collected the ball inside his own half and ran it back at the heart of the Irish defence. Whilst there were tacklers a plenty waiting to stop him, the Irish back row were conspicuous by their absence at the breakdown, allowing Quins to recycle quickly and four phases later some superb handling by Easter and Wallace allowed Tom Casson to cross the whitewash and the home side ahead. Despite his radar having been faulty earlier in the game, Nick Evans converted to give Quins a three point lead.

The game then entered a slightly scrappy period, with cold hands fumbling a couple of balls, and some fussy refereeing at the scrum meaning that real try scoring opportunities were scarce. As it was, some reasonably sustained Irish pressure, including one powerful 40 yard burst from Tagicakibau resulted in a couple of penalties which Tom Homer slotted home to send the Exiles in 13-10 ahead at the break.

If the first half began quickly, then the second started at the speed of light. From Nick Evans kick off the ball was claimed by London Irish and the ball was fed back to scrum half Darren Allinson. His attempt at a clearing kick was poorly executed allowing George Robson to charge him down and Tom Williams to chase the loose ball into the right hand corner to put Quins immediately back in front. Nick Evans again converted, much to the delight of the home support.

The game then ebbed and flowed, before Danny care slotted a smart drop goal as Quins were playing a penalty advantage, and the Aviva Premiership leaders appeared to be pulling clear of the visitors. That was until two minutes later when Jonathon Joseph produced a moment of individual brilliance which will surely have interim England head coach Stuart Lancaster sitting up and taking notice. When the outside centre picked the ball up 50 yards out after a Danny care box kick, there appeared little danger, but having spotted a gap, he slipped through it, before jinking past three would be tacklers and powering away across the line. With Tom Homer adding the extras, it was back to all square.

Within five minutes, the home side were back ahead, Nick Evans again finding the target after an Irish tackler had failed to release the ball carrier before contesting the pill. It could have been worse for Irish immediately, as after Homer failed to get the restart to go 10 metres, the resulting Irish scrum disintegrated giving Evans another chance from dead centre. This time however his kick just didn’t have the legs and bounced off the crossbar into grateful London Irish hands.

With both sides using their benches, the game then became even more fast and loose, and London Irish’s willingness to have a go proved to be their downfall. After going through the phases, but being held reasonably well by the home defence, it is questionable as to whether Dan Bowden spotted a real gap behind the defensive line, or just ran out of patience. His chip was a well-executed, but the vagaries of the bounce of a rugby ball defeated him, as it fell into the hands of Tom Guest who pinned back his ears and ran at a hastily retreating Exiles defensive line. An offload in midfield and a kick ahead and stand in full back Ross Chisholm outpaced his opposite number to dive over, and with Evans conversion, it was back to a 10 point lead for Harlequins.

As both teams continued to play at breakneck speed, and attempt to keep the ball alive, it was a surprise that we had to wait another 14 minutes for the next score. Crucially for the away team, it went to them, with replacement fly half Adrian Jarvis stroking the ball between the posts after a Quins player strayed offside 25 yards out. With 5 minutes left to play, and one side searching for a try bonus point, whilst the other sought a try to tie the game, it was impossible to call which way things would go.

With time almost up, and London Irish on the attack, a great burst by the impressive Tagicakibau down the left looked to have put Quins on the back foot, but with the defending team flooding the breakdown, some hesitation from Irish replacement scrum half Ross Samson allowed the home side to assert some dominance and eventually turn the ball over. With time up on the clock, Nick Evans kicked into touch to end a thrilling match.

For Harlequins, there was a sense of relief having ended their losing streak, and they will take great confidence from the level of performance shown by some players who would not be first choice outside of the international windows. For Irish, there will also be some positives taken, with the backs looking dangerous, in particular Tagicakibau and Joseph. Their issues though are in the back row, where in 5 pages of notes that I made, I have not mentioned Roche or Thorpe once, such was their anonymity. I can only recall seeing Roche twice, once on the wing and once inspecting a ruck. The exiles will need the return of the likes of Danaher and Gibson, if they are to seriously threaten the top four this season.

I have to end this report with a special word of note for man of the match Nick Easter, who having put his body on the line in the freezing cold for 80 minutes, still found the time and energy to stop on his way off the field, and sign autographs for a horde of young fans who had waited patiently to see their hero. Well done Nick, and well done Harlequins.

Harlequins: Chisholm, Williams, Hopper, Casson, S. Smith, Evans, Care, Lambert, Gray, Johnston, Kohn, Robson, Guest, Wallace, Easter.
Replacements: Lowe for Hopper (52), Dickson for Care (52), Brooker for Gray (52), Vallejos for Kohn (75), Skinner for Guest (63). Not Used: Croall, Fairbrother, Clegg.

London Irish: Homer, Ojo, Joseph, Hape, Tagicakibau, Bowden, Allinson, Dermody, Paice, Rautenbach, Kennedy, Evans, Garvey, Roche, Thorpe.
Replacements: Samson for Homer (72), Yarde for Ojo (64), D. Armitage for Hape (41), Jarvis for Bowden (72), Lahiff for Dermody (64), Blaney for Paice (72), Ion for Rautenbach (51), Siggery for Roche (72).

Att: 13,418

Ref: Tim Wigglesworth (RFU).

Excellent report Ozzy. Always a joy to read. Keep em coming man.

Cheers bud.

10/10 for that buddy. I think you missed your vocation.

Noice, mate, just noice

Absolutely brilliant match report Ozzy, amongst all the bickering and wind ups this was a treat to read.

I too was at the game and agree with just about everything mentioned here, if I was being harsh i'd pull up the Quins pack for not dominating even more at the breakdown but that's about my only grievence, well that and some silly mistakes meaning we didn't get the bp.

I hope we are playing LI in the Big Game next year and if we do that it's a game played like this, selling out Twickenham and showing 70,000+ a classic rugby match including 5 tries and nearly a dozen possibly MoM's would be perfect.

And on a different theme Care, Easter, Guest and Jonathon Joseph have all given Lancasters replacement a lot to think about, I hope they carry on like this.

Easter was excellent for you yappy. Consensus in the press box was that it was between him and JJ for man off the match, but I think Easter ended up with about 13 votes and JJ got 3. Nobody else really got a mention.

I do however think that Easters time in an England shirt has passed. Care on the other hand needs to sort out his off field stuff, as he would surely have been England's 1st choice 9!

I was there too - good game. JJ continues to impress with both his running and his hands. If he stays fit it's hard to imagine him not being in the EPS by the autumn internationals.

Chisholm seems to be coming on nicely too.

Yea when he first started this season Chisholm couldn't catch a cold, but he seems to have really benefited from a bit more time in the A league, I haven't looked at stats but he does look a bit of a monster at FB.

Yup - I was freezing there too - I thought that Tom Williams was looking really sharp and could have been a contender for MoM.
Its the first time I've seen Joseph live and wanted to see what the hype was - but, man - that kid has some skills - that individual try was top draw. We have to have that skill set in the national team ASAP.
Imagine a Tuilagi - Joseph combo.

Agree about Joseph, not just that but there;s a few other 13's putting their hands up too.

Waldock, Daily, Hopper, Joseph, Tuilagi are Trinder are all brilliant options for progression in the 13 shirt.

The way the game is played these days you need centres who get you over the gainline. I would be tempted by 12. Tuilagi 13. Joseph or Trinder.

That is a midfield which would give the opposition something to think about.

I really don't see Tuilagi being as effective at 12, I don't think it suits his natural game. He has played there a couple of times and hasn't looked the part. More practice would help, but I still don't feel it would be the right option.

Joseph playing a roaming wing (a position he knows well) would be the better selection compromise to my mind, coming into the line unpredictably with his elusive running style would see good returns on his abilities. He'd then also obviously be first choice as centre cover. Australia select AAC in a similar fashion.

He'd also make a superb impact sub, but if he continues to develop as we all hope, you'd want to give him more game time.

Given how good Corbisero has looked for England it raises serious questions about the LI THs. With a few leaving that might be a sensible place to invest. That and either Clegg or Cipriani at FH.

I think if used correctly Tuiagi could become an effective 12, in the same mould as Ma'a Nonu.

I don't follow the 2nd FH philosophy for IC, but a top 12 should possess a field of vision that I don't think Tuilagi has or will develop. He has good vision for immediate close-ranging opportunities, which works well at OC, but not what we should be aspiring to for IC. I feel his effectiveness at 12 would be in a narrower role than what we really need.

You could argue that might have been true of Nonu when he first started (or still is), but a big difference would be that he had/has the world's best players in their position either side of him to make up for any shortcomings.

I'm of the opinion that an Allen-Tuilagi centre partnership is a really good one for our immediate future but with JJ able to cover wing and centres he could be a really good bench option and a slightly different alternative to Tuilagi. I like club partnerships in the centres tbh but there are a few potential ones of those about- JTH and Hopper, Allen Tuilagi, 36 and Tribder next season. I'm still gutted that Geraghty fell off the radar for Irish. In an ideal world Irish would sign someone like Farrell. And actually, how is Delon's little brother Guy doing? Is he a 12 or a 13 and is he still at Irish?

He's still at Irish, and can play 12 or 13 really, but in all honesty I have seen little from him so far to convince me that he will become a potential international player.