Heineken Cup Round 1- Harlequins v Biarritz TEAMS UP

First topic message reminder :

So it's nearly the start of the greatest club tournament around and on Sat at the Stoop Harlequins (Prem Champions) will host Biarritz (Amlin Cup Champions).

THE TEAMS ARE NOW UP!


Harlequins Rugby

1.Joe Marler (Eng) 2.Rob Buchanan (Eng) 3.James Johnston (Tonga) 4.George Robson (Eng) 5.Ollie Kohn (Eng) 6.Maurie Fa'Asavalu (Samoa) 7.Chris Robshaw (Eng) 8.Nick Easter (Eng) 9.Danny Care (Eng) 10.Nick Evans (NZ) 11.Ugo Monye (Eng) 12.Jordan Turner-Hall (Eng) 13.James Hopper (Eng) 14.Tom Williams (Eng) 15.Mike Brown (Eng)

Replacements: 16. Dave Ward17. Mark Lambert18. Will Collier19. Charlie Matthews20. Tom Guest21. Karl Dickson22. Ben Botica23. Seb Stegmann

That team will feature 9 internationals, 19 England qualified players and an average age of 25. Currently Harlequins are second in the Premiership with a points difference of +59 they have scored 185 points against their opposition so far and have the most try bonus points (3) in the league along with the most tries scored (20). So as we all know the attack is going well (Saracens game aside).

They have had some collective problems in defence though, namely in organisation, fielding high balls and dealing with teams at the breakdown. Saracens and Exeter have both exploited this, the latter using it to score five tries against them just last week.

Biarritz Olympique

15 Iain Balshaw
14 Taku Ngwenya
13 Dane Haylett-Petty
12 Seremaia Burotu
11 Aled Brew
10 Mat Berquist
9 Yann Lesgourgues
1 Fabien Barcella
2 Arnaud Heguy
3 Francisco Gomez Kodela
4 Erik Lund
5 Thibault Dubarry
6 Magnus Lund
7 Wenceslas Lauret
8 Talalelei Gray
Replacements:16 Benoit August17 Wicus Blaauw18 Thomas Synaeghel19 Pelu Taele-Pavihi20 Benoit Guyot21 Julien Peyrelongue22 Damien Traille23 Benoit Baby

I'm going to be honest and say I know very little about Biarritz. They apparently favor a kicking game ala Saracens and have big ball carriers like Imanol Harinordoquy, Magnus and Erik Lund along with some electric backs in Takudzwa Ngwenya and Benoit Baby. But looking at their current form they're 8th in the T14 with 4 wins and 4 losses and are +11 on points difference. They've scored a total of 10 tries in these 8 game and managed one try bonus point which I guess backs up the Saracens like game plan, they've also only conceded 10 tries so far as well though so their defence is pretty good (Quins have conceded 11).

It should be an interesting and probably very physical game, two very different game plans clashing in hopefully perfect rugby conditions at the Stoop. Harlequins will want to control the set piece and from that build a lot of continuity to strike and get tries. We've then seen that once a lead has been opened Quins are happy to dig in and defend this without going for tbp's etc Biarritz will probably want to control the breakdown and from that the flow of the game, with the priority being stopping Quins getting any kind of phases built.

Basically which ever team manages to impose their gameplan should win as we've seen so far this season neither are too good at dealing with the other's type of game. Biarritz can't score the tries and Quins can't kick realiably enough for a tug of war.

It'll be close but at the moment I'm going with a home win.

It's worth noting that currently the bookies have Quins down as favourites for this game.

Harlequins Rugby by 5

Cumbrian wrote:Actually I was being a bit tongue in cheek because we're already developing our next impressive young flyhalf in Joel Hodgson.

Although I may be able to offer you something in the way of an impressive young tighthead in Scott Wilson or a lightning young winger in Zach Kibirige. Or a few impressive young backrowers such as Mark Wilson, Will Welch or Joe Robinson. However, we're hoping these guys will see us into a new era, so hands off!

In all seriousness, what ever we have, you already have coming through in spades. The Quin's academy is something to be seriously proud of.

Cheers Cumbrian, tbh i'd be dissapointed if we did end up pinching players from you guys now. As you say the academy is strong with us.

We don't need a 7, we've got Wallace waiting in the wings

Yappy I thought I'd be magnamious and help out a lesser club in need

AlastairW wrote:I've watched Botica in a few of the pre-season matches and he was always ruddy brilliant. Glad he had time to really step up to the mark and show what he could do.

I actually thought we were terrible in the breakdown for most of the first half. Not committing enough, or hard enough, really not contesting. Once that changed in the secondhalf we earned the right to play good running rugby and the game opened up for us.

Care has to be shoe in for England/Lions 9 looking at his performance this season. He's really started shining since he quit the sauce. I'd like to see Youngs challenge again, as competition for the spot always keeps everyone hsarp, but i think Care has the edge as it stands.

Yep are breakdown skills were pretty poor in the first half like in the Saracens game. Unlike that game though the forwards did a massive job turning it around for the second half. When on form they're to my mind one of the best packs in the NH, but then I am heavily heavily biased.

Evans out for weeks not months. I had not realised the injury was that bad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/19938702

Too many Nicks. Getting my wires crossed!

And the Botica loving has started!!

Telegraph

Guardian

Quins's overriding priority, though, is to avenge last season's Galway mugging. O'Shea acknowledges that "the date Jan 20th is etched in our memory" and Botica already detects a sense of steely purpose in the dressing-room. "I'm sure the boys are going to be up for it, having lost to them last year and being kicked out of the tournament." On this evidence, Connacht should batten down the batches.

Connacht had better be worried!

Our pre-season went well against them Yappy (although it was a cooking day at the Stoop!) but i don't think that we can count chickens - certainly a good chance to even the score though!

Well done Quins.

Quins were out fought physically in both matches with Connacht last season. At times they still struggle when the opposition (especially the pack) come out all fired up and aggressive. (Mind you who doesn't?).

The pack need to play as they did against Tigers and in the second half against BO. Anything less and Connacht will make it a real scrap.

Looking forward to this tie.

Cheers Beshocked, I was really chuffed to think we'd be the only English team to get a tbp and could not believe it when I saw the Saracens result!

Tiger I guess that's teams targetting us a lot more now aswell, nearly every team that's beatun us or come close has caused us a lot of issues in the pack. I think Marler and co will be fired up for next week though.

Fingers crossed for good weather next week.

I agree LondonTiger yet again.

Personally I think Quins will have too much for Connacht this time.

Quins have even found a back up fly half!

Can Quins go all the way? Maybe not but a home quarter looks certain now.

Looking at Toulouse this year i think they're favourites to win. They were looking devastating.

A good showing in the HC would be welcome though, and it's good to see Botica really stepping up to the mark after NEv did his ankle no favours. We're certainly getting a bit of depth now compared to the last few seasons.

Home QF's would be good, but it all depends of COS decides to chase a HC win or defend the AP.

AlastairW IMO if you have to go for the HC.

You've won the Amlin, you've won the AP. Why not try to finish the set?

Ideal pool for a home quarter. Great start to the HC. Why not?

yappysnap wrote:Cheers Beshocked, I was really chuffed to think we'd be the only English team to get a tbp and could not believe it when I saw the Saracens result!

Saints got a TBP as well.

beshocked wrote:AlastairW IMO if you have to go for the HC.

You've won the Amlin, you've won the AP. Why not try to finish the set?

Ideal pool for a home quarter. Great start to the HC. Why not?

Looking at how COS has set the team up in the last couple of weeks, I think they are going for the HEC - but it's a high-risk strategy. They'll be trying to make sure we stay in touch in the AP so that if we crash out in the QFs we still have something to play for. Not sure what would happen if we found ourselves faced a string of knockout games in short order, though. Our strength in depth is improving but I think we are 2 years away from having the squad to fight on two fronts (and that relies on keeping the team together).

I think COS will be chasing the HC and just looking at keeping us at 4th place in the league.

A good showing in Europe with a scalp or two will be valid progression from last season, especially as i'm still not sure COS had planned for us to win the league last season.

As Pourfour say's we're actually still a few seasons away from seeing this squad at it's best and tbh even seeing this starting team at it's best.

BTW I have Clermont, Toulon, Toulouse or Ulster to win it.