Big Game 5

Tomorrow Quins welcome London Irish to the Big Stoop for Big Game 5. This year the selected charity is Great Ormond Street Hospital (to see the great work that they do there just follow this linky thing &utm_campaign=DMppc%20zBrand%20Core%20Exact]GOSH )

Quins Team
15. Mike Brown
14. Tom Williams
13. Matt Hopper
12. Tom Casson
11. Ugo Monye
10. Nick Evans
9. Danny Care

1. Joe Marler
2. Joe Gray
3. James Johnston
4. Olly Kohn
5. George Robson
6. Maurie Fa'asavalu
7. Chris Robshaw (C)
8. Nick Easter

16. Rob Buchanan
17. Mark Lambert
18. Will Collier
19. Charlie Matthews
20. Tom Guest
21. Karl Dickson
22. Ben Botica
23. George Lowe

Probably our strongest possible team. Great to see Casson still holding the 12 shirt in front of a fit JTH, it's been a while coming but he's finally showing his form from the age grades and gives us a little something different to JTH. Also good to see Lowe on the bench, as electric as Hopper can be he still does as much wrong as he does right and Lowe coming on should settle the mid field a bit.

The pack looks impressive, just a shame that Wallace didn't get the bench spot over Guest.

London Irish Team
5. Tom Homer
14. Topsy Ojo
13. Jonathan Joseph
12. Sailosi Tagicakibau
11. Marland Yarde
10. Ian Humphreys
9. Darren Allinson
1. Max Lahiff
2. David Paice
3. Halani Aulika
4. Bryn Evans
5. Matt Garvey
6. Declan Danaher (captain)
7. Jebb Sinclair
8. Chris Hala’Ufia

Replacements
16. Scott Lawson*; 17. Jerry Yanuyanutawa*; 18. Leo Halavatua*; 19. George Skivington*; 20. Jamie Gibson; 21. Guy Armitage; 22. Steven Shingler; 23. Patrick Phibbs.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if Quins play to the conditions, kick well, and use their forwards to control the game then the points will come and we'll win by 10+
If Quins try to play from everywhere and score off every counter and first phase ball then they'll be playing straight to the LI teams strengths and it could really go either way.

COYQ's!!

Yappy; was Hopper in the England U20's last season playing 13? Then also featuring for England 7's? Or is Hopper the Cardiff Uni student who Blues refused to give a look-in? I can't remember exactly but both of them looked like very good players. Quins academies must have been doing something right for the past few years, particulary seeing as the A team is also strong.

Hopper was brought in from the championship. The Quin who played 13 for the England under 20s was a Tigers academy product Quins half inched.

The Cardiff Uni lad who played England 7s a couple of years back could be de Carpienter who is now at Worcester.

Hopper was in the Saxons and before that Cornish Pirates. Before that he played in Australia for various Uni's.

The 13 for the U20's is Charlie Walker who looks surprisingly similar (and is utter quality).

The Quins academy has been very good for a long time, mainly thanks to Dean Richards and Mark Evans. They realised that in the long run it's cheaper to create your own talent (or pinch it at academy level;cheers Leicester, then keep buying in mercenaries).

im heading off to twickenham soon and expect to see a comfortable win for quins but I really hope Irish can make a good game of it.

Would really hate to see irish go down but it is becoming a distinct possibility now, seemed inconceivable that they would be in this position a couple of seasons ago.

I want and expect Quins to win obviously but I do hope Irish can pull off a recovery in the latter half of the season. Just don't start today!

They probably just need a few more wins to be sitting happily in 11th and watching Sale plummet through the trap door. Hopefully those wins will come against the likes of Saints, Sarries, Tigers and Glos.

Sounds like the weather is marring the game, lots of errors and silly penalties. Wish I was in London or had Sky to watch. Apparently the Quins scrum is dominant

Evans having a poor game

Quite like this female commentator

Can't see the game myself either. It's close at the mo but hopefully we'll switch on in the second half.

As long as we win. As has been pointed out, this is exactly the kind of game we invariably lost last year

This on TV anywhere? Or has anyone got a link?

Ruddy hell this is pish as a game for the neutrals. Dull turgid stuff from both sides

bluesman - have a linky

It's on ESPN. Sounds pretty dire, but if the rain in London is anything like the rain down here, the conditions must be terrible

bluesman - YGM

Danny Care always walks like he rules the world...

Nev at FB, want to see how this goes

Ugly sounding game so far

Who's refereeing?

The second half has been a lot better than the first.

Quins really trying everything on attack.

And that's the game

Cheers TJ

Didn't see the first half but credit to quins this half they are trying!!!

Oh dear, nothing for LI again!!!

Not a great performance but a win is a win is a win and winning via the scrum is a good omen. We already know we can kill teams in broken play attack, these are the games we are most vulnerable in, so I am happy with that, as long as Brown etc aren't too hurt

Ouch Irish may regret the lack of a losing bp there.

Well done to Quins who did enough while playing badly to win it. Who got MoM?

That's the first time I've seen LI play this season and there are a fair few things wrong with them. Was particularly unimpressed with their starting halfbacks, they just didn't seem to know what to do with the ball. Tagicakibau is clearly not a 12. Confused as well why Homer, the league's top points scorer last season wasn't taking the kicks, there were 2 missed kicks in the first half (1 tricky, 1 not) that I would have thought he'd have made.

That is definitely the kind of game we would have lost last year, especially in these conditions. Absolutely chucking it, greasy ball and a bit too broken in the first half coupled with big mo having a bad day at the office. LI had a great try scoring position, and was very happy when the ball wasn't passed out wide!

Second half was about as good as you could expect in these conditions, good to see them throwing everything and the kitchen sink in for the full 80 though.

Well played Robshaw for leading from the front, he had a belter of a game and well deserved the MoTM bubbly.

Quins are definitely one of the teams to be watching this season. They impress me with the rugby they play and also because it seems to be done without any 'star names'. But they could probably make some more of their own stars if they keep proving England with international players.

Where did this Johnston come from? He seems to have boosted the Quins scrum. It'll be interesting to see you play against bigger French teams. Biarritz look to have gone backwards again.

Thanks Morg. Johnson is Samoan, came to us pretty raw and with a lot of power but no technique but over the last season he's world on it/O Shea has worked on the refs and now with him and Marler much improved our scrum looks much better. Ollie Kohn being around more has helped too

Can anyone say how Casson and Lowe got on?

And I get the feeling we should be looking at starting Guest with Wallace on the bench next season or later in this one, Mo seems to be slipping in and out of games too often.