Harlequins 2013/14 Season Discussion Thread

[yappysnap]

First topic message reminder :

So a few other teams had their own threads last season, it seemed to work well and seeing as it's far easier to steal someone else's idea then think up your own...

WELCOME TO THE HARLEQUINS 2013/14 SEASON DISCUSSION THREAD!

The Squad for 13/14:
Director of Rugby Conor O'Shea
Head Coach John Kingston
First Team Coach Tony Diprose
Assistant First Team Coach Mark Mapletoft
Assistant First Team Coach Collin Osborne

Hooker
Joe Gray
Rob Buchanan
Dave Ward

Loosehead Prop:
Joe Marler
Mark Lambert
Nick Mayhew
Daryl Marfo

Tighthead Prop
Paul Doran Jones
Will Collier
Kyle Sinckler  

Lock
George Robson   
Charlie Matthews
George Merrick
Sam Twomey  

Blindside
Maurie Fa'asavalu
Joe Trayfoot  

Openside
Chris Robshaw
Luke Wallace

Number 8
Nick Easter
Tom Guest
Jack Clifford

Scrum Half
Danny Care
Karl Dickson

Fly Half
Nick Evans  
Ben Botica
Louis Grimoldby

Inside Centre
Jordan Turner-Hall  
Tom Casson  
Harry Sloan

Outside Centre
George Lowe
Matt Hopper
Charlie Walker

Wing
Ugo Monye
Tom Williams
Sam Smith
Miles Mantella


Fullback
Mike Brown
Ross Chisholm
Ollie Lindsay-Hague

Fixtures:

Harlequins are pleased to confirm an exciting and challenging opening for the 2013-14 Aviva Premiership season.
 
The Londoners kick-off the new season against local rivals London Wasps at Twickenham Stadium during the London Double Header on 7th September, kick-off 4.30pm (Live on BT Sport).

2013 Aviva Premiership finalists, Northampton Saints are the visitors for the first home game at The Twickenham Stoop on Friday 13th September, kick-off 7:45pm (Live on BT Sport).

The second home game welcomes Heineken Cup semi-finalists Saracens on 28th September, kick-off 3.15pm (Live on BT Sport).

Exeter Chiefs will be the visitors to Twickenham Stadium for the sixth Big Game on Saturday 28th December. More information about Big Game 6 will be provided in coming months.

The Londoners will open their Heineken Cup campaign over the weekend of the 11th/12th/13th October, while the defence of the LV= Cup will begin during the second weekend of November. Fixture dates and times are expected by ERC and Premiership rugby later this month.

The only way to guarantee your place at all of the regular season home fixtures is by becoming a Member. Information on the innovative Membership scheme and how to become a Member is available by clicking here or by calling 0208 744 4477.

"There is no such thing as an easy match in the Aviva Premiership and there is no doubt that our opening fixtures are very demanding," said Conor O'Shea, Harlequins Director of Rugby.

"Once again we will be competing in three great competitions against top class opposition from this country and Europe. Our Premiership campaign gets underway with the London Double Header against Wasps on 7th September and is followed during that month with tough home matches with Northampton Saints and Saracens as well as a trip to Sixways to play against Dean Ryan's Worcester.

"Given the quality of the opposition, we hope that our supporters will be looking forward to returning to The Stoop to get behind their team as we set out on the marathon that is the Premiership with all its related ups and downs."

Tickets for the new season's home games will go on sale on Monday 15th July. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 0208 410 6000
Harlequins Fixtures
Please note fixtures after Round 8 are subject to change

Round 1
Saturday September 7: London Wasps v Harlequins (4.30pm, Twickenham Stadium, BT Sport)

Round 2
Friday September 13:Harlequins v Northampton Saints (7.45pm BT Sport)

Round3
Friday September 21: Worcester Warriors v Harlequins (7.45pm BT Sport)

Round 4
Saturday September 28: Harlequins v Saracens (3.15pm BT Sport)

Round 5
Saturday October 5: London Irish v Harlequins (3.00pm)

Heineken Cup
Fri/Sat/Sun October 11/12/13 Heineken Cup

Fri/Sat/Sun October 18/19/20 Heineken Cup

Round 6
Saturday October 26: Harlequins v Sale Sharks (3.00pm)

Round 7
Saturday November 2: Leicester Tigers v Harlequins (5.30pm BT Sport)

LV= Cup
Fri/Sat/Sun November 9 LV= Cup

Fri/Sat/Sun November 16 LV= Cup

Round 8
Saturday November 23: Harlequins v Gloucester Rugby (3.00pm)

Round 9
Sunday December 1: Newcastle Falcons v Harlequins (3.00pm)

Heineken Cup
Fri/Sat/Sun Dec 6/7/8 Heineken Cup

Fri/Sat/Sun Dec 13/14/15Heineken Cup

Round 10
Saturday December 21st: Bath Rugby v Harlequins (3.00pm)

Round 11
Sat December 28: BIG GAME 6 Harlequins v Exeter Chiefs (3.00pm)

Round 12
Saturday January 4: Northampton Saints v Harlequins (3.00pm)

Heineken Cup
Fri/Sat/Sun January 10/11/12 Heineken Cup
Fri/Sat/ Sun January 17/18/19 Heineken Cup

LV= Cup
Fri/Sat/Sun Jan 24/25/26 LV= Cup
Fri/Sat/Sun Jan 31 Feb 1 /2 LV= Cup

Round 13
Saturday February 8: Harlequins v London Wasps (3.00pm)

Round 14
Saturday February 15: Harlequins v Newcastle Falcons (3.00pm)

Round 15
Saturday February 22: Gloucester Rugby v Harlequins (3.00pm)

Round 16
Saturday March 1: Harlequins v Worcester Warriors (3.00pm)

Round 17
Saturday March 22: Saracens v Harlequins (3.00pm)

Round 18
Saturday March 29: Harlequins v London Irish (3.00pm)

Round 19
Friday April 11: Sale Sharks v Harlequins (7.45pm)

Round 20
Saturday April 19: Harlequins v Leicester Tigers (3.00pm)

Round 21
Saturday May 3: Exeter Chiefs v Harlequins (3.00pm)

Round 22
Saturday May 10: Harlequins v Bath Rugby (3.00pm)

Whether you're a Quins fan or not please feel free to discuss, argue, banter and bicker below. And  to 2014's Aviva Prem Champs!!    

COYQ's!!!!

[formerly known as Sam]

Decent bit of business for Quins. Experienced lineout operators are always useful additions.

[yappysnap]

Wasn't he captain at LI for a bit as well?

[Ozzy3213]

He was never club captain but did captain the side on a few occasions.

[yappysnap]

My preferred first team:
Marler, Buchanan, PDJ
Robson, Mathews
Guest, Robshaw
Easter
Care
Evans
Chisholm, JTH, Lowe, Williams, Brown

Then my preferred second team:
Lambert, Gray, Synckler
Kennedy, Easter
Robshaw, Wallace
Guest
Dickson
Botica
OLH, Casson, Lowe, Monye, Chisholm

[Cumbrian]

Yappy,  isn't Collier a tight head prop?

[yappysnap]

He definitely is, why do you ask?  

[Cumbrian]

Good one.  

What about Darryl Marfo, has he kicked on at all? His youtube highlights look decent enough.

[ChequeredJersey]

Nev implies that Robshaw might play a bit of 6 this season:

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_8818283,00.html

[ChequeredJersey]

Also nice to see Chris' England career being written off in the comments based on the Tour to Argentina...

[ChequeredJersey]

Marfo is still v young for a prop but he will make it. Needs to work on the scrummaging

[yappysnap]

[quote="Cumbrian"]Good one.  

What about Darryl Marfo,  has he kicked on at all?  His youtube highlights look decent enough.[/quotlike Marler and Synckler he's a massive unit and an extra flanker in the loose, just needs to work on the scrum. I watched him in the A league and his driving work in mauls is exceptional.

The future is looking very good for us with those two.

[yappysnap]

CJ because Chris doesn't make the highlight reels all the armchair fans miss him, they expect forwards to be backs now on YouTube. The coaches know the score though (except Gatland).

[formerly known as Sam]

People are writing off Croft as well. The media and some fans like the new flavour of the month so are always after the new option over the established pro.

[ChequeredJersey]

Croft, Robshaw Morgan was an excellent back row

[yappysnap]

Very true both of you. I would love to see a possibles v probables a match to sort these discussions!

[LondonTiger]

Very true both of you. I would love to see a possibles v probables a match to sort these discussions!

They will do it in training regularly.

These games when they did happen in the past, in front of a paying audience, sadly produced awful selecting. The probables were scared of getting injured and held bacl, the possibles were fired up. In the end you got injuries and mass changes to the team on a regular basis. I hated them then, and never want to see them return.

[formerly known as Sam]

Early season we're seeing Tigers vs Saints which will be Croft vs Wood after Croft came out on top in AP final. Quins play Saints Robshaw vs Wood and Sarries early doors. Sadly we won't be seeing be seeing Fraser vs Robshaw there. Glaws vs Sarries will be an interesting game with Vunipola vs Morgan. There's a lot of interesting battles coming in the AP this season.

Can't wait for it all to start now. Less than a month and we should be seeing some pre season action.

[beshocked]

Gloucester vs Saracens is Round 12. Surely plenty of interesting matches before then?

[yappysnap]

Good point LT. And yea there will be a lot of interesting match ups this season, just a few others off the top:

Brown v Foden & Goode
Care v Youngs
Marler v Vunipola

Tigers v Saints should have a bit of bite about it this season after the whole Cockers fiasco and West's comments. Should be good as they've been fairly timid this last season or two. Just need Tigers to start a fight with Sarries as well now.

[HongKongCherry]

Gloucester vs Saracens is Round 12. Surely plenty of interesting matches before then?

I think Sam is probably referring to the Sarries v Glaws game in round 2

[beshocked]

Yappysnap it's strange but Sarries vs Leicester games haven't actually had that many incidents.

Nothing compares to Leicester vs Saints! Seems that someone is banned in each match.

Do you see Sarries as a main rival Yappysnap?

For me Quins are behind Saints,Leicester and Gloucester. Primarily because our record against you recently has been very good.

HKC in all likelihood.

[ChequeredJersey]

Frankly, with players like Care and Brown properly rested (and Nev at his freshest) and no post Lions burn out, I think we are best suited to win the big games early on in the season especially with Sarries' injuries and before Saints new team gels. After that we will start relying on academy players more as we tire and will have another mid season dip.

Beshocked I see Sarries as an important match because you are the team we struggle most with.

[beshocked]

True Chequeredjersey.

One of my favourite stats is the AP wins/losses of each club.

http://www.premiershiprugby.com/matchcentre/fixtures/harlequins.php?section=4

This is Quins.

[ChequeredJersey]

I meant Robshaw not Brown

[HongKongCherry]

True Chequeredjersey.

One of my favourite stats is the AP wins/losses of each club.

http://www.premiershiprugby.com/matchcentre/fixtures/harlequins.php?section=4

This is Quins.

That's a great stat site, I hadn't noitced that part before. I particularly like the irony that Glaws' record victory & defeat are against Bath and we're poised at 15 wins a piece.

We've got a 60% win rate against Quins, not that you'd know if from recent trips to the Stoop!  

[logansrun38]

Also nice to see Chris' England career being written off in the comments based on the Tour to Argentina...

anyone thats reads anything significant into the summer 'tour' of Argentina is an idiot. It was Saxons level at best and should not been capped.

[yappysnap]

Remember Quins for a long time really weren't that good, it's only been since Deano that we've started winning more then we lose.

Beshocked I see Sarries as a main rival alongside Tigers, to me you're also a barometer for how good we're doing. When we can adapt and beat you guys regularly then I'll know that we can beat anyone. Until that day we'll always struggle against ultra physical sides.

[beshocked]

Interestingly enough when you did manage to beat Sarries you went on to top the league and win the AP. Getting the monkey off the back really conquered your nerves.


On reflection I actually think Quins could well have a good season. HC pool is really tough which could see them bowing out of that quickly. Meaning they could concentrate their efforts on the AP.

Saracens and Leicester could well be hampered more by injuries and fatigue due to the Lions. Saints' North and Corbisiero will also be fatigued and away for large periods of international duty.

Gloucester will be stripped of Morgan,36 and Burns, potentially May,Sharples and Ksevic during international windows too.

[yappysnap]

Yea this season could go very well for us, just have to start well and manage the small squad. Need the first team to hit form for the run in as well.

[yappysnap]

Topman have posted an interesting article on 5 U20's players to watch this season... Includes Quins centre Harry Sloan...

http://magazine.topman.com/category/lifestyle/british-rugbys-top-five-teenage-stars/

[formerly known as Sam]

Not wholly accurate as Wells has already had a start for Tigers.

There's certainly a good deal of talent coming through at the minute, could Harry Sloan be the answer to Quins issues at 12?

[yappysnap]

Casson is the answer to Quins 12 issues Sam, Sloan just means that we won't have problems in the future.  

Saw Casson training in the gym this morning and he's bulked up a little more this season, hopefully he'll bridge the gap between ball playing second fly half and JTH, just need him to stay injury free (that goes for JTH and Lowe too!).

[formerly known as Sam]

I've never been wowed by Casson to be honest, Lowe is a classy option and Hopper is good in attack but the inside centres don't inspire in the same way. As an outsider it looks to be the weakness in your backline.

[ChequeredJersey]

I hear we're signing James O'Connor there anyway

[LondonTiger]

I've never been wowed by Casson to be honest, Lowe is a classy option and Hopper is good in attack but the inside centres don't inspire in the same way. As an outsider it looks to be the weakness in your backline.

Casson could do just as good a job for Quins as Allen does for us.

Hopper - well all I can say is that as an ex-openside I would have loved to see him playing for the opposition.

[yappysnap]

Hopper is just too dicey for me, yes he can be electric but at what cost? Lowe is the best option.

[Poorfour]

Last season, Hopper really worked on his positional game and is now much closer to Lowe, and much more similar in style, but Lowe is still first choice (and very underrated) imho.

Casson has been too fragile, but has a reading of the game that reminds me of Greenwood and an amazing win: loss ratio. If he can stay fit for a run, I think he has international potential.

[yappysnap]

I've got to say I didn't really see that Poorfour, he always looked like he was rushing out of the line in D to me, and when he does tackle it's often not enough to put the oppo down quickly. Don't get me wrong I really rate Hopper and when he first played for Quins said he'd be in and around the Eng set up as he offers more electricity then any other EQ 13. But he just makes things a little bit bum clenchingly tight at times.

[logansrun38]

yappysnap, do you actually watch Quins play?

[Poorfour]

Tally, until the middle of last season, I'd have agreed with you, but Hopper's defence has become much more considered in 2013

[logansrun38]

His defence was very good last season. He was just utterly blunt in attack

[yappysnap]

Tally, until the middle of last season, I'd have agreed with you, but Hopper's defence has become much more considered in 2013

I don't think he played too much in 2013, it has improved I just don't feel it's good enough for a top four club.

[logansrun38]

Quins wont be a top 4 club next season

[HongKongCherry]

Curiosity got the better of me, I clicked "display this post" and immediately regretted it  

[yappysnap]

Haha don't give in HKC!

What are Goaws pre season games like? I noticed your new kit as well, truly horrible. Makes me appreciate the beauty of Quins simplistic design  

[HongKongCherry]

Our kit is absolutely vile. You say your design is simplistic, but seriously how hard is it to do cherry and white hoops?! The frustrating thing is we'll have to put up with this shirt for the next 2 seasons!

Our pre-season games are pretty tough, so should set up up nicely for the start of the season. We have away games at Toulon and Munster and we then have back to back home games on the same day against Plymouth and Scarlets. So hopefully the team will be fit and ready to go against our recent nemesis Sale! Although we don't want to be out of the blocks too quickly and fall into our usual mistake of being out of form by the end of the season. I think Quins fell into this trap slightly last year too.

[yappysnap]

Yea we got away with it the season before partly due to lack of injuries and also less call ups. Didn't happen this time though and you could see the boys were knackered by the end of the season, Leicester and Sarries on the other hand were just hitting form and putting teams to the sword. ( of course if every team tried this then the first half of the season would be very boring!!)

[yappysnap]

Got to say on the kit front I really like how ONeills have dealt with our shirts, really nice looking, a little different from the classic design but to my mind the changes are for the better. Really like the away kits especially and gym kit.

[yappysnap]

Just got myself some tickets to the home friendly against Gkasgow. Can not wait for the season to start!

Oh and fairly sure I spotted Kennedy the other day as well, worryingly he's tall but pretty lanky looking, def not a replacement for Kohn.

[HongKongCherry]

I know what you mean yappy. I just want the season to hurry up and start. My impatience is compounded by the fact I shall be missing the 7s at Kingsholm next week, so I have to wait until the end of August, albeit for a double header friendly.

I had hoped to see Robshaw move to 6 and Wallace become a regular starter at 7, but in light of Kohn's retirement and Kennedy's signing I can see COS wanting to keep playing Mo to provide some bulk to the pack; whilst I may not think Robshaw is an out and out 7, he is also far, far too good not to be playing.

[Sponsored content]