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!!!!

[Hubert Davenport]

Quins getting hammered! Pathetic performance.

[Hubert Davenport]

1 win at home this season. What a load of rubbish.

[ChequeredJersey]

I missed everything due to being at my girlfriend's concert, but a quick look at the facts shows:

1 win at home, true, not really good enough
The performance was apparently pretty good
I couldn't give less of a Poopie about the results of the LV Cup, it's a possible trophy but given the injuries etc and how we started the AP if rather we rest players who need it and blood young players like 18 year old Chisholm
Hammered obviously means lose by a max of 7 points at any point and 1 point in the end in your bizarre dictionary
I take your overly negative comments to be an acceptance of my offer and eagerly await your crawling back after the next AP game


To put things in perspective, LAMBERT was starting at tight head

[sad_gimp]

Don't feed the troll. How many times has he been banned?

[Hubert Davenport]

Out the LV cup, out the HC cup, mid table in Prem, attendances down. Face facts, Quins are going backwards.

[Ozzy3213]

My god you're boring Hubert.

[ChequeredJersey]

Boring and wrong, we aren't actually out if either competition

[Hubert Davenport]

Sure, Quins will win the rest of their the HC games! What a joker you are! Face facts - Quins are going backwards. You're irrational positivity is making you look very stupid.

[ChequeredJersey]

As is your inability to spell, anyway looks like I'm blocking you for what is now, I reckon, the 3rd time on this forum, the fact you have not been banned again yet is a tad ridiculous, not because you are WUMming Quins, that's something I could live with, but because as far as I can see once again you only exist on this site to do that alone and have offered nothing constructive anywhere

[ChequeredJersey]

I was right about everyone on my foes list getting banned though, right? Long may the pattern continue

[yappysnap]

Sky reporting Eastmond's had a falling out at Bath. Could we tempt him to London? He'd love playing for us!

[Hubert Davenport]

As is your inability to spell,  anyway looks like I'm blocking you for what is now, I reckon, the 3rd time on this forum, the fact you have not been banned again yet is a tad ridiculous, not because you are WUMming Quins, that's something I could live with, but because as far as I can see once again you only exist on this site to do that alone and have offered nothing constructive anywhere

Like a religious zealot who refuses to believe that religion us made up nonsense, your steadfast refusal to acknowledge the facts of Quin's downward spiral is very childish. There is nothing positive about Quins form at the moment and there hasn't been for a while.

[Biltong]

Hubert, you need to stop insulting posters immediately.

Disagreeing with another poster's view does not give you the right to bederogatory of their person or opinion.

[quinsforever]

to the sound of " a dog with a wggly tail"

There once was a hubert on a forum,
He had such a dazzling style,
We all decided to ignore 'em,
Now we wont see him for a while...

[ChequeredJersey]

No, I expect him to be on here, admitting he was wrong, after our next victory

[quinsforever]

hope springs eternal

[propdavid_london]

Yes, I just read that article too Yappy - on Eastmond that is.
Someone of his skills could be very useful at Quins. But only if he intends to put in 100%, we don't quite know what went on at Bath - but there was mention of him wanting to return to League.

[yappysnap]

I heard be was frustrated playing 40 mins of rugby and not getting the ball once. I don't think he'd have that issue with us!

Hopefully England game time would keep him in Union as well. He'd be a good foil to JTH/Molenaar

[BamBam]

Can understand his frustration, for a kid that talented not to get his hands on the ball once in 40 mins is ridiculous.

[Hubert Davenport]

JTH is rubbish and will hopefully be gone next season.

[Hubert Davenport]

Hubert, you need to stop insulting posters immediately.

Disagreeing with another poster's view does not give you the right to bederogatory of their person or opinion.

No insult there. Perhaps if I would have called him a childish c@ck then I would agree.

Perhaps you should "moderate" some of the appalling anti English remarks on this forum instead?

[Ozzy3213]

Bye bye Hubert.

[AsLongAsBut100ofUs]

Bye bye Hubert.

A sad loss to the board  

[thebandwagonsociety]

Conor O'Shea is sticking around until 2016. Good to see stability in the managerial positions. Do the commentary gigs on Irish TV distract him from his proper job?

[quinsforever]

Bye bye Hubert.

A sad loss to the board  

wow - he literally sent himself off! came from nowhere too. took TJ hours to get that kind of response from GE.

[Jenifer McLadyboy]

Is he Logan's Run? And wasn't he someone else in between?

[ChequeredJersey]

Conor O'Shea is sticking around until 2016. Good to see stability in the managerial positions. Do the commentary gigs on Irish TV distract him from his proper job?

 

I don't think so, no, people have said his gameplan has stopped working, but actually it's just as effective when performed against the sides it used to work against, and the sides it is poor against it has always struggled against and it has been tweaked. It just doesn't work if the players execute it poorly, and when the ground making 12 role is injured

[propdavid_london]

Agree CJ - The gameplan was always less effective against the more physical teams. For there to be any success the accuracy levels have to be very high and that's what's been lacking for the most part.

Yes, there has been an issue with the hard running 12, that seems to have mostly been addressed now with Molenar until JTH is back and in form.
But the other requirement is a stable set-piece, we need parity as a minimum and with the loss of Kohn and JJ we've been lacking some beef.

Apart from that its business as usual. Hopefully the game this weekend against Gloucester the chaps can kick on after some disappointing LV games.

[Poorfour]

The LV games have looked to me to be more about giving injury returnees some game time than anything else. With a bit of luck the return of Matthews to the second row will give Collier a bit more oomph in the scrum, and I don't think we have too many issues at loosehead given Marler's recent international shifts.

I saw some similarities between how England were trying to play against Arg and NZ and the Quins game plan - certainly there was a lot of attempted offloading and moving the point of attack, although England were trying to play with Tomkins as the pivot and it wasn't quite working.

I think it needs a lot of intensity from the pack for it to work - and a ref who is sensitive to players killing the ball. The teams we struggle against are less the really physical ones than the ones who are good at slowing the ball down.

[yappysnap]

Slowing the ball down, rushing up (off side) and gang tackling are the things that do for us usually.

If we can counter those then we'll usually win most games.

[Toast]

Quins looked great against 14 men at the weekend. Shame they cant score tries against 15 men though

[yappysnap]

That is a shame, perhaps the gameplan is to always make sure the opposition go down to 14. If so that's very cunning of CoS!

[Toast]

Just an observation. Same thing happened at Welford Road.

[HongKongCherry]

That is a shame, perhaps the gameplan is to always make sure the opposition go down to 14. If so that's very cunning of CoS!

That'll explain why Martyn Thomas was binned because I can't find any other reason!

[ChequeredJersey]

Hmmmm

[nth]

Oh goodie, he's back!

Can we have a thread taking bets on how long this incarnation will last?

[ChequeredJersey]

Aside from obviousness we have no proof that it's the same person, so I'm not sure that's appropriate.

[yappysnap]

Agreed CJ. (Although I wouldn't bet against it).

HKC, CoS had a word with Martyn and the ref and they agreed it was for the best for everyone if Martyn took the fall for us.

[HongKongCherry]

CJ I admire your sense of fairness. Me I just think he's a plonker

Yappy, in which case you're most welcome. I've always had a soft spot for Quins, but I will require you to repay the favour in the return match!

[sad_gimp]

Think we've been doing OK considering injuries.

Most importantly, I am moving to Germany in Feb after three years in Hong Kong....first thing I'm doing I'm doing is heading back to London for a weekend and getting my mates down to the stoop for a few proper beers, rugby and a jolly hog

[beshocked]

Quins looked great against 14 men at the weekend. Shame they cant score tries against 15 men though

It's not Quins fault that Gloucester can't seem to keep 15 men on the pitch.

Plus Quins aren't the only side to exploit Gloucester disciplinary issues. 

[yappysnap]

Quins looked great against 14 men at the weekend. Shame they cant score tries against 15 men though

It's not Quins fault that Gloucester can't seem to keep 15 men on the pitch.

Plus Quins aren't the only side to exploit Gloucester disciplinary issues. 

Too true! It seems like everyone is having words with their players about taking the fall!

[Toast]

Another beating in the N/E beckons for Quins tomorrow. Their forwards will get shoved all over the pitch.

[ChequeredJersey]

Once again, will you come on here a say you were wrong if they don't, or will you make excuses, talk about 14 men and say how Quins should have lost?

What is the point in being an antifan? Surely it's the biggest waste of your time feasible?

[Toast]

Quins are a team in decline. Get used to it.

[ChequeredJersey]

Avoidance of the question...

[HammerofThunor]

Another beating in the N/E beckons for Quins tomorrow. Their forwards will get shoved all over the pitch.

Don't suppose you're willing to share lottery numbers are you?

[ChequeredJersey]

Once again, will you come on here a say you were wrong if they don't, or will you make excuses, talk about 14 men and say how Quins should have lost?

What is the point in being an antifan? Surely it's the biggest waste of your time feasible?

I'm waiting...

[Toast]

Excellent win from a very clinical Quins side.

[ChequeredJersey]

Thank you

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