Harlequins 15/16 Thread

by yappysnap Mon 12 Oct 2015, 12:48 pm

Our squad (pinched from CAW):

HARLEQUINS Senior Squad

Name DoB Position Contract
Rob Buchanan (13/05/91) Hooker 2015/16
Joe Gray (05/08/88) Hooker 2015/16
Dave Ward (21/05/85) Hooker 2015/16

Will Collier (05/05/91) TH Prop 2017/18
Adam Jones (08/03/81) TH prop 2015/16
Matt Shields (12/02/91) TH Prop 2015/16
Kyle Sinckler (30/03/93) TH Prop 2016/17

Owen Evans (19/02/89) LH Prop
Mark Lambert (19/02/85) LH Prop 2016/17
Joe Marler (07/07/90) LH Prop 2015/16

James Horwill (29/05/85) Lock 2017/18
Charlie Matthews (23/07/91) Lock 2015/16
George Merrick (04/10/92) Lock 2016/17
Sam Twomey (09/05/92) Lock 2015/16

Jack Clifford (12/02/93) Flanker/No. 8 2015/16
Chris Robshaw (04/06/86) Flanker 2015/16
Luke Wallace (02/10/90) Flanker 2016/17

Nick Easter (15/08/78) Number 8 2016/17
Mathew Luamanu (04/03/88) Number 8 ?
Netani Talei (19/03/83) Number 8 ?

Danny Care (02/01/87) Scrum-half 2015/16
Karl Dickson (02/08/82) Scrum-half 2016/17
Tito Tebaldi (23/09/87) Scrum-half ?

Ben Botica (07/10/89) Fly-half 2016/17
Nick Evans (14/08/80) Fly-half 2015/16
Tim Swiel (04/06/93) Fly-half ?

Matt Hopper (29/01/85) Centre 2016/17
George Lowe (22/10/89) Centre 2015/16
Jamie Roberts (08/11/86) Centre ?
Harry Sloan (16/06/94) Centre 2015/16
Winston Stanley (11/02/89) Centre ?

Ollie Lindsay-Hague (08/10/90) Wing/Fullback ?
Tim Visser (29/05/87) Winger ?
harlie Walker (23/12/92) Winger 2016/17
Marland Yarde (20/04/92) Winger 2015/16

Mike Brown (04/09/85) Fullback 2015/16
Ross Chisholm (19/10/90) Fullback 2016/17

A very strong looking squad, with a lot of internationals and experience to help the youngsters coming in. Fingers crossed but this season may be a good one for the men in quarters.

COYQ's!

by Poorfour Mon 12 Oct 2015, 1:17 pm

Best squad we've had in some time. Perhaps a bit light at loosehead, and short of experience at lock - but Jones, Horwill and Easter should be able to provide a lot of education and guidance.

Odd back row balance, but between the 6 players we have at least 3 who can play in each position. We could be exposed during the 6N if Clifford or Wallace gets called up.

Swiel was brought back primarily as fullback cover, according to COS, so it might be better to list him as Fullback/flyhalf.

by propdavid_london Mon 12 Oct 2015, 1:37 pm

Im quietly optomistic too about this squad.
Its the men in barcodes now!

by ChequeredJersey Tue 13 Oct 2015, 10:49 pm

If Marler can get his mojo back and Robshaw isn't hit too hard by the world cup failings and Nev can find his old spark, we are in for a treat!

If not, could get nasty though

by ChequeredJersey Tue 13 Oct 2015, 10:51 pm

Don't forget James Chisholm might be able to step up ok at backrow if needed, and covers 6 and 8

by HammerofThunor Wed 14 Oct 2015, 8:39 pm

Anyone follow Dave Ward on Twitter. Just seen on another forum he's had a massive go at Tom Wood.

by yappysnap Wed 14 Oct 2015, 9:13 pm

Yea a bit of handbags I think about Wood's comments in an interview. Haven't bothered to read the article but all these Poopie childish spats on Twitter between players and ex-players are all just a bit depressing and embarrassing.

If these guys have a problem with someone, Frak grow up and either call them or speak to them direct, don do it in public infront of thousands.

by propdavid_london Thu 15 Oct 2015, 1:32 pm

Opening Team for Friday -
Harlequins Team
15. Ollie Lindsay-Hague
14. Marland Yarde
13. George Lowe
12. Harry Sloan
11. Charlie Walker
10. Nick Evans©
9. Karl Dickson

1. Mark Lambert
2. Dave Ward
3. Adam Jones
4. James Horwill
5. Sam Twomey
6. Jack Clifford
7. Luke Wallace
8. Mat Luamanu

16. Joe Gray
17. Joe Marler
18. Kyle Sinckler
19. Charlie Matthews
20. Nick Easter
21. Tito Tebaldi
22. Ben Botica
23. Mike Brown

by propdavid_london Thu 15 Oct 2015, 1:34 pm

No Danny Care - has he picked up an injury somewhere? Looks like a good selection to me, I like the look of Sloan and Lowe together but would have preferred Swiel to OLH.

by Poorfour Thu 15 Oct 2015, 5:53 pm

COS has reported that Care has a back spasm but will be back next week

by yappysnap Sat 17 Oct 2015, 11:45 am

Good win for the team, I haven't watched it yet by the feedback on CAW we were rusty, as to be expected but did enough.

by Poorfour Sat 17 Oct 2015, 1:02 pm

I was pretty happy with the performance, given how strong Wasps have been recently. Quins looked in control for most of the game and Wasps generally had the better of the ref. Still some kinks to iron out, but some good carrying and tackling.

by propdavid_london Tue 20 Oct 2015, 1:16 pm

Yes, I've only seen highlights but it was great seeing Lowe back to some form and NEV pulling the strings.

by **LondonTiger** Tue 20 Oct 2015, 3:00 pm

At some point this season Evans will b ehaving a break, probably due to injury, but also maybe to draw his pension. Who will stand in?

by sad_gimp Tue 20 Oct 2015, 3:07 pm

Botica and Swiel are next in line at 10...Botica also covers center and Swiel has been played at 15 but primarily 10s.

by **LondonTiger** Tue 20 Oct 2015, 3:30 pm

Big step down really as Botica has not stepped up as was hoped, and Swiel looks solid more than anything.

by propdavid_london Tue 20 Oct 2015, 3:37 pm

Botica hasnt really had any continuity of playing 10 - unfortunately thats the case with most backups though.
I had thought when NEv renewed his contract that there was going to be some staged step down in appearances, and more of a gradual transition into coaching....I could be wrong though.

by Poorfour Tue 20 Oct 2015, 3:47 pm

LondonTiger wrote:Big step down really as Botica has not stepped up as was hoped, and Swiel looks solid more than anything.

Swiel's placekicking was shaky last year but his running and passing game was excellent and fitted in very well to Quins' style; he's got serious gas and a good eye for a gap. Botica on the other hand has a great boot but hasn't shown the vision to run a game - he's efficient rather than game-changing.

Early days yet for both of them, but Quins are going to have to back one or t'other (or both - they could work as a 10/12 combo) before too long.

by Poorfour Tue 20 Oct 2015, 3:49 pm

And yes, it will be a big step down. NEv at his peak is one of the best flyhalves in world rugby. Short of recruiting Handre Pollard or George Ford, pretty much any young replacement would be a step down.

by **LondonTiger** Tue 20 Oct 2015, 4:02 pm

Though to be fair - while he looked in rude health at the weekend, his form of the last two years has been some way below his best.

by sad_gimp Tue 20 Oct 2015, 4:55 pm

Got this new academy lad just join us too, Luke something?...guess we'll be seeing him in the A league.

by yappysnap Tue 20 Oct 2015, 10:25 pm

Yea last seasons Nev was a fairly ropey model, hopefully this seasons is a lot better.

by Poorfour Wed 21 Oct 2015, 7:06 am

This is the first season in a while that he's not had his leg strapped up heavily. Based on his play last week, it looks like his bad knee might have stabilised. If he can manage not to damage it again, we could see much more of the old Nev this year.

by yappysnap Wed 21 Oct 2015, 8:29 am

So my preferred team for Tigers would be:

Marler, Ward, Jones
Twomey, Horwill
Clifford, Robshaw
Easter
Care
Nev, Sloan, Lowe
Walker, Yarde, Brown

Gray, Lambert, Synkler, Mathews, Luamanu, Tibaldi, Swiel, Stanley

by **George Carlin** Wed 21 Oct 2015, 8:34 am

Visser last played on 3 October (against the Springboks) so it wouldn't be the maddest thing if he was available this weekend.

by propdavid_london Wed 21 Oct 2015, 9:05 am

I'm not sure how much time Tim has spent with Quins though - Its a bit of a big ask to drop him in against Tigers.
Could make an appearance from the bench perhaps.

by **LondonTiger** Wed 21 Oct 2015, 9:49 am

yappysnap wrote:So my preferred team for Tigers would be:

Marler, Ward, Jones
Twomey, Horwill
Clifford, Robshaw
Easter
Care
Nev, Sloan, Lowe
Walker, Yarde, Brown

Gray, Lambert, Synkler, Mathews, Luamanu, Tibaldi, Swiel, Stanley

Wasn't Wallace MotM at the weekend?

by yappysnap Wed 21 Oct 2015, 9:54 am

Was he?

I'd be happy with either him or Clifford at 6 tbh.

Don't think Visser will come in yet as he wont have trained with the team, we have a few wings too so no need to rush him.

by sad_gimp Wed 21 Oct 2015, 10:20 am

I'd prefer to have Easter on the bench these days to cover back/second row and give Clifford/Wallace more game time.

Both of them are going to pulling up trees to get in contention for an England shakeup.

Saying that, Marler's turnover to close out the game was perfection...why can't we do that in white?!

by yappysnap Mon 26 Oct 2015, 11:43 am

Well I'm not quite sure how we lost that!

Composure in the 22's is the big thing I guess, we put ourselves under pressure by not just kicking and clearing the ball quickly when receiving in our 22(sound familiar) and when in theirs we made poor decisions, dropped passes etc.

Stunned that DC opted not to kick for goal at the end too, putting it down to a rush of blood in his first game back as captain though.

Positives- THE BACKROW! Two games two great performances, flankers in particular were out standing, just where is Robshaw going to come back in? As right now I wouldn't bench Clifford or Wallace. Especially Wallace who's finally showing that talent we knew he possessed.

LOCKS - Giving away a few too many penalties but they're a 1000x's better then last season.

by yappysnap Mon 26 Oct 2015, 12:00 pm

HARLEQUINS HAS ANNOUNCED THE SQUAD TO PLAY NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS THIS EVENING AT THE STOOP FOR ITS COMPETITIVE FIXTURE ACROSS THE RFU AND WRU GOVERNING BODIES.

Entry to tonight�s match, which kicks-off at 19:30, is free for Harlequins Members and �5 on the gate for general admissions.

The team mixes youth and experience as the players look to obtain valuable competitive game time and push for places in the senior matchday 23.

Among many first team regulars, and captained by Matt Hopper, first year Academy members Robbie Nairn and Archie White start, with Calum Waters, Luke White and Sam Aspland-Robinson named among the replacements.

Also named among the replacements are Elite Playing Development Group members Dino Lamb-Cona and Gabriel Ibitoye.

Harlequins team � kick-off 19:30
15. Tim Swiel
14. Henry Cheeseman
13. Matt Hopper�
12. Winston Stanley
11. Robbie Nairn
10. Ben Botica
9. Tito Tebaldi

1. Owen Evans
2. Rob Buchanan
3. Will Collier
4. Kieran Treadwell
5. Charlie Matthews
6. Archie White
7. James Chisholm
8. Netani Talei

16. Charlie Piper
17. Seb Adeniran-Olule
18. Josh Ibuanokpe
19. Stan South
20. Dino Lamb-Cona
21. Calum Waters
22. Luke White
23. Joe Marchant
24. Sam Aspland-Robinson
25. Gabriel Ibitoye

by ChequeredJersey Tue 27 Oct 2015, 2:34 pm

Like the look of that team for NG Dragons

Robshaw will come back in, maybe off bench at first, but when he's playing for us again we will remember exactly how good he is, esp at AP level and esp at raising the team. We can rotate the backrow and Easter covering lock means Clifford can slot in at 8 too. No worries, it's a good dilemma to have.

Happy with 5 points so far, happy with new players so far, amazed we lost the last game from where we were but could be worse. We look better than last season even if the last match was average (better than crap!)

by yappysnap Tue 27 Oct 2015, 4:35 pm

I guess it is only two games in, and where we'd usually have these games in lovely late summer sun it's cold and wet for them instead, I think the majority of this season will be low scoring and a bit muddled for most teams.

by **George Carlin** Tue 27 Oct 2015, 5:07 pm

yappysnap wrote:HARLEQUINS HAS ANNOUNCED THE SQUAD TO PLAY NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS THIS EVENING AT THE STOOP FOR ITS COMPETITIVE FIXTURE ACROSS THE RFU AND WRU GOVERNING BODIES.

Entry to tonight�s match, which kicks-off at 19:30, is free for Harlequins Members and �5 on the gate for general admissions.

The team mixes youth and experience as the players look to obtain valuable competitive game time and push for places in the senior matchday 23.

Among many first team regulars, and captained by Matt Hopper, first year Academy members Robbie Nairn and Archie White start, with Calum Waters, Luke White and Sam Aspland-Robinson named among the replacements.

Also named among the replacements are Elite Playing Development Group members Dino Lamb-Cona and Gabriel Ibitoye.

Harlequins team � kick-off 19:30
15. Tim Swiel
14. Henry Cheeseman
13. Matt Hopper�
12. Winston Stanley
11. Robbie Nairn
10. Ben Botica
9. Tito Tebaldi

1. Owen Evans
2. Rob Buchanan
3. Will Collier
4. Kieran Treadwell
5. Charlie Matthews
6. Archie White
7. James Chisholm
8. Netani Talei

16. Charlie Piper
17. Seb Adeniran-Olule
18. Josh Ibuanokpe
19. Stan South
20. Dino Lamb-Cona
21. Calum Waters
22. Luke White
23. Joe Marchant
24. Sam Aspland-Robinson
25. Gabriel Ibitoye

Wow - completely forgot that Robbie Nairn had joined Quins academy. That kid is seriously quick. Scored a bucketload of tries for Scotland at U18 level. One to watch

by funnyExiledScot Tue 27 Oct 2015, 5:15 pm

Didn't realise that Netani Talei had ended up at Quins. Talei and Visser are two of Edinburgh's finest, although only one of them can tackle......

by ChequeredJersey Tue 27 Oct 2015, 5:57 pm

Apparently Swiel looked pretty good in beating Dragons comfortably

by propdavid_london Thu 29 Oct 2015, 3:34 pm

Whats this RFU WRU fixture all about? Is it the Anglo welsh cup or something akin to the British and Irish cup?

by sad_gimp Thu 29 Oct 2015, 4:02 pm

Think it's just a friendly for development...I guess wales don't have much of an A league?

by propdavid_london Thu 29 Oct 2015, 4:07 pm

Ah OK - is it just a 1 off then? Cheers mid_gen

by yappysnap Thu 29 Oct 2015, 5:07 pm

Yea just a one off friendly Prop.

Although it may happen again I guess, I think it's because there's no A league and no Anglo Welsh so the club finding something for the other players to do.

by sad_gimp Mon 02 Nov 2015, 1:08 pm

Looking pretty good after 3 games then, better if he hadn't thrown away the Leicester, but still. Signings are proving good so far, I think our first team are going to be a match for anyone.

Marler
Ward
Jones
Horwill
Twomey/Matthews
Clifford/Wallace
Luamanu/Easter
Robshaw
Care
Yarde
Evans
Roberts
Lowe
Visser
Brown

Speaking of which, when is Dr Roberts going to be taking to the field? I see he's playing for Cambridge?

by Poorfour Mon 02 Nov 2015, 1:10 pm

Roberts is due in camp after the Varsity match, so mid December. At a guess, he'll make his debut a couple of weeks after that. Big Game 8 is a reasonable bet... though Sloan has started pretty well and he might not walk straight into the team.

by ChequeredJersey Mon 02 Nov 2015, 1:10 pm

Don't think we've paid to get him till after Varsity.

by **LondonTiger** Mon 02 Nov 2015, 1:15 pm

Will Dave Ward really be first choice?

For all his abilities in the loose, hi splay at scrums and lineouts makes Tom Youngs look like the greatest set piece technician ever.

by sad_gimp Mon 02 Nov 2015, 1:35 pm

To be honest though I'd be happy with any of them starting (Ward, Gray, Buchanan)....Ward's throwing isn't that bad....his breakdown work is phenomenal, and great in the loose.

Shame he's not a few inches taller mind....

by Poorfour Mon 02 Nov 2015, 1:41 pm

Each of our hookers offers something very different - when fit and in form, Gray probably has the best lineout and is a decent carrier; Ward's basics are a bit wobbly but his breakdown skills are excellent; Buchanan is probably the best carrier, and adds the most to the scrum (but has taken a long time to come back from his pectoral injury - hope he can rediscover form this year).

In previous years when they've all been fit, COS has been happy to rotate them on a "half a game, two out of every three games" basis, though last year we were lucky to have any one of them fit at any given point in time.

by ChequeredJersey Mon 02 Nov 2015, 5:04 pm

I actually think Ward is pretty good at hooking. Not at pushing, but at getting danger ball out of the scrum quickly and competing against the head

by Poorfour Mon 02 Nov 2015, 5:48 pm

ChequeredJersey wrote:I actually think Ward is pretty good at hooking. Not at pushing, but at getting danger ball out of the scrum quickly and competing against the head

On second thoughts, yes. His throwing can be very wayward, but he did do very well at getting the ball back out of a retreating scrum last year. Didn't he also take a couple against the head?

by yappysnap Mon 02 Nov 2015, 6:24 pm

Gray has started the season really poorly too, dropping passes and a dodgy line out. I've never rated him that much as I just don't think he's physical enough for a first choice hooker, last season his tackling was woeful at times.

Ward if he could throw better, would be perfect.

by propdavid_london Thu 05 Nov 2015, 2:03 pm

Harlequins team
15. Mike Brown
14. Marland Yarde
13. George Lowe
12. Matt Hopper
11. Tim Visser
10. Nick Evans
9. Danny Care©

1. Joe Marler
2. Dave Ward
3. Will Collier
4. Charlie Matthews
5. Sam Twomey
6. Chris Robshaw
7. Luke Wallace
8. Nick Easter

16. Joe Gray
17. Mark Lambert
18. Kyle Sinckler
19. Jack Clifford
20. James Chisholm
21. Karl Dickson
22. Ben Botica
23. Ollie Lindsay-Hague

Sale Sharks
15. Mike Haley, 14. Tom Arscott, 13. Sam James, 12. Sam Tuitupou, 11. Nev Edwards, 10. Danny Cipriani, 9. Peter Stringer, 1. Ross Harrison, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Vadim Cobilas, 4. Jonathan Mills, 5. Bryn Evans, 6. Dan Braid (capt.), 7. TJ Ioane, 8. Josh Beaumont 16. Neil Briggs, 17. James Flynn, 18. Brian Mujati, 19. Andrei Ostrikov, 20. Magnus Lund, 21. James Mitchell, 22. Nick Macleod, 23. Johnny Leota.

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