Harlequins not quite strong enough against league leaders

After disappointingly losing the only training session between Christmas and the first match back to a waterlogged pitch, Harlequins opted to arrive at the opposition pitches early to run through so quick drills.

Boasting one of the largest squads I think I have ever seen in a Quins shirt, the day was looking good, once we got onto the pitch however it was obvious that a lot of us were rusty from too many mince pies.

As it got to within the hour of kick off, I was getting rather worried as there wasn't many opposition, did I have the right time or worse were we at the wrong ground. Then the referee came over and explained that there were problems with the trains and that the opposition were going to be late.

Not ideal, and to compound the matter the lines on the pitch and been washed away in the rain and no one had put out any flags, so it was going to be interesting playing on this pitch.

We started the match kicking off playing into the sun and soon after came the first scrum, now I know what I was expecting coming into this match, a team that has thrashed all comers with ease, so when our scrum pushed them back about 5m it was a little shocking. Thus started a period of pressure by Quins with scrum after scrum pushing them back. For the first time, but definitely not the last the referee made a bemusing call and penalised Quins at the scrum allowing Crags to clear their lines.

From there it was clear why Crags had been thrashing everyone in sight, their 8 through 15 were very quick and all had a very good off loading game, Quins managed a close shave though as Crags crossed the line but the player failed to spot the very small dead ball area, gifting Quins a 22 drop out rather than a restart.

After this brief hiccup Quins fowards were dominating once again, and after a few phases Sam Asfahani broke though the line an offload to the ever present Dave Love who managed to offload out of the tackle much like Maa Nonu against England saw Si Rowland put Si Morgan into a little bit of space which he exploited to power over the line to score. George Jacques converted and after 25 minutes Quins were beating the league leaders 0-7

Crags didn't waste too much time and were soon getting there back running again. Putting their centre over the line in the corner, the kicker then missing the conversion, 5-7.

On the restart George hung one up and Luke Nugent put a huge hit on the receiver causing a knock on. Cue the forwards to bully up front again, making yards and with their tails up Quins were awarded a penalty, rather than taking the points we opted to turn the screw with another scrum, unfortunately Crags managed to wheel it around and reverse the put in. In hindsight the 3 points probably would have been the better option, but as my old coach used to say Hindsight is the best kicker in the world, he always managed to score.

With the seconds ticking away in the first half Quins were awarded another penalty, with this being the last act of the half, this time we took the point, George who is usually very good with the boot and was 1 from 1 just put it wide, and so ended the half with Quins leading 5-7. I would guess the only time this season that Crags had been behind at the half.

Playing the second half without the sun in our eyes, Quins were looking to get an early score. But again we learned why Crags are top of the table, as they have the ability to score from anywhere on the pitch, something they were more than happy to show us, coupled with some inaccuracies, not finding touch with penalty kicks, and a lot of missed one on one tackles, Quins found themselves conceding three tries in quick succession, that were both converted with very good kicks. 26-7 to crags.

Quins not losing their heads responded playing their game, lots of short balls and pick and goes, were making inroads. With Crags constantly being penalised for being offside, Quins took a succession of tap and goes, until the inevitable scrummaging started again, for some reason Quins waited until they had pushed Crags basically of the pitch before Paul Hibbert pounced on the loose ball to score Quins second try. Quins were unable to add the extras. 26-12. Quins were definitely not out of it.

Crags then put the game out of reach with another try with a huge forward pass that was somehow missed. Not giving up Quins fought back into Crags' 22 and with one of the last acts of the game Sam Asfahani broke the line again but was brought down agonisingly short of the line. Crags were awarded a penalty in the resulting ruck, and ambitiously tried to run it from their own line, the attack and the match ended on a knock on, final score 33-12.

Ending Quins' winning run was tough, but there were plenty of positives to take from their match. Firstly the numbers seem to be growing and growing and it was fantastic to see so many people at the game.

Secondly because of training being cancelled this was the first time in a month that we had all seen each other let alone played a match, and to push Crags that close was fantastic, we conceded less and scored more than any other team they have played.

A quite likely scenario is that we will meet Crags in the play offs, and after that match I see no reason that if we improve 5% across the boards why we can't push them all the way.