Harlequins Lose in a Quagmire

After securing a venue late on a Friday, funnily enough the ground we originally going to play on became free again after we were told we couldn’t play on it, and after last week being rained off and training in a mud bath we were all keen for a good game.

The pitch was soft underfoot to say the least, at the end of the match is resembled Flanders Field more than a rugby pitch but it was not a shock to anyone that the conditions were poor.

The first half was a very even contest, the only difference was a well worked try by Old Isleworthians to put there outside centre over in the corner, a very good kick saw Quins trail 7-0 at the break. Not at all disheartened as we could easily argue we played better rugby for a lot of the 40 minutes.

Quickly in the second half after a rejig that saw George Jacques and Simon Rowland swap roles of 10 and 12, capitalised on the good work of the forwards so exploit a 2 on 1 and get George over the line, he converted his own try and tied the score 7-7.

From here on in Quins did a lot well but just couldn’t get the killer move to score, with George, Ash Armel-Close, Ed Barrett and Dave Love all making considerable yards. The lack of a cutting edge in the end was the difference of the teams as Old Isleworthians managed to take points from the opportunities that came their way. First a good back try playing down the slope with a suspicion of a forward pass and secondly an intercept from an attempted offload in our own 22, the opposition then kicked a penalty to make it 24-7 which was the score at the final whistle.

Some things that I feel should be pointed out that I didn’t get in the match report; Luke Nugent jumping at the front was fantastic in the line out securing our ball and nicking quite a lot against the throw.

Tom Feeney, Jack Timney both making their debuts and a welcome return to Tom Dean; first match back for Quins after injury.

We were meant to be playing their 2nd XV but after their 1st had their match cancelled their captain admitted that it was mainly their 1st team players on the pitch. Bearing in mind their 1st XV play in Herts/Middlesex 3 (the league we want to enter) their captain said after the match that we were on a par with or surpassing many teams in that league.

If the pitch had been drier it may have been a different story as the mud neutralised our powerful back line, but credit is due to the whole team for sticking it out in some of the worst pitch conditions I’ve seen.

The next two weeks sees two very big games, first this coming Saturday we have Hanwell at home for the last league game before the play offs, this will determine where we finish can what half of the draw we get. Next week we’ve got London French in the Middlesex Vase after it was rearranged from last week.

That means we have got to get down to training and make yourself available as early as possible please, there is a good chance that in two weeks time we will be in the hunt for three pieces of silverware with good draws. The business end of the season is upon us let’s make sure we give it all we got.