Quins fight for Welcome win

In what looked like lovely conditions staring out of my window on the morning, turned out to be extremely blustery conditions as Harlequin Amateurs welcomed Feltham to Broom Road following nearly a month without a competitive match. Quins had a handful of players return this week from injuries subsiding or work schedules lightening, which was a welcomed sight.

The match begun with Quins being pinned back inside their own 10 meter line. This was through a combination of stiff defence by Feltham and the sudden thought that each member of the Quins team was a love child of Sonny Bill Williams (I can assure you they are not!!). Offloads either going to floor or forward had Feltham’s tails up and Quins being frustrated. With that being said a few penalties being given away and Quins found themselves inside Feltham’s 22. A driving maul brought down on the 5 meter line saw an opportune moment where Quins 9 fizzed a pass down the blind side to Rockstar Jimmy Lynch who performed a marvellous powerslide to touch down in the corner. The scores remained at 5-0 when the kick was missed from the touchline as the ball grazed the upright. Empowered by that score, Quins saw a similar driving maul inside the 22 come to a halt shy of Feltham’s try line only for George Jaques, who returns from a 3 month injury lay off, to snipe down the right side of the ruck and touch down under the posts. Try and conversion for George Jaques, 12-0. Quins continued to strive forward with heavy carries by Rocco Archiadicono and Luke Nugent through the middle which allowed a simple pass through the hands and Shamim Eceolaza to touch down on the right side of the field. 19-0 with the conversion slotted. Quins didn’t stop there though, more fantastic work from the Quins forwards saw a good platform going forward. James Summerset was handed the ball on the tryline to score*. With the conversion missed Quins went into the break with a resounding 24-0 lead.

Coming out invigorated with the wind behind them things looked to start well for Quins when the restart was fumbled by Feltham. The resulting scrum had Quins push wide but fumble shy of the line. Feltham were able to capitalize on this by clearing their lines and causing another knock on further up the field. The pressure on Quins looked sure to be too much but resolute defending saw the scoreline remain 24-0 after 15 minutes into the second half. Feltham began to concede penalties for high tackles and not moving from rucks which allowed Quins to pin the in their 22m. Seamus Walsh was able to score off a lineout not gathered for Quins first of the second half. 29-0. Having only ever previously scored in friendlies and not to be out down by his fellow forward, Harry Stark would be at the back of a maul driving maul to peel off, crash through the first would be tackler and roll out of a further 2 to score his first ever League Try for Quins Ams. The conversion was missed 36-0. With Feltham losing a man due to receiving a final team warning, Quins looked to take advantage and opted for a quick tap penalty. The headlines were written and the ball was thrown wide with two passes and the ball comfortably grasped by David Love’s hands. With a 5 man overlap he did what any prop would do 8 meters out from the line, go himself themselves, fail miserably and perfectly off load to the opposition for them to instead score on our tryline. Thank you Dave Love, 36-7. Despite the insider sabotage Quins were able to find themselves another score. George broke out of one tackle, stepped another before physically assaulting and running through the Feltham wing to score out wide on the right. Conversion again made 43-7. With 5 minutes left on the clock Feltham were, to their credit, still pushing forward trying to get points. A chip and chase from their fullback into the Quins 22 looked to have unlocked the quins defence, until the ball bounced back towards the Feltham tryline and into the arms of Tom Hammand. A commanding run forward and perfectly execute pass saw George complete his hat trick with an unopposed run under the posts. Jacob Ingold was delighted to be handed the kicking tee (which he owns bear in mind) and he slotted the conversion home. 50-7. With the game all but done a lapse in the defence of Quins saw the Feltham 9 snipe down the right hand side of the ruck and score under the posts with a drop kick conversion made.
Final score 50-14 to Harlequin Amateurs.

After a few weeks of not having enough players and games being cancelled, we were delighted to get the win today. D.o.D was a straight forward award for David Love whose assist to Feltham has been noted received a free pint. In a match where you win by a big margin the M.o.M was amore hotly contested. Chris Addis as always put in a sterling performance, George Jaques scored a Hat Trick and many others put in honourable mentions but I can’t be bothered to type the all out! That being said there was one man who is constantly criticized for not being confident enough or vocal enough in what he does on the field and that is James Summerset. He was outstanding in both of these aspects today and despite above suggesting it was a given try, James actually dummied his was from the half way line (almost certain it was the 22), stepped 1 player (he will tell you two though), and skipped out of a tackle 90% of the team wished was made to score a fantastic try and earn himself Man of the Match.

Quins will look to build on this in 2020 and push forward in the league. Anyone reading this and feel like they want to be involved please do so and come down to training with a friendly group on gents whose ability vary from not being able to catch a cold (the Addis’/Lovey) to the outright splendidly injured and retired (Povey). The banter also ranges from terrible to horrific but honestly it is worth giving a go.