1st XV
Matches
Sat 25 Jan 2014
Kingston RFC 2s
3
47
Harlequin Amateurs Rugby Club
1st XV
Tries: A Addis, A Smail (3), A Armel-Close, G Jaques, P HibbertConversions: G Jaques (6)Yellow Carded: T Rider
Preperation for the Cup has Positives and Negative

Preperation for the Cup has Positives and Negative

Simon Rowland27 Jan 2014 - 10:13
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What was meant to be a preperation match for next weeks cup match see Harlequins record a comfortable win but lost two players to injury.

As preparation goes we did not have the best start to the day, with the Coach thinking it was a 14:30 kick off and the Team Secretary thinking it was a 14:00 kick off, the meet times got a little shaky. On top of that we had two no shows and people who couldn't leave work until later than they thought.

Never mind we eventually all got to Kingston's ground in Chessington at 13:45, kick off it turned out was at 14:15 so neither of us got it right. We started the match receiving the kick but playing down the slope in the first half, it was soon apparent that the referee was going to be very stringent around the ruck area with Harlequins conceding the first of many penalties for entering in the side. From the 22 Kingston's Fly Half slotted the penalty kick so take the lead 3-0.

The next 10-15 minutes was a battle of territory with not a lot happening. Now I must apologise, I've left it two days to write this and imbibed a bit too much beer on Saturday so the match report may not be an exact representation of what happened on the pitch.

But what we did realise was that whilst Kingston had an old lumpy pack that could go toe to toe with us in an arm wrestle, they didn't have much outside their Fly Half. So with some quick hands we were starting to make ground through our centres and wings.

Alec eventually broke a couple of tackles to see himself in a lot of space and touched down to record his first Try, George added the extras. Soon after the forwards were pushing on with some quick plays causing a two on one and Si Rowland but Alec over again for his brace, again George added the extras. To end the half Alec completed his hat trick, opting not to pass to George in space but instead deciding to rung through the most of the oppositions back line. George failed to convert and the score at the half was 3-19.

Unfortunately we suffered some pretty bad injuries in the first half, Sam Rickman after taking the weight of a Kingston forward on the side of his knee came off very gingerly, is has since transpired that he has torn a ligament in his knee, so we all wish him a speedy recovery. Not to be out done Jake Daniels managed to break a rib right on the stroke of half time. Hopefully both will recover with no complications and aren't in too much pain.

There was a complete change at half time, Gareth Chapman playing his first game in a Quins shirt for a few years came into the front row, Josh Carter moved to second row. Mitchell Collins after getting his first start was replaced by Tom Rider. Aaron Addis had substituted for Sam Rickman in the first half. Alec Smail moved to Fly Half, Si Rowland was replaced but the prodigal son, Ash playing his first game since SODAM was eager to get back on the pitch, and I have to say it was great seeing him playing again.

I missed the beginning of the second half as I was helping Sam Rickman get his stuff together as he tried to drive home before his knee seized up completely. I came out again to see us lined up to receive as apparently Ash had started his return perfectly with a try; George got the extras, 3-26.

Something I also missed was Tom Rider being sin binned, the ref had apparently warned him in the first half, which is interesting as he was on the bench in the first half. But Tom if you read this it is traditional al Quins that if you're sin binned you buy a crate of beer for everyone to share, keep this in mind for next week.

At this point in the match Kingston seemed to have given up the fight, this could be seen by George waltzing through the backline with little resistance to score Quins' fifth try, which he duly added two more too.

After some big hitting from Ash in defence he once again found himself running over people in attack, amazingly when clean through for his second, he passed the ball to Aaron to score, now this is the second time this season that Ash has passed rather than scoring and I'm starting to find it a bit unnerving. Anyway congratulations to Aaron Addis in scoring, George added the extras, 3-40.

Straight after kick off Paul scored...

Only joking I will write about it, probably one of the best individual tries of the season Paul caught the ball beat a couple of players, chipped over the defence, fly hacked the ball, won the foot race and scored under the posts, it was excellent to watch from the sidelines, though he did look properly knackered after it. George slotted this kick to bring his personal tally to 17 points, and with it the final whistle blew 3-47, the final score.

This week we have one training session and two games. One on Friday evening under floodlights against Grasshoppers, and the other against London French in the Middlesex Vase at home on Saturday.

So not only are England playing France this week, so are we.

As we have two game please amend your availabilities ASAP to give us as much time to organise everything.

Match details

Match date

Sat 25 Jan 2014

Kickoff

14:00

Meet time

12:45

Location

Instructions

Meet at 12:00 at St Marys if you need a lift
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Sponsor - MYCO
Club Sponsor - Savills
Club Sponsor - Norman Rourke Pryme LLP