Quins Ams power to Victory

On a hot and humid Friday night, Harlequin Amateurs pulled on the quarters in a full contact rugby match, under floodlights, for the first time in what seems like forever against a strong Whitton Lions side.

The preperation heading into the game was not the best, from a Quins point of view, as both kit and players arrived late. That being said, and i am sure those who made it down to Twickenham Rugby club to spectate would attest, you would not have known of the pre game struggles once you began to see the play.

Quins recieved the first kick off of the game and immediately hit the front foot. Hard running and rucking from the forwards and fancy footwork and handling in the back had Quins quickly in the opposition 22. A few minutes of back and forth strong attacking runs and big defence by the Lions set the tempo for what would be maintained for the rest of the match. After taking the opposition from the left of their 22 to the right hand side a reversal of play from a ruck just right of the uprights, saw the ball spread down the line and a gap opening up for Debutant Dean Oliver to burst through brushing off the cover tackle to score on the left hand touch line. Conversion successful and Quins lead 7-0. Poor discipline at the rucks would then keep Quins pinned back in their own half but thunderous defensive hits, counter rucking and defensive pressure kept the Lions off the scoresheet. Quins second try would come from a clearance kick inside their own 22. A high and long kick not fielded well at all by lions saw the on rushing Quins full back Sean Oliver snatch the ball from the floor and sprint his was into the corner for another debut try and see the scoreline at 12-0 with the conversion missed. It wouldnt be long before some hard hitting defense by the Quins forwards and line breaks from the backs had them camped deep in the Lions 22. A hard crash ball by Chris Addis who managed to offload with fly half Luke Povey drawing in two defenders before popping to captain gingetastic Harry Stark to rush on and bundle his way over the line 15 meters outside the right upright. The conversion slotted down the middle saw Quins take a 19-0 lead. With only 5 minutes passed since their previous try Quins found themselves once again just outside the Lions 22 on the right hand side of the field. Strong running from Seb Turner and Tom Darcy was followed by strong rucking and a set play backs move. The ball floating through 9 (Harry Brewer) and 10 (Luke Povey), with 12 (George Jaques) and 13 (Callum Godden) crossing running lines and the wide pass to 12 who strode through the defensive line drawing in the full back and passing to Sean Oliver for his 2nd try of the game. Conversion from the touchline missee and Quins lead 24-0. With play back underway for a few minutes Quins stole the ball back through some thunderous, bone shuttering hitting by big Ryan , who would receieve the newly introduced hit of the day award for it. George Jaques was the able to get on the outside of the opposing centre, handing him off and dashing 30 meters to score on the left touchline after winning a footrace with the full back. 29-0. Quins would score their final points of the half when Dean Oliver broke through the defensive line before flicking an out the backdoor pass to his little brother, Sean Oliver, to complete his Hat-Trick on debut. Sean would also slot the conversion from in front of the uprights to set the score at 36-0. Quins would make a flurry of changes which in hindsight unsettled the team as Lions would go on to score 2 unanswered tries and 1 conversion setting the scoreline at half time to 36-12.

Tough words from Coach Stevie Warr for switching off during the half time interval, normal play would resume after the break and Quins began hitting those strong running lines, huge tackles and leaving defenders in the dust. Quick hands down the line had Callum Saville strolling into the corner only to be decapitated before putting the ball down and having his debut try noted down as a Penalty try 43-12 quins. Quins would not have it all their own way though and last ditch cover tackles by Sean Oliver, Tom Rose and Callum Saville kept Quins firmly in the lead. Quins looked set to score again when fly half Luke Povey stepped 2 defenders and forced his was through a third and was striding towards the line. Evidently it was not meant to be as the years are finally catching up with him and legs just werent there for an 80m try like days of old. With Povey fading 2 defenders had tracked back but quins had 3 players running support lines. 2 players free in space to his left and 1 player on his right with 2 players crowding round. The simple pass to the left was on................. it just wasnt how Luke imagined the try being scored and as he began to stumble to the ground a truly awful pass to the right went to the ground and was knocked on. DoD was all but guaranteed following this heinous butchering of a certain try. After regathering their compsurer Quins would not have to wait long to score another try. Chris Addis showing Luke how an offload should be executed, hit George Jaques with a pass out the back whose floated effort (hospital pass) to Callum Saville was met with a big tackle. Saville was unaffected though as he shrugged it off and managed to squeeze an offload round the back of the defender for the looping George Jaques to gather in his finger tips and dash into the corner and see the score line hit 48-12. The final score of the game would come following the Lions conceding a penalty and Quins kicking for the corner. An efficient lineout quick ball off the top saw the backs recieve front foot ball allowing Luke Povey to pass George Jaques the crash ball breaking the line and scoring 15m in from the touchline to see the final score of 53-12 set and complete his Hat Trick. Final score for our Friday night lights fixture.

With what was a truly physical game and both sets of players putting in big tackles and running hard lines, Quins have indicated the physical nature they are looking to bring into all games in the upcoming season and felt the scoreline was a true indication of their dominance displayed both defensively and attacking.

Final score for our Friday night lights fixture.

Harlequins 53 - 12 Whitton Lions

Man of the Match: Sean Oliver - on debut, the young full back was Attacking space all over the park and solid as the last man in defence. All round great performance and a well deserved MoM

Hit of the Day: Ryan Edwards - Another debut and the first winner of the hit of the day award. Causing havoc all over the park with bone shuddering tackles everywhere.

D*ck of the day: Luke Povey - just truly shocking and awful execution of what was a certain try.