Late October means half term, shops full of mince pies and apparently just our second match of the 2026/27 season.

Having last had a run out on October 3rd, a combination of a rest week and Feltham dropping out of the league gave us a few weeks off.

And a risk of waterlogged pitches at French’s Barnes home meant a shift to Waldegrave Road. Our first match back at St Mary’s was an away game.

The fallow weeks meant we’d had chance to show some real development during the Tuesday night training sessions. As a result, we were confident that we’d see an improved performance against nos amis français.

For context, French are flying high in Counties 5 having scored 77 points in two games so far whilst conceding just 21. In contrast, our matchday squad showed eight changes from the group that took the field against Wandsworthians – three debutants and five players pulling on the quarters for the first time this season.

Could we quickly build those links and interconnection that every team needs? In properly autumnal conditions, Quins would need that fluidity more than ever.

As the score might suggest, it was clear that French were by far the better team on the day. What was also evident however is that Quins’ team cohesion is starting to come together.

Most importantly, the desire to play for each other lasted to the very end. Standing under the posts after a last-minute French try, all the chat was about how enjoyable the day had been, how proud we were of our performance, and how much improvement there had been after three early French tries.

Nothing negative; all about our new baseline expectations of ourselves.

Those are the foundations that the team’s rebuild can stand on. Let’s take that all into the Merton game on the 31st.