On the brink of Championship Glory

Buoyed by the large contingent of home support, Quins came out of the blocks firing. From the offset we displayed almost complete dominance of set pieces, spoiling lineout and driving the large visiting pack off their own ball in the scrums. Thamesians showed great resilience in the opening stages to repel the Harlequin runners, but the pressure began to take its toll and the hard work was soon rewarded. A break in play allowed captain Sean Gorman to rally the troops and reiterate points made before kick off which included, that we didn't need to score from 1st phase. The scrum that immediately followed this huddle after this saw Aaron Addis slice through the line, break the full backs tackle only to grabbed 5 meters from the line. A sumptuous offload saw George Jaques cross the line under the posts and convert to give the home side a 7-0 lead. Next in on the act was Alec Smail who watched as a quick tap penalty was sent through 2 sets of hands, to his own where he showed great footwork to dot down in the corner with the conversion made 14 - 0. An unusual site to see David Love make a break and dive over the line to the left hand side of the posts was welcomed by the team and allowed George to maintain his 100% record off the tee with the score line now 21-0. With a thirst for crossing the try line, Alec would grab his second try of the game scoring next to the left hand corner flag following big carries by the Quins forwards and a miss pass from the base of a ruck. Despite refreshments provided by Alec's dearest mother the conversion attempt was missed.

Despite the above, it wasn’t all one way traffic. Thamesians enjoyed a spell of good pressure in the Quins half and as the penalties began racking up against the homeside, fullback, and alround bad boy, James Summersett found himself in the bin after his “seatbelt” tackle was deemed one too many infringements by the referee. During that time, Quins were forced to desperately defend their try line, and only impressive one up tackling and line speed kept T’s out until the ref finally brought the half to an end.

HT 26-0

The second half almost mirrored the first, with Harlequins applying pressure again and again, and Thamesians occasionally enjoying a decent patch themselves. One such patch resulted in a deserved try after a spell of pressure for the visitors. That was to be their only score though. A strong carry from Chris Addis had Quins storm into the T's "22" and allowed George to snipe round the side of the ruck to score his second try of the game, conversion made from the right hand touchline. Despite numerous "gaps" appearing in the first half and not finding his way through them, Luke Povey was able to receive a short pop pass, hand off one defender and dive over under the posts, conversion added 40-5. Charlie Blower would eventually find his way to the try line after a few close efforts throughout the game. A strong carry coupled with an outrageous step has become a reoccurring trait the team is growing to expect week in week out from Charlie, George was able to make the conversion from out wide right. The game saw George complete his hat trick after throwing a dummy to split open the defence and run round to score under the posts. Putting the game to bed, or so we thought.

As the game came to a close, Quins were able to turn the ball over in the Thamesians “22” and finish off a nice team try when Povey popped the ball inside to someone (as a collective we are unsure who) to run in a try in the final play of the game. Generously handing over the kicking duties Luke Povey added to his tally for the day from in front of the posts.With George nailing 7 of his 8 kicks, and Povey converting his effort, the final whistle blew with the score at 61-5.

Quins now go into their final league fixture next weekend, away to Hanwell, knowing that they will be crowned league winners simply by turning up.

The dick of the day award was awarded to the boy wizard himself, James Summerset, for his 10 minute trip under the invisibility cloak, leaving his team mates to fend a strong T's side without him.

The TES sponsored man of the match was awarded to our scrum half, who appears to be transitioning into a prop slowly, George Jaques who managed to bag himself a hat trick of tries and showed his ability off the tee also. Let it be known whilst he was on two tries he pleaded with Sean Gorman not to pick up the ball up at 8 whilst the scrum was driving forward so he could complete his hat trick.