First League Win in the Sun

After a frustrating loss last week at home Quins travelled to local neighbours Feltham, Feltham won their opening game away so Quins knew they were in for a tough match.

For a second week in a row the mercury hit the mid 20s, going was hard, and the ground even harder.

Quins won the toss and opted to play into the breeze in the first half, believing the superior fitness will pay off in the second half..

The first few minutes were fairly even with in roads being made by both sides. Then Feltham's danger man, their big 8 got some room to build up a head of steam and knocked over Bernardo, though there was a s suspicion of a forearm lead. The ref was happy though and Feltham scored. The conversion was good and Quins were trailing 7-0, and knew they were in for a fight.

After that Quins stepped a few gears and were making incisions across the pitch with their back line, and the set piece was working well with the scrum very dominant securing a few turnovers.

It didn't take long for Quins to make enough ground and create enough room for Alec Smail to best his defender and cross the line for his first of the day, the conversion was made by George Jaques to level the scores.

After George being sucked into a ruck in order to secure the ball number 8 Chris Addis found himself at the back of the ruck with the ball. Whether it was quick thinking, a brain fart, or for a minute he thought he was Richard Wigglesworth. He decided to kick the ball, it wasn't the best kick, in fact, it was a horrible slice. But directionally it was perfect as Alec plucked the ball from the hands of the Feltham defender, who was giving up a significant height disadvantage, and ran in 50m under the posts to score his second under the posts. George slotted the extra 7-14.

Alec enjoying his rugby continued his good form by completing his hat trick, beating his defender and storming over the line. James Summerset took the kick as George was nursing a niggle, it was good and Quins extended their lead 7-21.

Feltham though were not going giving up and kept coming with tier big runners, making dents in Quins defence. With some hard running and quick offloading Feltham managed to score under Quins post to make the game 14-21. Though what was most frustrating for Quins was that Feltham's loose head prop went off with a blood injury and would not return to the pitch, the scrums went to uncontested and Quins lost one of their big advantages.

Half time came and Quins were looking good.

Second half got underway with one change, hattrick hero Alec came off and Aaron Addis came on for his first game of the season. With a half time lead and now playing with the breeze Quins looked to increase their advantage. George kept pinning Feltham back with some accurate and deep box kicking. Quins found themselves in Feltham's 22 with some quick ball. Paul Hibbert playing at 12 found himself on a 2 v 2, some quick footwork, stood up his defender and drew the other defender then proceeded with a sumptuous pass to northerner James Addis to dot down in the corner. The touchline kick was just missed by George and Quins increased their lead to 14-26. Which also secured the try bonus point.

Often the most difficult time to defend is just when you have scored, and Quins switched off for just a moment, but it was enough for Feltham to score their own try soon after, the kick was missed so Quins stayed one score ahead. 19-26.

Quins then made a series of changes. Co captain Si Rowland came off and was replaced by Mike Graham, Gareth Chapman came on for Dave Love at loose head, and Jacob Ingold came on for Ben Morris.

Both Quins and Feltham came close to further score, Feltham being denied just short of the try line but some superb defence by Harry Stark, who tackled their big runner, then turned over the ball, allowing James Summerset time to put in a monster clearing kick.

The game finished with a Feltham try being ruled out for being in touch, James Summerset cleared the ball into touch and the final whistle went.

It was a bruising match with a lot of hit on very hard ground, Feltham for a lot of the game looked very dangerous and think that they will be a strong conteneder in the league.

The TES Man of the Match was Luke Nugent, who playing out of position at 7 was everywhere on the pitch doing the work of 2 men.

Dick of the Day went to James Addis, no one did anything particularly wrong but as James left the club to move up north with GF we couldn't pass on the opportunity to get some revenge.