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Strong showing |
Another game against our hated rivals and another defeat, this time in glorious London sunshine - a stark contrast to the weather round sang-et-or.net HQ lately.
It started ever so well, with some champagne football, but the same old failings reared their ugly heads once again and our hosts emerged with a win. All of which now means that the top six on the table are beginning to get away from the rest. |
The Dragons showed their intent from the off as Sergeant Wilson made a long break up the western touchline before a Stacey Jones reverse grubber found nobody on his wavelength. Harlequins couldn't exert any pressure of their own in the face of wave after wave of Dragons attacks and it was in the seventh minute that it told. Luke Quigley, Adam Mogg, Jason Croker and Greg Mounis all handled in a lovely move that ended with Casey McGuire crossing and Thomas Bosc converting for 6-0.
The Dragons exerted more pressure, but the final ball too often went to ground and it was the Quins who would register next. Croker gave a silly penalty away in the 20th minute after which Scott Hill, who was a menace all afternoon, found Henry Paul with a crash ball and he crossed next to the posts, making Sykes' conversion a formality. This spurred the Dragons into a response and it came from Clint Greenshields. Moments after making an uncharacteristic error near his own line - the position was thrown away on the first tackle by the Quins - he made a long break up the eastern side and was on hand to take the scoring pass from McGuire and the score was given on the nod of the video referee who was asked to adjudicate on a possible obstruction. Bosc pulled out a party piece for the kick, knocking it in off the far post.
Enter the last ten minutes then and it all turned to unmitigated arse gravy. With the clock showing 32 minutes, it was that man Hill who took the ball to the line, dummied and there was Paul on his shoulder again to take the final pass. Here's a tip for any player out there. If you have a talent like Hill on your side, follow him everywhere and you will score an absolute bag full of tries. Sykes levelled things at 12 apiece from in front and just four further minutes had elapsed when Chad Randall and Mark McLinden engineered a break for Matt Gafa to get over under the sticks. A simple goal again for Sykes and Quins led 18-12. In the final minute of the half, Harlequins had the chance to extend the lead further. Mogg was ruled offside as the ball hit him as he was making it back into the line after a Sykes break. Seeing as Sykes had knocked on to create his break, this was rubbish, but Sykes obviously has an innate sense of justice as he struck the post and it bounced safely into Dragons hands as the hooter sounded.
Recent games have also seen the early going in the second half be error and penalty strewn affairs, chucking away any momentum that may have been built up, and so it was again here. The video ref was involved again two minutes into the second stanza as McLinden chucked a speculator inside as he was being rolled into touch. The pass definitely started backwards and McLinden was definitely in the field of play when he let it go. When it hit his leg may be a bone of contention, but Rikki Sheriffe - now there's a Renaissance Man - was on hand to beat Jones to the ball and score. No goal, but three minutes later Sykes made it 24-12 after Cyrille Gossard had given a penalty away for a grapple tackle. |
Greenshields takes on the turncoat |
Another recent feature is that after the suspect opening to the second half comes a ten-minute blitz. 50th minute and Sébastien Raguin got himself a try. It was a touch fortuitous as a McGuire chip was missed by all and sundry, giving Raguin the freedom of the in-goal and he made full use, bringing it round behind the sticks to make Bosc's job a simple one. 18-24. Ten minutes later and Bosc got across in the corner after having juggled it and flirted with the touchline. The video ref confirmed it, but Bosc couldn't level from the sideline.
And here we go into the last ten minutes again and this time it was silly play from the Dragons that gave Quins the chance to join the long list of scorers in the last ten of a half against the Dragons. Chasing the game a little, Jérome Guisset was attempting to start a break from deep in the Dragons half and threw the ball away and out of the back of the in-goal. From the resultant possession, McLinden again combined with Sheriffe - a great ball from the Quins skipper - for the big winger to score. Sykes' goal wrapped things up at 30-22.
How utterly frustrating. In the end, the difference was two moments of magic each from two special players - Scott Hill and Mark McLinden. The Dragons were very good for the most part, but that we report on the same things week-in week-out - last ten of each half, first ten of the second half, silly penalties, lack of respect for the ball - is beginning to annoy. And now we're very definitely entrenched in the bottom half of the table. For all that, it was entertaining enough and well deserving of a crowd bigger than the 2546 that turned out for it, and that's including a reasonably sizeable turnout from France. Time to dish out some points then. The sang-et-or.net man of the match was Adam Mogg who stood out in defence and attack, causing his opposite number all sorts of problems. In the back row, Cyrille Gossard did a similar job and was our second choice. Luke Quigley continues his ascent up the player of the season table with the final point for another busy, industrious performance.
MATCH FACTS
DRAGONS 22-30 HARLEQUINS
| | DRAGONS | T | G | DG | | HARLEQUINS | T | G | DG |
| 1 | Greenshields | 1 | | | 1 | McLinden | | | |
| 25 | Khattabi | | | | 2 | Wells | | | |
| 4 | Mogg | | | | 3 | Sykes | | 5 | |
| 3 | Wilson | | | | 4 | T Smith | | | |
| 14 | Bosc | 1 | 3 | | 28 | Sheriffe | 2 | | |
| 6 | McGuire | 1 | | | 6 | Hill | | | |
| 7 | Jones | | | | 23 | Paul | 2 | | |
| 19 | Chan | | | | 8 | Temata | | | |
| 26 | Quigley | | | | 9 | Randall | | | |
| 10 | Guisset | | | | 22 | Worrincy | | | |
| 17 | Gossard | | | | 29 | Mbu | | | |
| 12 | Croker | | | | 12 | Hopkins | | | |
| 13 | Mounis | | | | 18 | Gafa | 1 | | |
| 11 | Raguin | 1 | | | 14 | Rinaldi | | | |
| 15 | Griffi | | | | 15 | Mills | | | |
| 20 | Fellous | | | | 30 | Bannister | | | |
| 21 | Touxagas | | | | 17 | McCarthy-Scarsbrook | | | |
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