Harlequins vs Gloucester
Sunday 10 March, 2019
by Bedfordshire Boy

A five point win against Gloucester followed two weeks later by an away win at The London Stadium against Saracens and all of a sudden we are pushing for a top two finish in the premiership and who knows what else. One of the advantages of sitting in the passenger seat of the car travelling to a match is that you have a chance to daydream. The reality is that Gloucester are a very good team and whenever they visit The Stoop they seem to score points by playing an expansive game. On the upside, Quins are playing at home, Gloucester haven`t won at The Stoop since 2006 and Quins seem to have discovered how to score points once again. What can go wrong?

The match today was another in memory of Quin Seb Adeniran-Olule the twenty year old tragically killed in a car accident, and the two teams lined up to join the supporters in a period of applause before kick off – is it really nearly three years since he died?

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The game was got under way with Danny Cipriani kicking in to a strong swirling wind leading to a six minute period where Quins dominated possession and territory without ever really threatening the Gloucester line. When Gloucester did eventually get the ball, Quins failed to deal with a speculative kick, scrum half Willie Heinz got the back line moving and it was only a great tackle by Mike Brown on his opposite number that stopped a score. Despite that, Gloucester retained the ball and once again the ball was moved quickly and this time Jason Woodward ran through Mike Brown to score. A well taken conversion by Billy Twelvetrees brought the scoreline to Quins 0 Gloucester 7 after only eight minutes of play.

Things were to get even worse for Quins when a kick from scrum half Dave Lewis is collected by Gloucester wing Ollie Thorley inside his own twenty two who advances just beyond the halfway line, the ball is recycled as Gloucester seem to break the Quins defensive line with ease before being stopped just short of the Quins line. Heinz gets the ball away from the ruck, passes to Cipriani who cuts out the whole of the Quins defence with a long pass to flanker Ackerman who crosses the line in the corner for the visitors second try. The conversion from Twelvetrees seems to be going well wide, when at the last second with a little help from the wind, the ball drifts between the posts, Quins fourteen points adrift after only thirteen minutes, definitely not part of the script!

Things were to get even worse for Quins when a kick from scrum half Dave Lewis is collected by Gloucester wing Ollie Thorley inside his own twenty two who advances just beyond the halfway line, the ball is recycled as Gloucester seem to break the Quins defensive line with ease before being stopped just short of the Quins line. Heinz gets the ball away from the ruck, passes to Cipriani who cuts out the whole of the Quins defence with a long pass to flanker Ackerman who crosses the line in the corner for the visitors second try. The conversion from Twelvetrees seems to be going well wide, when at the last second with a little help from the wind, the ball drifts between the posts, Quins fourteen points adrift after only thirteen minutes, definitely not part of the script!

Marcus Smith and Joe Marler have replaced James Lang and Lewis Boyce for Quins as Smith gets the second half underway kicking into the still strong wind. Pretty much even steven during the early part of the half with Quins breaking the Gloucester defence more than previously but worryingly Gloucester making headway well into the Quins half wuth ease. Gloucester replace their hooker and flanker on ten minutes with James Chisholm and Niall Saunders replacing Dombrandt and Lewis for Quins. Paul Gustard not afraid to make changes when required rather than waiting for changes at set periods. Hopefully Quins new half back pairing can get the rest of the backs moving quicker. Gloucester get the game underway from a scrum and both sides set up attacking moves with the game eventually stopping in the Quins twenty two after a high tackle by Joe Marchant which had referee Barnes reaching for a yellow card, a bit harsh in my view. Gloucester kick the ball to touch and Alofa Alofa replaces Francis Saili before the line out is taken. The Gloucester drive from the line out is stopped illegally by Quins but Gloucester keep playing and passes from Cipriani to Woodward to Marshall sees the winger cross the line in the corner,  the Quins back line stretched yet again. The conversion attempt from Twelvetrees is well wide so Quins now twenty two points behind after 52 minutes.

Dave Ward replaced Elia Elia on 62 minutes as Joe Marchant rejoined the action. Gloucester yet again press the Quins line and as Quins defend, Chris Robshaw is driven back into the in goal area. Gloucester win their five metre scrum, Heinz breaks to the blind side,and passes to Cipriani who scores in the corner for the try bonus point. Twelvetrees is successful with the conversion so the score moves on to Quins 0 Gloucester 29 after nearly 66 minutes of play. More changes for Gloucester before restart including my Man Of The Match Danny Cipriani. This triggered a bit of an exodus by many of the Quins fans and I must admit my notebook went back into my bag. Having said that, it was noticeable that most of the pressure came from Quins during the last minutes of the game but it is debatable if this was due to Quins or an effect of the many changes to the Gloucester line up and the fact that the game by now was well won. With four minutes to go Quins eventually get some points on the board as they attack down the right hand side. Earle chipped the ball through  which was chased down by Marchant allowing Earle to touch down for the score. Two points added by Marcus Smith leading to a final score of Quins 7 Gloucester 29.

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Lots of endeavour from Quins throughout but it is fair to say that Quins were outplayed in every department by Gloucester. Watching Gloucester was almost like watching recent Quins performances as the defence was very quick to close down Quins and their attack was sharp and incisive. I imagine that most of us were not surprised by the fact that Gloucester scored 29 points but more by the fact that Quins were unable to respond. It would be unfair to apportion all of the blame to individuals but the margin of difference between the half back pairings of the two teams was clear to see and injuries to Care and Mulchrone is a real worry as we enter the business end of the season. Quins hold on to their third place in the premiership table with Gloucester once again within a couple of points, but with other results at the weekend, the final placings from third to sixth is far from clear.

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Good write up of a disappointing game - couldn't have been easy to write. Well done, and thank you.