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Author Topic: Match Report: Harlequins vs Grenoble  (Read 595 times)

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Match Report: Harlequins vs Grenoble
« on: Wednesday 16-Jan-2019, 00:07* »
by Bedfordshire Boy

Harlequins v Grenoble, Challenge Cup

One thing is for sure, Quins fate in this competition is in their own hands, they know exactly what they have to do, five points in each of the remaining two pools matches and they qualify for the quarter finals. Certainly anything less than five points from today's match and the final game against Agen next week could become a real cliff hanger.

Breezy, overcast but not too cold as Grenoble get the game underway, Quins ball is turned over and Grenoble flanker Berruyer burrows over from 5 metres to score. Conversion missed and Quins five points behind inside the first minutes, clearly not the start they were looking for.

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Grenoble Five Points To The Good

Quins win their first line out of the day but Marcus Smith spills the ball to give Grenoble a scrum in mid field but a huge shove by Quins eventually leads to a put in for Quins. Quins seem determined to run the ball at every opportunity but it is a speculative kick through the Grenoble defence by Gabriel Ibitoye that leads to Quins first score. Danny Care chases the kick, the ball pops up into his hands about 35 metres out and he runs in to score under the posts. With the extra points being added by Smith, Quins lead by two points after eleven minutes. The home side increased their lead a few minutes later after Cadan Murley is set free don the left hand side, he kicks the ball on but Quins are held up short of the line but the ball is quickly recycled allowing Mike Brown to score.

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Mike Brown Scores Quins Second Of The Day

Another successful conversion from Smith, Quins 14 Grenoble 5 after 15 minutes. Quins continue to keep running the ball even when playing out of their own twenty two and are clearly looking for a maximum points return from the game.

Even more points were added to the Quins tally when the impressive Alex Dombrandt strips the ball in a maul, offloads the ball to Care who chips the ball over the Grenoble defence for Murley to run on to and touch down wide out on the left. A somewhat more challenging conversion this time for Smith but he is accurate and adds two more points to the Quins total, Quins 21 Grenoble 5 with a quarter of the game gone. Grenoble continued to press Quins at every opportunity and following a couple of penalties Quins are faced with defending a line out five metres from their line. Despite some dogged defence from Quins, Grenoble eventually break the Quins line and fullback Cordin scores under the posts leading to an easy conversion for flyhalf Lucas, so Grenoble still in touch after 24 minutes.

Quins are awarded a penalty as we approach the 30 minute mark and turn down the kick and opt for a line out well inside the Grenoble twenty two. Care found Murley who went close but Quins set up a classic rolling maul which saw Max Crumpton get the ball to ground. Two more points from the boot of Smith, 28 – 12 in favour of Quins who have notched up a bonus point try count with 10 minutes left until the break. Once again Grenoble show that they are still well in contention, as following another period of pressure from the restart, they create an overlap to let their fullback score his second try of the match. Luckily, the conversion is missed which allows Quins to see out the first half and go into the break with an eleven point margin, Quins 28 Grenoble 17. Quins played some stylish rugby to run in four trys but just seem unable to shake off a Grenoble team that clearly have come to The Stoop looking for a result.

The second half is kicked off by Marcus Smith, Grenoble spill the ball allowing Gabriel Ibbitoye to break down the left wing but the attempted offload to Bothma is not held. Grenoble clear the ball to touch from the scrum and right on cue Quins mess up yet another line out, unfortunately a theme of the afternoon. With three minutes of the half gone Quins make their first change of the afternoon as Luke Wallace replaces Renaldo Bothma, the home supporters clearly pleased to see Wallace back on the field of play. Grenoble press the Quins defence and after 46 minutes they add three points to their total when Lucas converts a penalty after Mat Symons is caught offside. Despite all of their efforts, Grenoble only manufactured one further chance to score throughout the second half from a penalty that they failed to convert.

Quins used all of their “game changers” during the half which was a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde performance from the home side. There were moments of superb attacking play, desperate defence, silly mistakes and the line out was a complete lottery, nevertheless the highlight of the match, for me at least, was yet to come. The scrum also went though a dodgy patch after Grenoble had replaced their front row but the appearance of Marler and Josh Ibuanokpe evened things up again. A game for Dave Ward to forget as he was only on the pitch for about 10 minutes before being shown a yellow card for a high tackle, a case of trying too hard? With the clock ticking down and Grenoble defending deep inside their twenty two they decided to run the ball out and the sight of the Grenoble player running across the pitch with Alex Dombrandt in hot pursuit was something to behold; a great cheer around the ground when he finally got his man. Grenoble were penalised for holding on resulting in Quins battering the Grenoble line before Dombrandt was rewarded for his earlier efforts by scoring under the posts. Two points added by James Lang to add to his earlier penalty which brought the final score to Quins 38 Grenoble 20.

Most definitely a game of two halves, with to my mind the final score not reflective of the efforts of the away side. From a Quins point of view they did everything that was required of them and are now in the position that any win next week in France will see them topping the group. Overall a good team performance with special mention to the two young wingers, although Ibitoye still needs a lot of work on his defence, Dombrandt (again) and Luke Wallace was all over the pitch during the 37 minutes that he was on the pitch.

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Another Try For Alex Dombrandt


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deadlyfrom5yardsout

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Re: Match Report: Harlequins vs Grenoble
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday 16-Jan-2019, 09:47* »
Very good, thank you!

Comet

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Re: Match Report: Harlequins vs Grenoble
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday 16-Jan-2019, 17:05* »
Terrific, thank you!

InsertQuinsPunHere

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Re: Match Report: Harlequins vs Grenoble
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 19-Jan-2019, 15:42* »
Comprehensive! Thanks for the read :-)

 

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