Heineken Cup Round 1- Harlequins v Biarritz TEAMS UP

First topic message reminder :

So it's nearly the start of the greatest club tournament around and on Sat at the Stoop Harlequins (Prem Champions) will host Biarritz (Amlin Cup Champions).

THE TEAMS ARE NOW UP!


Harlequins Rugby

1.Joe Marler (Eng) 2.Rob Buchanan (Eng) 3.James Johnston (Tonga) 4.George Robson (Eng) 5.Ollie Kohn (Eng) 6.Maurie Fa'Asavalu (Samoa) 7.Chris Robshaw (Eng) 8.Nick Easter (Eng) 9.Danny Care (Eng) 10.Nick Evans (NZ) 11.Ugo Monye (Eng) 12.Jordan Turner-Hall (Eng) 13.James Hopper (Eng) 14.Tom Williams (Eng) 15.Mike Brown (Eng)

Replacements: 16. Dave Ward17. Mark Lambert18. Will Collier19. Charlie Matthews20. Tom Guest21. Karl Dickson22. Ben Botica23. Seb Stegmann

That team will feature 9 internationals, 19 England qualified players and an average age of 25. Currently Harlequins are second in the Premiership with a points difference of +59 they have scored 185 points against their opposition so far and have the most try bonus points (3) in the league along with the most tries scored (20). So as we all know the attack is going well (Saracens game aside).

They have had some collective problems in defence though, namely in organisation, fielding high balls and dealing with teams at the breakdown. Saracens and Exeter have both exploited this, the latter using it to score five tries against them just last week.

Biarritz Olympique

15 Iain Balshaw
14 Taku Ngwenya
13 Dane Haylett-Petty
12 Seremaia Burotu
11 Aled Brew
10 Mat Berquist
9 Yann Lesgourgues
1 Fabien Barcella
2 Arnaud Heguy
3 Francisco Gomez Kodela
4 Erik Lund
5 Thibault Dubarry
6 Magnus Lund
7 Wenceslas Lauret
8 Talalelei Gray
Replacements:16 Benoit August17 Wicus Blaauw18 Thomas Synaeghel19 Pelu Taele-Pavihi20 Benoit Guyot21 Julien Peyrelongue22 Damien Traille23 Benoit Baby

I'm going to be honest and say I know very little about Biarritz. They apparently favor a kicking game ala Saracens and have big ball carriers like Imanol Harinordoquy, Magnus and Erik Lund along with some electric backs in Takudzwa Ngwenya and Benoit Baby. But looking at their current form they're 8th in the T14 with 4 wins and 4 losses and are +11 on points difference. They've scored a total of 10 tries in these 8 game and managed one try bonus point which I guess backs up the Saracens like game plan, they've also only conceded 10 tries so far as well though so their defence is pretty good (Quins have conceded 11).

It should be an interesting and probably very physical game, two very different game plans clashing in hopefully perfect rugby conditions at the Stoop. Harlequins will want to control the set piece and from that build a lot of continuity to strike and get tries. We've then seen that once a lead has been opened Quins are happy to dig in and defend this without going for tbp's etc Biarritz will probably want to control the breakdown and from that the flow of the game, with the priority being stopping Quins getting any kind of phases built.

Basically which ever team manages to impose their gameplan should win as we've seen so far this season neither are too good at dealing with the other's type of game. Biarritz can't score the tries and Quins can't kick realiably enough for a tug of war.

It'll be close but at the moment I'm going with a home win.

It's worth noting that currently the bookies have Quins down as favourites for this game.

Harlequins Rugby by 5

Poor by Kohn if Quins fail to get the try.

LondonTiger wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:
I think O'Shea, given his Irish provincial background, recognises this too.

What Irish provincial background? Ever since the game went pro he has been in England. Played for LI, then went into management there before joining RFU and then Quins.

I think you know what I mean. He comes from the provinces, knows how the game is played and managed there, is a regular TV analyst of the game there, and is familiar with the structure - more than most. In my personal opinion (as opposed to anyone else's )

JTH saves Kohns bacon (or should that be sausage?).

12 minutes to get a TBP.

I prefer your impersonal opinion

A bonus point win will make quins MASSIVE fave's to win the group!

Another try to O'Shea's men. Cracking display.

That quick throw looked a long way forward.

BO player cannot understand Clancy at all

LondonTiger wrote:I prefer your impersonal opinion

Ok ya bollix.

Is that impersonal enough?

Pot Hale wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:I prefer your impersonal opinion

Ok ya sweaty bollix.

Is that impersonal enough?

Improved slightly.

This doesn't look good for the tighthead?

BO get away with wheeling - but penalised at the second scrum. Can Quins get the try?

I worry a little about Marler and Johnstons health. They have developed so well that the back-up at Quins is so far away from them in quality that they get overplayed.

Biarritz are just so much soft French putty for the Mighty Quins.

Wait until they meet the heavily advantaged, rested and rotated Rabies team, Connacht, then we'll see how good they really are....

Wonderful support by the Quins fans for Marler and Robshaw

LondonTiger wrote:I worry a little about Marler and Johnstons health. They have developed so well that the back-up at Quins is so far away from them in quality that they get overplayed.

I didn't think Johnston was going to get up after that last scrum, that looked nasty. Thankfully medics were just being cautious.

Top drawer. Stegman is in.

Quins get the bonus.

Lucky quins there, that should have been a penalty to biarritz...

That has all but put Quins through, at the very worst as a best runner up but in all likely hood as group winners

Great result, lucky with the TBP. Great support and so nice to see the captain turn round and thank the crowd at the whistle.they played a huge part. Great bunch of fans there at the stoop.

Great result. Thoroughly deserved. Quins should have this one sewn up. And are on course for finishing 1st or second from the pool stages.

Well that caps a pretty decent day for English clubs in the HC. Superb second half from Quins. Danny Care aldo underlines his claim to the England no.9 shirt.

Easter was awesome again.

If Harlequins can get some bonus points against Connacht and Zebre (probably 10 points for you) then they'll be laughing (all the way to a home quarter final). Well done Quins, you have certainly done a lot better than I thought you would in the opening round.

LondonTiger wrote:Easter was awesome again.

True and I'd argue he is the best performing English no.8 at the moment.

Powerful performance in a convincing bonus point win from from Quins. Lost the pivotal Evans early on, but Botica did well coming on (doesn't do Clegg's positioning in the squad any favours).

Cumbrian wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Easter was awesome again.

True and I'd argue he is the best performing English no.8 at the moment.

Agreed.

Aye excellent opening for the English clubs, both Sarries and Quins have taken charge of their groups and Exeter performed magnificantly and really should have beaten the best team in Europe.

Fantastic game by Quins. Botica the guy who took over from Nick Evans seems to be a good find for quins.

Did Nick Easter deserve Man of the Match?......Thought Danny Care played better to be honest.

Well played to Quins and a throuighly derved Win.

majesticimperialman wrote:Fantastic game by Quins. Botica the guy who took over from Nick Evans seems to be a good find for quins.

Did Nick Easter deserve Man of the Match?......Thought Danny Care played better to be honest.

Well played to Quins and a throuighly derved Win.

I thought so, but then I am a former back row forward

Cumbrian wrote:Well that caps a pretty decent day for English clubs in the HC. Superb second half from Quins. Danny Care aldo underlines his claim to the England no.9 shirt.

He is in number one spot for the lions in my opinion, he is by far the best scrum half around at the moment, absolutely brilliant again.

With Easter Id use my batural disdain for Lancaster to say he clearly made a mistake by ditching so many of those experienced players. If I were being honest Id say maybe he did a good thing by finally giving easter the kick up the bum he needed to get him back sharp.
Itll be interesting to see if he gets picked again.

Cares pretty much garunteed to have settled the scrum half debate for England, lets see if he can avoid being a complete knob for the entire season though. Still needs a haircut too.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:
Cares pretty much garunteed to have settled the scrum half debate for England, lets see if he can avoid being a complete knob for the entire season though. Still needs a haircut too.

He had a hair cut, that is the problem.

Happy with that performance. Some silly errors at the start of H2 a d end of H1 but once the momentum built it looked comfortable. Bit early to know yet, but right now Botica looks class, great running, management, distribution and of course kicking.

Great tackle at one point by Brown, not sure what the flaws in his game are. Good lineout bar one awful throw. Danny must be on the Lions coaches minds at least? But the bit that really made me happy was that we were bossing Biarritz in the scrums and the mauls. That is more encouraging than all the slick backpasses and offloads (though I loved the 3 backpasses in a row near the end) given how we went out last time

Oh and I thought the referee had a great game but I would, as we won

Bloody happy with that

LondonTiger wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:


Cares pretty much garunteed to have settled the scrum half debate for England, lets see if he can avoid being a complete knob for the entire season though. Still needs a haircut too.

He had a hair cut, that is the problem.

Only 1 of Marler and Care can have socially acceptable hair at any given time. As Marler has improved his, thus Danny has taken the fall

I quite like Danny's hair...

Lies

Totally

Easter vs Morgan is a fun argument to have. Easter isnt capable of the sort of sudden incisive violent match changing break that Morgan can do - but is probably better in every other aspect.

Realistically, Easter wouldn't feature in Lancaster's plans even if he were winning games single-handedly, because he's unlikely to be around in 2015. But in the sort of form he's in, he ought to be in serious consideration for the Lions

lostinwales wrote:Easter vs Morgan is a fun argument to have. Easter isnt capable of the sort of sudden incisive violent match changing break that Morgan can do - but is probably better in every other aspect.

Such as being on the pitch after 60 minutes. Really the debate could be decided by Morgans fitness tests, if hes still lacking there he shouldnt be in the senior squad

Botica looks to be the new Nev replacement now, Evans is going to be out for a few weeks so hopefully we'll see him get a good run of games. Then perhaps a place in the Saxons next season...

yappysnap wrote:Botica looks to be the new Nev replacement now, Evans is going to be out for a few weeks so hopefully we'll see him get a good run of games. Then perhaps a place in the Saxons next season...

Can we have Rory Clegg back then, please?

Only if we can have a few more of your youngsters in return, now who do you have worth trading??

Actually I was being a bit tongue in cheek because we're already developing our next impressive young flyhalf in Joel Hodgson.

Although I may be able to offer you something in the way of an impressive young tighthead in Scott Wilson or a lightning young winger in Zach Kibirige. Or a few impressive young backrowers such as Mark Wilson, Will Welch or Joe Robinson. However, we're hoping these guys will see us into a new era, so hands off!

In all seriousness, what ever we have, you already have coming through in spades. The Quin's academy is something to be seriously proud of.

I've watched Botica in a few of the pre-season matches and he was always ruddy brilliant. Glad he had time to really step up to the mark and show what he could do.

I actually thought we were terrible in the breakdown for most of the first half. Not committing enough, or hard enough, really not contesting. Once that changed in the secondhalf we earned the right to play good running rugby and the game opened up for us.

Care has to be shoe in for England/Lions 9 looking at his performance this season. He's really started shining since he quit the sauce. I'd like to see Youngs challenge again, as competition for the spot always keeps everyone hsarp, but i think Care has the edge as it stands.

Cumbrian wrote:Although I may be able to offer you something in the way of an impressive young tighthead in Scott Wilson or a lightning young winger in Zach Kibirige. Or a few impressive young backrowers such as Mark Wilson, Will Welch or Joe Robinson. However, we're hoping these guys will see us into a new era, so hands off!

We are OK for props at the moment thanks

However any of those back rowers a 7?

Welch is

ChequeredJersey wrote:Welch is

You sneak!!