Toulon v Quins

Harlequins team to face Toulon

15. Mike Brown
14. Tom Williams
13. Matt Hopper
12. Jordan turner-Hall
11. Ugo Monye
10. Rory Clegg
9. Karl Dickson

1. Mark Lambert
2. Rob Buchanan
3. James Johnston
4. Tomas Vallejos
5. George Robson (C)
6. Tom Guest
7. Luke wallace
8. Nick Easter

16. Aston Croall
17. Joe Marler
18. Will Collier
19. Pete Browne
20. Maurie Fa'asavalu
21. Danny Care
22. Benjamin Urdapilleta
23. George Lowe

Oh dear - no Nick Evans, no Robshaw, no Olly Kohn.
Great impact off the bench though.

Toulon side -
http://www.rctoulon.com/files/actus/news_2011_2012/avril_2012/Compo_RCT_Harlequins_Full.jpg

Roberts, Bruno, Heyman
Sampson, Schofield
Gunther, Van Niekerk, Armitage
Tilous-Borde
Wilkinson
David Smith,
Giteau
Bastreaud
Pallison
Lapeyre

how come Evans, Robshaw and Kohn have been omitted?

The 7s battle could be great experience for Wallace, and will really test him. Let's see what he's made of.

Evens picked up a bump in the Sarries game, same for Kohn I think.
Robshaw was injured in a warm up session.

O'Shea is clearly hoping that Quins can stay in touch and then hoping to release a lot of impact from the bench.
Care, Marler and Faasavalou and Lowe all coming on at 60mins could really change the game.

I am worried about our pack getting bullied off the field though.
And Calamity Clegg!

The battle between Wallace and Armitage will be worth the entrance money alone. As far as out and out 7's go, they are the best two EQ players at the moment in my opinion.

Would love to see them both tour SA in the summer, but sadly I suspect that neither of them will.

Wallace just isnt as good now that he has cut his hair!

Joking aside, its not implausable for Armitage to go on tour. There are exceptional circumstances that Lancaster can use.
(If Armitage is the best EQ no.7).

Armitage has been in fantastic form in the T14. Would love to see him given another shot.

Haha, the Samson effect. I really hope that Wallace tours, although he'll be competing with the returning Wood for a starting spot I should imagine. Thin that Armitage should get another go too, because as you say Ozzy, he's been exceptional for Toulon.

Well, Lancaster will presumably have a blanks canvas to choose his touring party without limiting himself to the current EPS squad.

It will likely be a large touring group (due to the lack of Saxons fixtures), I would love to see Armitage selected.
Does anyone know how long Steffon has on his Toulon contract?
It seems less likely that he would return to Uk if his younger brother Guy joins Toulon, and as rumor says Delon does too.

No idea about his contract propdavid. Has Guy been linked with a Toulon move?!

I think that Guy has already agreed.
Delon is definately leaving Exiles, poss to RCT too.

Blimey he has. That obviously went straight over me! Odd signing for them I think

bluestonevedder wrote:Blimey he has. That obviously went straight over me! Odd signing for them I think

the thing with the Armitage brothers is that they played rugby in france (Nice?) when they were young : as a result they fall in the "JIFF" category and although not french qualified can be counted against the quota of local players.

Massive match for Quins.

Personally i'm in two minds, part of me wants us to win and potentially go on to defend the cup in the final. The other part of me isn't fussed and just wants Quins to focus on the prem.

Either way I hope the youngsters do well out there and if it's close with 20 to go that bench could win it for us.

Massive games for Hopper, Wallace and Clegg. There's a lot being put on to those three's shoulders and I hope they use that to spur them on rather then crumble.

certainly seems that quins are focusing their efforts on the AP at this stage of the season. Im sure they will still want to defend the amlin but its not a priority.

I think that's the right approach, i'd much rather a Jeff title then Amlin.

Hard match, still think it's doable Clegg looked decent last week and Wallace and Mo make for a great flank unit. Wallace is going to be key against Armitage and Brown's positional and kicking game need to fire to counteract the boots of Wilko and Giteau- Hopper could have a hard day against Bastasreaud but I agree with happy about what our approach will be and that it is the right call

Hooper has previously struggled against big players defensively. It'll be interesting to see how much he's improved since his début.

He learnt quickly last time like in the second match against Toulouse, his tackling was was a lot more physical but he keeps getting out of position in the line

Have Quins been practising giving away penalties....cos they're giving Toulon the game!!!

It's a bit painful watching Quins but seeing it reminds me why I am so glad that Easter and the whole culture of just giving away penalites because you're not good enough is gone from the England team.

We haven't missed him one jot and sure as hell don't miss that ethos.

their lack of discipline is killing them. And Toulon are starting to get confident. If Quins don't score next, this could get messy.

Not looking good

Thing is they have won some very impressive turnovers....i couldnt see if Wallace has been a big part of that...but its 2 english 7's battling it out.....but they're giving away stupid points elsewhere....

Good gosh, Jonny has still got it, I would not put a Lions tour out of his reach just yet, his ability to slot them over from anywhere is invaluable, imagine what he could do to the Ozzies behind a dominant Lions pack, his ability to keep the scoreboard ticking over is invaluable and should not be underestimated.

Wilko still kicks great, not sure what else he has but the old boys kicks are killer.

Quins just don't look up for this. I'm very rarely impressed by Clegg, maybe its time Quins got rid?

What is the score guys?

Another penalty, 25 - 3 to Toulon.

What's up with quins! They usually score tries for fun

No Evans and no Robshaw hasn't helped but they are just not really with it

Steffon Armitage playing well, but that spare tyre he is carrrying means he must be fighting Bastareaud to get to the buffet table first.

They're like twins....

Quins are just being outpowered now...

Gutted, I really didn't want toulon to win in not a big fan of their football club style of buying in all the big names and hardly any home grown lads.

Quins lost it in the first half....you cant give that many penalties away with Johnny on the pitch...

Then in the second half they have just been outpowered...the Toulon front row has been pretty good...and Armitage has been having fun. GUnter has also been impressive at the breakdowns...

Stunning maul - 3rd try for toulon

These complete stuffings of English teams in Europe are a worry. Thankfully we got our act together and built a solid side but do worry how far behind we have fallen in Europe.

Mind you, if we were happy to bankrupt ourselves for success like the French it might be different (or indeed had councils happy to put council tax toward rugby like they do.. mental).

Its rediculous the money french clubs are spending.

Quins were taught a lesson today...but it was mostly their own fault in the first half.

Armitage has to go to SA...

I suppose the up side is the French are so full of other players now that the senior team is suffering badly, something for the rest of us to beware I think.

This has got the potential to derail Quins for the rest of the season, they have been woeful. From last week to this is the sublime to the ridiculous. They need to re-group and address the lack of intensity and dreadful mistakes.

Mind why they chose to go without Robshaw, Fai'vasa.. , Lowe etc i have no idea.

Lowes performance last week was immense...

Harlequins simply humbled by a more powerful team right across the park.

Toulon look good for the final.

Quite a comprehensive win for RCT. They're a powerful team. Unlucky Quins but I would like you to go and win the Premiership title, I think you deserve it. On that note, it would be good to see Exeter break into the top 4 aswell.

So what will the amlin semis look like?

I forgot to add, the exact same thing happened to the Scarlets a few seaons ago, I think them and Quins are pretty similar teams.

One semi-final is RCT vs Stade Francais. Scarlets are playing Brive, Wasps are playing Biarritz.

viewtothegym wrote:So what will the amlin semis look like?

They'll have four teams with two matches. Hopefully not flaccid performances.

but who will be facing toulon and stade?

I just said RCT (toulon) are playing Stade.

Surprisingly infased by this as a Quins fan, yes it's bad to lose in the manner we did but I don't think O'Shea really had his sights on the trophy anyway as our squad is far too small to compete on two fronts (as today showed).

Physicality again did for us, Toulon just wanted it a lot more then we did and add to that the stars they have littering the pitch and this result was always on the cards.

Clegg is a conundum, he's had patches where's he's looked the part but more often then not it's like last nights match and he just looks poor. I don't know if this is a lack of game time thing or just a lack of mental strength or something else but for the first time ever I was saying last night that we need to sign a new 10.