Harlequins - Whats going on?

2 Losses now - but more importantly, 2 bad performances.

I was at the Sarries game and Quins werent great, but could have snuck that game if NEV had been on target - everyone has a bad day (fair enough).

I wasnt at the Exeter game but had feedback from brother-in law, who's only comments were about Clegg's substandard performances!
Can anyone offer more insight?
I saw the highlights and it looks like Rory took on a good intercept and offloaded to Dickson for a try.

This dip in form is just at the wrong time with the H-Cup just about to start - will Quins be able to regroup!

Too much reliance on Nick Evans IMO. Clegg has not been given the gametime to bed in. There were opportunities vs LW and Sale.

Against Saracens there was little faith in Clegg to bring him on when Evans was misfiring.

From reports on the Exeter game it sounds like Quins struggled more then Evans went off and Clegg to step in.

No 10 is such a key position.

It's difficult as we've given Clegg so little game time, he was very good for Falcons when he got a run at 10 and perhaps now that Nev is injured he'll get that run of games to find some form.

Also there's a lot of talk suggesting Nev could be off to Japan so we are going to need to give Cleggy plenty of game time if that's the case, we don't want to end up like Saints.

From what i've heard Quins just weren't at the races on Sat against Exeter, outclassed all around and our defence especially was Poopie. That's not Clegg's fault, that's down to organisation and the team wanting to win. I mentioned before the match that some of the subs brought in looked poor and this proves right.

We need to bring in a better wing then Stegmann, Botica needs to get at least a half to show if he can nail the kicks in the big games, we need to use the academy props more often as Lambert is too average against any top 6 team.

Otherwise it's only natural to lose matches, the winning run last season was a freak occurance of more then just us playing well. As long as we bounce back then this isn't an issue, remember where Saints and Tigers were in the league this time last season.

Charlie Walker needs to get the 23 shirt too.

Thanks yappy - thats more of a balanced feedback than I was getting from my brother.
I agree that it cant all have been down to Clegg - while not given many chances in the starting shirt he has over the years had plenty of op for Quins.
He's still a professional player and shouldnt need to have a number of games to 'bed in' so to speak.

Botica needs to have another run out.
Stegman - I had wondered why he was selected over Sam Smith anyway!
Lambert has only ever been average. Agree that we should have given an academy kid a chance.

Whats happened with our import props? Farbrother and Mayhew - havent seen much of them.

Fairbrother returned to NZ unfortunatley.

Not sure about Mayhew, Sinckler or Marfo who've all been bench players before. I'd prefer to see either of those guys stuck with more then Lambert.

That's the other side of the coin isn't it. Should Clegg be able to play 1 game in 3 and be almost Nick Evans esq? Which is basically what we're asking. Or should he be given 3-5 games to get settled with his half back and centres and then judge him?

I've always thought Clegg had a huge amount of spark but just couldn't get his accuracy going, but then look at youngsters like Farrel and Burns, they both need a lot of game time to get in to form and even then they have plenty of blips.

Botica should play, he can take some pressure off Clegg ala 36 and Burns.

A backline of:
9. Care
10. Clegg
11. Monye
12. Botica
13. Hopper
14. Smith
15. Brown

Has a huge amount of running threat to it and should still be defensively sound.

I don't know what the managements love affair with Stegmann is but I really hope we see Walker or Smith against Biarritz, unless Williams is back.

No news on Lowe yet?

It remained to be seen whether 'Quins could take up this season where they left off last. The start was promising and performances have been sub-par of late, however, its not time to hot the panic switch yet.

propdavid_london wrote:No news on Lowe yet?

Had an operation last week to remove some bone fragments from his ankle so out for 6 weeks as of last week

Still Hopper is a pretty good replacement.

Jimpy wrote:It remained to be seen whether 'Quins could take up this season where they left off last. The start was promising and performances have been sub-par of late, however, its not time to hot the panic switch yet.

Exactly.

Every one loses games.

yappysnap wrote:

Jimpy wrote:It remained to be seen whether 'Quins could take up this season where they left off last. The start was promising and performances have been sub-par of late, however, its not time to hot the panic switch yet.

Exactly.

Every one loses games.

Like Saracens nearly did yesterday...

Sshhh he'll hear you!!