Johnny Wilkinson had clearly been hanging round the RFU shop at Twickenham when someone asked, “Are these old England shirts any good to you?” and Newcastle bought the lot as away strip. http://falcons.officialshop.net/image.php?id=68&type=D

And dressed as England, it was oh so good to then see them play like England, good in defence but clueless in attack. 

The Conditions

The conditions weren’t made for running rugby, let’s be honest. Despite the fact earlier in the day it was sunny and blue skies, as I walked up to the Stoop it was unrelenting rain on a blustery wind from the South. The conditions were similar to the Bristol game, and so I was cheered by the fact we started playing into the wind just as then. My only worry was surely the Newcastle video analysis team would have seen Bristol’s mistakes and we’d be forever turning to pick up kicks in our 22, or go to lineouts there. As it happened the Newcastle team played much like Bristol, trying to do it all through their forwards and getting little change for their effort but they were better at smothering our attempts to go the other way.

0-3         4 mins                  Penalty                  Johnny Wilkinson

Well that didn’t take long! Some determined Newcastle pressure, a scrum collapse and up wandered JW to do the only thing he still can do! (And he does it very well). Of course he slotted it and I was wondering how much of a deficit we’d be looking to claw back in the second half.

3-3         6 mins                  Penalty                  Adrian Jarvis

Woo hoo! Almost immediately we’re back in the race! A great take by Jordan Turner-Hall recovers the kick off in squally conditions. In the subsequent ruck Newcastle are penalised for handling. Up steps AJ to do the honours and slots it no problem.

There follows probably Newcastle’s best period of sustained pressure. Using their forwards as battering rams they forced their way down the pitch to a number of scrums close to the Harlequins line. They turned down the opportunity for three points and came away with nothing in the end. Some excellent work in defence by the team. 

6-3         18 mins                  Drop Kick                  Danny Care

I didn’t even know he did drop kicks! James Percival stole a Newcastle line out, Mike Ross dug the ball out and threw a daisy cutter pass to Danny Care who picked it up and slotted the drop kick in a manner that suggested he could do this anytime, he just preferred passing the ball usually! 

Harlequins could have gone ahead a few minutes later when Adrian Jarvis missed a penalty (not by much).

9-3         34 mins                  Penalty                  Adrian Jarvis

With Harlequins starting to cope with the Newcastle pack, they started to make territory. Newcastle collapsed a driving maul and AJ potted the three points to give us a useful cushion. 

9-6         35 mins                  Penalty                  Johnny Wilkinson

He’s a class act isn’t he? Harlequins were penalised for some unfathomable reason at the breakdown and JW kicked a long range (and wind assisted) penalty to narrow the gap once more. 

Ugo Monye went off shortly after this after a blow to the head to be replaced by de Wet Barry. Harlequins’ best chance of crossing the whitewash happened around now when Danny Care put through a superb grubber kick to the left corner and Simon Keogh just knocked on trying to recover it.

12-6         38 mins                  Penalty                  Adrian Jarvis

With the crowd already leaving their seats to be first in the queue for something at half time, Martin Fox finally spots a Newcastle player offside (Martin they’re all always offside!). Adrian Jarvis restores our 6 point cushion.

12-6 Half Time

The weather, which had been easing, starts to rain and gust again. Throughout the second half it rains and blows and makes conditions worse, if anything, than the first! Good!

The second half starts of a more dour affair, with not much happening and the game taking place between the two 22s. It has to be said I think we handled pinning Newcastle back much better than they did us and I don’t think they were prepared for what playing into the wind would entail.

15-6         55 mins                  Penalty                  Adrian Jarvis

A superb kick from Mike Brown went miles and miles down the pitch, Tom May at the other end was put under pressure by our chasers, in the subsequent ruck Newcastle dived over and suddenly there was daylight between us and Newcastle.

15-9         59 mins                  Penalty                  Johnny Wilkinson

Nooooooooo! De Wet Barry carries out the clumsiest attempt to obstruct a kicker after the kick (the kindest explanation) and floors Matthew Tait with a challenge that involved some kind of clash of heads. No one round me in the Lexus stand saw the incident as we all followed the ball. More on this to come I’ve no doubt. 

Anyway the ref gives the penalty from where the ball landed (well about 5m closer to the post and a lot further in!) and JW makes no mistakes.

Poor Tait needs a shot of oxygen and leaves the pitch looking pretty groggy. De Wet Barry gets a red card and Harlequins have to play 20 minutes with 14 men. Were we going to lose it at the death?

On the 60 minutes mark Malone comes on for Jarvis. Cue groans from the group around me in the Lexus who are not great Malone fans. We weren’t shocked therefore when he just (and it was just!) missed a penalty on the 62-minute mark. In this period we pinned Newcastle back in their own 22 and they just couldn’t get out of it. Clever little kicks (including a peach left footed from Nick Easter!) just kept them there and even when they got the ball, they did the old “pass to the left without thinking” trick until the man on the end of the line got bundled into touch. Three times they did that! 

Malone had the chance of another penalty from the same spot on 77 minutes, with exactly the same result. However it was now just a question of running the clock down, and Harlequins controlled the rest of the game before hoofing the ball out!

Conclusion

Not one of our best games, but the weather had a part to play. Thought we showed great character that the 14 men down bit didn’t affect us at all. His kicking might have been off, but Malone showed his experience in keeping Newcastle pinned in their 22 and unable to get out. Harlequins showed maturity, discipline and commitment in the game we played and that was the difference between the sides. Newcastle on the other hand looked rudderless, leaderless and without a plan B when plan A didn’t work.

The Press Conference

I strolled slowly to this, because the coaches are always late because of talking to their teams first. So it was a bit of a shock to discover Steve Bates already ensconced and answering questions. It was also a shock to discover the place was full. Usually the place is a couple of photographers and a few journos, not more than 8 in all. We had at least 25 people in that room, it was like a sauna! No can of Guinness casually nicked from the fridge this time!

Steve Bates

Well the only difference between Harlequins and Newcastle was the referee. Martin Fox was inexperienced and gave “confusing” decisions and penalties that always benefited Harlequins. Some one asked a question about how many Premiership matches he’d refereed and been in charge of, and Bates was quick to point out they might be two completely different figures. In his opinion Martin Fox didn’t referee the breakdowns properly, gave “interesting” decisions sometimes not others and decisions on the scrum were completely mystifying and those decisions were inconsistent. (yup, I’d agree with all that except the advantage always went to Newcastle!) 

Steve Bates didn’t see the incident with Barry and Tait. Tait is fine just a bit shock up. 

He was pleased with some areas of the Newcastle play, but they didn’t look after the ball, ran into touch three times on the left hand side and didn’t capitalise on Harlequins being a man down for 20 minutes. However he thought their pack outstanding in the second half.

As for the England players, they settled back OK. Had a traumatic 6N and been criticised and that doesn’t engender confidence. They were close to the previous coaches so that turmoil doesn’t help steady them. However there was no lack of commitment and a good spirit in all of them. 

Dean Richards

Dean agreed it was our least impressive performance of recent weeks. But it was a howling gale, raining and all stop/start rugby, in the light of that the team regretted they hadn’t scored any tries but were happy with the win.

Deano also didn’t see the Tait incident as he was watching play. He said he’d review the DVD before giving an opinion. He said DWB is not a dirty player, despite his reputation as a tough tackler. He said DWB had already apologised profusely to Tait and so had Deano (some papers report this as DWB apologising to Deano, but I know what I heard)

Asked if he’d suspend DWB like Wasps have LBND, he said he wouldn’t bother, as the RFU disciplinary hearing will probably be on Tuesday. 

Asked about Danny Care and his rave reviews, he said DC should definitely be on the NZ tour if they’re taking three scrum halves, but England need to think about “blooding” new players in New Zealand of all places. 

He was pleased with the way DC and the team controlled the game in the last 20 minutes. It’s a sign of the maturity of the young players this is now happening.

He hadn’t heard anything about the RFU saga, has no interest in it. He thought actually Brian Ashton is the only person who comes out of the sorry mess with any dignity. 

Ugo is fine, just took a blow to the face so they took him off. 

Ceri Jones showed up one of the best players in the world (Carl Hayman), Our whole tight 5 is a great unit. They’re the surprise package of the premiership. They’re a great unit and good friends with a good work ethic. Ceri Jones pushes them and challenges them to deliver more.

Our back row wasn’t quite so sharp today. Nick Easter wasn’t always up on the ball and we lost momentum when we lost Tom Guest. On the whole though the pack is very good.

Asked if he had any irons in the fire regarding a new No 10 with AJ leaving, Deano said they were looking. Seb Jewell is looking a great prospect but we’re looking for someone for next season.

David Strettle is still about 2-3 weeks away from playing. Keogh, Williams and Amesbury have all stepped up to the mark while he’s been out. DS hasn’t had any further surgery on his matarsal, it just needs the right sort of treatment.

Next season he’d like to think we’d do better in the Heineken Cup. Our young team is maturing and starting to play a different brand of rugby to other teams. We’re starting to show we know how to control games and close them out.

Man of the Match – Danny Care

For his drop goal, for his control of the play, for his passing, for his kicking but especially for his suicidal and continuous needling of Carl Hayman! :-)

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