Quins late efforts for a home draw in the play offs fail

Harlequins 22 Northampton Saints 19 – The Stoop – Saturday 5th May 2013 – Mike Miles reports
In theory both teams could have gained home-advantage in next weekend’s semi-finals if results elsewhere had gone their way, but there probably weren’t many people in the 14, 800, near capacity, crowd who didn’t think it was a contest to decide which was the lesser of two evils, a visit to Leicester or Saracens.

Quins had at least finished the regular season strongly, three successive victories following a run of three successive defeats. It turned out to be a real ding-dong encounter, with Harlequins appearing to have the dubious privilege of a trip to Welford Road all wrapped up in the Spring sunshine after tries by hooker Rob Buchanan and centre Tom Casson just after the interval saw them to a 22-5 lead.

However, Northampton showed that they are not to be dismissed lightly, storming back to score two converted tries in seven minutes either side of the hour mark, with their newly installed Lions hooker Dylan Hartley scoring the first from a driving maul, and lock Christian Day getting the second from a passage of play that was positively Harlequins-esque in its ambition and scope.

If you had looked forward to this game two months ago you might have expected to be watching half-a –dozen Lions, but in the end the Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley was he only Lion on view. Chris Robshaw was absent for Quins through injury, to his ankle rather than his pride after his failure to make the squad for Australia. But the Wallabies will not regret the absence of Danny Care, a player who can transfix and frustrate, but who also has a catalytic effect on his side. Care created two of the champions’ three tries, and surely made a compelling case to be on the standby list.

This was the last normal Premiership weekend of the season, and so all fixtures kicked off at 2.30. News came in from other venues that it had been a vintage day in the Premiership, with a feast of tries around the grounds.

Sometimes we are too down on this whole competition. On days such as these, the spectacle, the passion and the honesty of it all creates a mood to span the empty summer months.

 

Saracens new home leaves some fans feeling cold (and wet)

Saracens 47 Worcester Warriors 17 – Allianz Park – Sunday 14th April 2013 – report by Mike Miles

Saracens have been making a load of hay out of the fact that their Allianz Park pitch can be used every day of the year rather than for eighty minutes once a fortnight. Indeed Chairman Nigel Wray was emphasising this same message in his programme notes. He also wrote of another plus. ..That, adjacent to the M1 and the North Circular it is “without doubt the best located ground in the country.”It may be for you Nigel, with your reserved parking space but for the rest of us mortals getting to your “home” presents a few more problems. Car parking around the ground is very limited, and all the streets in a mile radius have signs warning calcitrants not to park there on “event days”

The club’s web site lists various alternatives using public transport, but bearing in mind that this was a Sunday, and various bits of the tube and train network tend to be out of action then getting to Hendon provides an additional challenge, especially, if, like me you are travelling from west London. The best option appeared to be the Piccadilly line to Bounds Green, and then a 30-minute bus ride on the 221 to near the ground. My rule of thumb is that once you get near the ground you will just need to follow other fans. But there seemed to be a suspicious absence of them on this particular service, and just when doubts were beginning to set in the bus pulled up outside Copthall Sports Centre, and what the website describes as a five-minute walk to Allianz Park. And just in case you had the urge to wander the suburban streets of Hendon the club had laid on Olympic-style volunteers to point the unitiated in the right direction.

The ground itself is a curious mixture of the new and permanent, like the East Stand, and the West Stand, where I was sitting in the front row. This is clearly designed to be removed when the season ends to let the athletes in. My feet were resting on the running track. I also uttered a quiet prayer of thanks to the weather gods. This part of the ground is not under cover, and had the game been played 24 hours earlier I would have been soaked.

Saracens were already top of the Premiership pile and a win today would have guaranteed them a home Premiership semi-final. They were up against a team in no danger of relegation and who hadn’t won away from home in an awful long time. Pre-match the other main topic of discussion was the planned minutes silence for Margaret Thatcher. “It was a question of respect, it wasn’t political” claimed Sarries’ chief executive Edward Griffiths,I’d like to think with some sense of irony. She had been the local M.P. and there didn’t appear to be much opposition among another sell-out crowd.

That Allianz Park’s synthetic surface suited Saracens was clear again .Worcester coach Richard Hill was not in favour, as “it creates a different type of game and I’m definitely a grass man.” The highlight was David Strettle’s 25-minute hat-trick, but it scored well for coach accessibility too judging from the short time it took Sarries’ head coach Mark McCall to reach the touchline. He had raced to remonstrate with the officials after his scrum-half Neil de Kock had been flattened by an unpunished high tackle.De Kock was led away to the wonderfully named “Concussion Bin.”

It is rare to see McCall so enraged, but that it took the incident to animate him testifies to his players’’ hunger after he made nine changes. The contest was as good as over before Josh Drauniniu crossed for Worcester after half an hour. Chris Ashton finally got on the score sheet with a late try, but by then the game had lost all its rhythm due to the inevitable onslaught of substitutes.. To be honest I missed both his and Wray’s try in injury time. I was already embarking on the long trek back to west London.

 

Quins pick up their first silverware of the season

Harlequins 32 Sale Sharks 14 – Sixways Stadium – Sunday 17th March 2013
Apparently there was a big rugby match in Cardiff this weekend, but not too many miles away the first of this season’s major domestic finals, the LV= Cup, took place at Worcester’s Sixways Stadium.

Thanks to London24 for use of the picture

This is a strange competition. Rather like its soccer equivalent, the Football League Cup, it takes place seemingly when no one else is looking and is competed for by reserve and up and coming players. Originally known as the R.F.U. Club Competition (for which no Cup was awarded) it kicked off in 1972.The insurance company LV= are the sixth sponsor since the first, John Player came on board in 1976. Finals used to be held at Twickenham, but declining attendances caused them to be shifted around various Premiership stadia. Worcester’s Sixways Stadium was the latest, the second time Worcester had been awarded the final after 2010.Most of the 8,297 inside appeared to be supporters of Sale or Quins, but in a 12,000 capacity stadium at least it felt reasonably full.

The stadium itself very much resembles a work in progress. It is dominated by the Slick Systems Stand on the east side of the stadium complex. It was completed in 2008, but despite its impressive size looks as though it was designed with corporate boxes at the front of the queue and ordinary punters’ seating an afterthought.

Winning my vote is the wonderfully named Fragrance Mad Stand or North Stand in everyday parlance. Plans have been approved to make this the same size as the Slick Systems Stand, and eventually push up the capacity to close to 20,000.

Certainly the stadium’s proximity to the M5 makes access by car easy enough; though parking at £10 is not cheap. And however long you delay your departure to savour the post-match delights of the Clubhouse Bar it is inevitably a slow crawl back to the motorway.

Harlequins completed the first leg of a potentially remarkable treble when their emerging generation of players defeated Sale to win the trophy for the first time since 1991. The victory should have provided some succour for Harlequins’ England quartets who apparently were among the crowd even though their Grand-Slam dream had crashed on the Welsh rocks the day before in Cardiff.

Only three of the starting Quins 15 could be regarded as first-team regulars, but 14 of the squad were under 23 and they backed up victory over an experienced Bath side in last week’s semi-final with another energetic team performance. Harlequins still had to rely on Tom Williams and Tom Guest, two old lags in the side, to give them initiative with first half tries. Tom Casson decided a one-sided contest when he sliced through the midfield and it threatened to become a rout when Luke Wallace crossed from close range. Centre Johnny Leota clawed back a consolation try midway through the second half, but by that time Sale’s suffering supporters were already singing “always look on the bright side of life.”

Report by Mike Miles

 

Wasps lose their sting to the luck of the Irish

London Irish 30 London Wasps 19 – The Madejski Stadium – Sunday 24th February 2013
Apparently the Madejski Stadium was named the best stadium to watch rugby in England in a supporter’s survey conducted by Rugby World magazine during 2009/10. The home of London Irish claimed the top accolade in a survey of more than 1,500 rugby supporters, securing nearly a quarter of overall votes regarding which ground offered spectators the most comfortable match day experience. The survey praised the stadium’s shop and transport links, and nearly every fan who cited it as the best ground in terms of facilities mentioned the proximity to the M4 and large on-site parking area.

I have driven past the stadium on the M4 countless times so thought it was about time I actually paid a visit.

Ironically, the largest crowd for a London Irish match was for a game against today’s opponents London Wasps on March 15, 2008, when a crowd of 23,790 turned up. Today’s attendance by contrast, was a much more modest 7,184

As I drove slowly out of one of the Madejski’s car parks after the game I listened to the Scotland/Ireland 6 nations match on the car radio. Unlike in the past London Irish have contributed nobody to the current Irish team.

London Irish RFC was founded in 1898 for the young Irishmen of London, modelling itself on the already established London Welsh and London Irish teams.

It is a testament to the international state of the Premiership that the Exile’s current 36-man squad numbers only 4 Irishmen. Englishmen make up the biggest contribution with 17, and there are the almost obligatory 3 Tongans and 3 Samoans.

The clubs own website warned that “roads in the area are very busy, and queuing can be expected exiting the M4 and then all the way to the stadium” Forewarned I left home in plenty of time for the 12.05 kick-off and found myself enjoying a cup of coffee in the stadium concourse an hour before kick-off. Everybody, from car park attendants to programme sellers were very friendly and helpful, though it did sound slightly odd to be greeted with a “good morning” at a sports fixture. Such are the demands of television.

Both teams went into this match with different priorities. Wasps were fourth in the Aviva Premiership with their sights on at least a Heineken Cup spot for next season, and even a play-off place in this. The Exiles on the other hand were next to bottom, with only a single point between them and bottom club Sale. But after an impressive 30-19 win over the High Wycombe outfit they had climbed to 10th, five points ahead of Sale who they face along with fellow strugglers London Welsh and Worcester in their three remaining home fixtures.

Shane Geraghty and Marland Yarde both crossed the try-line, while full back Tom Homer added a total of 20 points from the kicking tee. Wasps even led 16-14 at half-time after a fine finish from Christian Wade, but the hosts stepped up a gear in the second half and were comfortable winners in the end. Wasps Director of Rugby Dai Young admitted that his team were never in control of the game.

The clubs website has a wonderful quote from that doyen of sports writers, the late Bryon Butler: “The only corner of heaven on earth can now be formally identified; it is an old rubbish tip beside the drumming infinity of the M4 in the Royal County of Berkshire. Rival claims will not be entertained for the time being.”

Perhaps the hyperbole may not be entirely justified, but nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable first visit to the Madejski Stadium.

 

Put your prices up and they will come…..or not

Mike Miles takes out a new mortgage to go and watch the opening game of the new Super League season at the Stoop.

I have experienced thrilling rugby league afternoons at The Stoop, when the sun has shone, the game has been set alight and the beer has flowed. I have also been there when the gloomy weather has cast a cloud over blocks of empty seats, the home side has given a tiny crowd nothing to get excited about, and the away fans have moaned about everything from the price of a pint to the ref’s ineptitude.

The Broncos had the lowest average attendance in Super-League in 2012 and the letters page of the sports leading weekly, League Express, were frequented by those moaning about the award of a franchise to a team outside the sport’s northern heartland.

It could be argued that getting 3,000 ( today’s attendance was 2,856 ) to The Stoop is a reasonable achievement compared to attendances at far more historic clubs in the north and those of other sports in the capital.

However, if the Broncos are not playing well, and today they never played well, it can make for a desperate atmosphere.

It cost me £20 for a seat anywhere in the Etihad Stand. This is a £5 increase on last season. As a new OAP I got in for a tenner then but the age limit has now been raised to 65! And you still have to pay an extra £3 to buy a ticket online and a further £3 to use a credit card! A strange way to attract punters, especially when you can so easily buy a ticket on the gate….

There was only one catering van at the end of the Etihad Stand, and the prices must put a few potential punters off. A quarter –pounder was £3.70, a humble portion of chips £2.50. A cheaper alternative was the bar under the LV= Stand where choices of pies were £2 each and a cup of coffee £1.20. It was also warm respite from a bitterly cold day.

London Bronocs 14 Widness Vikings 28 – The Stoop – Sunday 3rd February 2013
Being London’s Super League club is a huge challenge. Being at the Stoop means the Broncos are on the rugby union corridor that leads from Richmond to Cornwall. The Stoop is a 10-mile drag south-west of central London, making it a painful slog for all those fans who live to the north or east. Its easily reached via the M25 and M3 , but for away fans coming down the M1 it’s another hour’s crawl around the western edge of London. Trains run regularly from Waterloo and the station is only a ten-minute walk from the station but it still makes The Stoop a lengthy trip for all but south-west Londoners, of which I am one.

Twickenham is cut in half by the A316 dual-carriageway, with the RFU’s concrete behemoth cut adrift from the rest of the “village”. Parking is available in neighbouring car parks, including Richmond College next door. Twickenham stadium is blessed with large car park spaces so you could park there and take the 5-minute walk over the A316.

With four modern stands, three of them built since London Broncos first played here 17 years ago, the Stoop is basically a new stadium. The colourful seats are comfortable enough with unobstructed views and almost all are covered. But the low trajectory makes views of the far side difficult, and that’s not helped in the Etihad Stand where the front row of seats are 20 yards from the touchline. For some reason the Broncos have made the LV= (West) Stand season ticket holders only, so its the unreserved Etihad (East)Stand or nothing.

Super league may now be a summer game, but this was the first week of February and the day was very cold and overcast. The Broncos had finished the 2012 season 12th out of 14, but had finished the season strongly after the introduction of Tony Rea as head coach. They had had a successful pre-season, and so expectations at the club were high compared to last year. Widnes had finished bottom of the table so were widely expected to give the Broncos their first victory of the season.

However, it was Widnes who made the flying start to the season, beating Broncos 14-28. They led 18-0 at the break after three converted tries. Kieran Dixon, twice, and Chris Melling, crossed for London, but further scores from March and Winterstein sealed the win for the visitors. In truth, at no stage did the Broncos look like hauling back Widnes’ lead in an error-strewn game.

Drive back into central London on the A316 and you pass one of rugby league’s former homes, the Polytechnic Stadium by the Thames at Chiswick. The 1930s cantilever stand once restored by the supporters is now derelict, the pitch overgrown and the banking demolished. It is one of the game’s ghost grounds.

The Broncos may have come a long way from Chiswick to the Stoop, but next year there will have to be yet another ground to call home. In the meantime, The Stoop will have to do.

It’s the End of the Vicarage Road…for a few months anyway

Our resident rugby expert wrapped up warm and headed up to Watford to witness the end of an era.

Saracens 40 Edinburgh 7 – Vicarage Road – Sunday 20th January 2013
This was all but the end of rugby at Vicarage Road. Over Sarries’ 16 years in Watford the rickety old stadium has grown to become one of the most unloved in the English game. (Very) cold, empty (the attendance was a paltry 5,673) and soulless.

Saracens themselves have grown from a side that used to play in front of a few hundred on a park pitch in Southgate to their current status as one of the leading teams of the professional era. Nearly 15 years ago they sold the place out to the tune of 20,000 for a league match against Newcastle. If that did not go on to prove the norm-indeed the attendance for this one was not far off that of Bramley Road days- Saracens will head off to their new stadium, Allianz Park,  in Mill Hill with some fond memories of Vicarage Road.

Saracens had wanted the match to be played in Cape Town, where the temperature was 30 degrees, but Edinburgh preferred Watford, where the temperature was 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The visitors’ change strip of white jerseys even clashed with the colour of the pitch, snow starting to fall an hour before kick-off and continuing throughout the match. Edinburgh’s only try was scored by Greg Tonks after half an hour when Sarries’ scrum-half Wigglesworth appeared to mistake snow for the ball.

Saracens had to win to ensure they made the quarter finals but they needed to secure a bonus point to maximise their chances of a home draw. The conditions were certainly not conducive to great handling moves, and so not a day for wings. Chris Ashton only touched the ball three times , but scored tries with two of them, his first since the reverse fixture 3 months ago.

The fourth try, which secured the bonus point, was scored by the evergreen Charlie Hodgson, who had controlled the game masterfully.

Saracens this week move to their new home, Allianz Park. Its artificial pitch would presumably have put paid to any doubts about a game being played in these sort of arctic conditions. But its capacity is 10,000; 50% short of that needed to stage a Heineken Cup quarter final against Ulster in early April. That could mean one more “final” outing at vicarage Road.

 

Scottish kick off the New Year by banishing the Blues

Our resident South West London Rugby correspondent Mike Miles headed down the A316 for the first game of the New Year in the Championship.

According to Wikipedia London Scottish have produced more Scottish internationals (220) than any other club. These include such luminaries as Gavin Hastings and Kenny Logan. However this list is unlikely to be added to in the near future. Not only are Scottish playing in the second tier of English rugby, the R.F.U. Championship, but of the current squad of 36 only 11 are Scottish. Indeed the majority (20) are English.

This might cause the founders of the Exiles back in 1878 to blow on their heavenly bagpipes, but in truth, are fortunate even to be in existence. The club turned professional in 1996, when Tony Tiarks bought the club for £1/2million.  As recently as 1999 the club was playing in the top division, but in the summer of 1998 Tiarks had forced through an ill-fated ground share with London Broncos and Harlequins at The Stoop. He became disillusioned and bailed out in the summer of 1999. The original amateur club rejoined the RFU leagues at the bottom of the rugby pyramid after effectively being relegated 9 divisions. But he club has since progressed back up through the divisions, reaching the RFU Championship by the 2011-12 season.

London Scottish 26 Bedford Blues 23 – The Athletic Ground – 5th January 2013
The Exiles share the Athletic Ground with Richmond. Today, two Richmond teams were playing on the outer pitches. It cost me £12 to stand on what my ticket called the Clan Terrace but seemed to cover anywhere around the ground apart from the small grandstand. Visitors Bedford Blues had brought a vociferous number of supporters with them, and this no doubt helped boost the attendance to a season’s best 1,324.

At the start of play Scottish lay 9th in a 12-team league, their cause not helped by being docked 3 points for fielding an ineligible player. Bedford were 2nd, behind the 100% Newcastle Falcons. Indeed, in their previous match Scottish had lost narrowly 12-9 at Newcastle, but were expected to struggle against Bedford. But Scottish secured a surprise 26-23 victory. James Love opened the scoring with a penalty after only three minutes to give the Exiles a lead they never lost. First half tries from Andy Reay and Tyler Hotson gave Scottish a commanding half-time lead and despite a Bedford fight back in the second half , James Love’s composure from the kicking tee, with four penalties and two conversions, saw Scottish home to an excellent win against the odds.