Young Munster v Belfast Harlequins Division II Play-off (2v3) Tom Clifford Park 12 April 2008

Quins elected to play South against a stiff breeze and to the Clubhouse of Young Munster who kicked off. Let not my cold words accuse my zeal for our lambs were rendered silent in the 1st half, as Young Munster ran in fourtries at 22, 27, 35 and 40 by respectively Connolly, Corcoran, Carey and Murray, the latter converting the first three, having kicked two penalties at 4 and 13. Quins' sole response was a penalty by Slabbert at 30, so by halftime we were well slaughtered: Young Munster 32  Quins  3. Clearly the 2nd quarter was our undoing and indeed the meagre return of 3 points after attacks by both our backs and our scrum, was disappointing. In the 2nd half at 48, 57 and 80, three brilliant tries were run in from the halfway by McLoughlin, Heatlie and McComb. Slabbert converted Heatlie's and in true Leopardstown Seven-a-side fashion McComb drop-kicked his own conversion. 'However in the meantime at 64 and 69, YM had scored two unconverted tries by Corcoran and Connolly to leave thefinal score at: YM  42  Quins  22. In the 2nd half and by arrangement with DC Gillespie, all five subs came on: Stephen Robinson for Johnston, Robert Logan for Philpott, Graham Jewhurst for Rourke, Andrew McKeen for Atky (with Atky going to the centre for Stewart)   and Freddie Cuttle for Creighton. We just did not have a sixth or seventh sub. Paul Haycock (Leinster) refereed the game well.The loss of six normally 1st XV players through injury or other unavailability, proved insurmountable in our heaviest defeat of the season, but losing by six tries to three was no disgrace - as I am sure the Chairman Ian McEvoy and our Acting Team Manager and Chairman of Selectors  Stephen Blake Knox would agree. We must regroup for our final match of the season: the Ulster Senior Cup Final v Ballymena at a venue and on a date to bedetermined. See you in due course. Quins started with: 11 Willem Slabbert 15 Paul McKenzie 13 Thomas Horner 12 Shane Stewart 14 Gavin McLoughlin 10 Rory Blake Knox 9 David Creighton 1 Craig Voisey 2 Stuart Philpott  Alan Rankin 4 Gareth Rourke 5 Neil McComb 6 Colin Atkinson (c) 7 David Johnston 8 Alister Heatlie   Derrick Crothers(prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO   PS Our thanks to Peter Bates from the 9 other supporters: Ronnie, Hilary,Norman, Judith, Tony, Carmel, Mike, Eithne and myself, for an excellent stay and Saturday dinner in Pery's Best Western and to Young Munster for impeccable hospitality before and after the match. PS2 My man of the match was Gavin McLoughlin for that first absolutely outstanding try.

 

Belfast Harlequins 14 Suttonians 6 AIB AIL II,Deramore Park 22nd March 2008 Quins elected to attack Deramore Pk South with the Northerly wind blowing transversely across the pitch, right to left. Taipai had the visitors in front :Quins 0 Suttonians 3 with a simple penalty at 6. At 15 Heatlie scored an excellent try from a mauled lineout, with Slabbert converting: Quins 7 Suttonians 3. Suttonians had a heavy pack, including 2 tall locks, one at 6' 9''. They gained a number of turnovers , wheeling the scrum through pi/2 radians .No further score accrued before 1/2 time. At 42 Slabbert scored a try coming off his wing to attack off a rucked ball and touching down to the left of the uprights at the Clubhouse end.He converted to make the score Quins 14 Suttonians 3. The strong Sun and the now cold biting North-Westerly wind now favoured Quins (even my tracksuit and anorak were thwarted). For Suttonians Taipai kicked his 2nd penalty to leave the score at: Quins 14 Suttonians 6. With the last kick of the game, Suttonians hooked a penalty to the left of the left upright,as had Quins in the 1st half neither kicker allowing sufficiently for the strong cross wind or component thereof. Quins had three yellow cards to Suttonians' one, all seemingly for forwards not releasing. Final score, Quins 14 (Slabbert 1T, 2C; Heatlie 1T) - Suttonians 6 So four points to Quins and no consoling loser's bonus for Suttonians. Further Quins' tries proved elusive. In the circumstances J and J decided they would postpone their award(s) to the Barnhall match next week. So see you at Deramore Park on the 29th March. Young Munster are 1st on 48 ( 139), Buccaneers are 2nd on 48{ 120), Quins are 3rd on 46 ( 116) and UCC 4th on 46 ( 94). Respectively they play Old Crescent(A), Dublin University(H), Barnhall(H) and Thomond(A). (Barnhall are 16th and Old Crescent 14th   -  Suttonians 15th). Rory Blake Knox subbed on for Pyper, Stuart Philpott for Logan and Alan Rankin (temporarily) for Voisey. Quins started with: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Paul McKenzie 13 Darren Cave 12 Shane Stewart 11 Willem Slabbert 10 Keith Pyper 9 David Creighton 1 Niall Conlon 2 Robert Logan 3 Craig Voisey 4 Alister Heatlie 5 Neil McComb 6 Andrew Ward 7 Colin Atkinson(C) 8 Andrew Gillespie . Derrick Crothers (prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO PS    --- I couldn't help but notice on TV, that Northern Rock sponsor Newcastle in the English Premiership...

Quins elected to attack the Malone Road end and face the strongly gusting Westerly winds. Malone kicked off. During the week a 5.2 earthquake (on the Richter scale) tremor was felt even in Co. Down, its epicentre having been in Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.It would appear that it persisted longer than originally thought! In this physical encounter, Quins' staying power and stamina eventually outswayed the heavy Malone pack, in the last quarter. The South Belfast pale-blue wheelie bins survived the storm while the red-sox of East Belfast found themselves thwarted. Both sides were to find the strong wind difficult to gauge with many kicks going straight out on the full. The halftime score was to be: Quins 3 Malone 6, a penalty by Slabbert at 6, doubled by Hallett at 28 and 40. Quins had played well against the wind and were happy enough. In the 2nd half at 41,Pyper put up a high Garryowen and Stewart,following up at pace, tackled their fullback in possession. Malone were penalised for not playing the ball and Slabbert duly converted: Quins 6 Malone 6. At 54 Quins exerted Eton wall game pressure in the Clubhouse corner; following a tackle on a Malone defender in-goal and a series of phases of rucks and mauls, initiating from a Quins' 5m scrum, Atkinson scored an important try: Quins 11 Malone 6. The conversion was null and void, the ball having fallen off the tee in the strong wind.Game on! At 58 it appeared that Malone's left wing Baird had scored a try, just to the right of the posts, following a Quins' knock-on and determined Malone running and passing.However following consultation with both touch judges, the referee, David Keane(Leinster) awarded Malone a penalty try, presumably for obstruction.It was duly converted by Hallett: Quins 11 Malone 13. Malone having introduced a number of subs, Quins brought on Stephen Robinson, Rory Blake Knox and Roger Kirkwood, for the last quarter, for Heatlie,Pyper and Creighton.This was to prove impacting and inspirational, as at 75, Quins regained  the lead with a try to the right of the posts at the Clubhouse end, by Slabbert who missed the conversion.This all came from a Malone scrum turned over: from the Quins' scrum Blake Knox chipped and followed up at pace, to win the loose ball and slip a delighful pass to Slabbert: Quins 16 Malone 13. At 80, following a turnover through a great take in the lineout by McComb,and Malone infringing at the ensuing ruck, Slabbert kicked a penalty, 35 to 40 m out, to leave the final score: Quins 19 Malone 13. Thus 4 League points to Quins who retain 2nd place on 42 League points, 2 behind the new leaders Buccaneers,and a loser's bonus point to Malone in 3rd place with 41 League points. Malone and Quins are both at home on the 22nd March to Buccaneers and Suttonians respectively.The postponed match between UCC and Young Munster is scheduled for 16th. The J&J man-of-the-match award went to Shane Stewart for his excellent and determined play on the day and over the last number of months. See you on the 15th at Deramore for our Senior Cup match versus Ards. Quins started with: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Paul McKenzie 13 Darren Cave 12 Shane Stewart 11 Willem Slabbert 10 Keith Pyper 9 David Creighton 1 Niall Conlon 2 Robert Logan 3 Craig Voisey 4 Alister Heatlie 5 Neil McComb 6 Andrew Ward 7 Colin Atkinson(C) 8 Andrew Gillespie. Derrick Crothers (prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO

Highfield 13 Belfast Harlequins  21 AIB AIL2 Woodleigh Park, Cork Saturday 16th February 2008 Highfield elected to play down the top-class pitch, North to South.It was a cold but dry occasion. Proceedings were dominated by a persistently strong breeze, East to West, that is, transverse across the pitch from the Easterly Clubhouse. Quins kicked off and the 1st half was to be nip & tuck. However at 30, Kettyle shrugged off a tackle and put McKenzie away for a superb try, McKenzie checking O'Brien their fullback by slowing, showing the ball inside to Kettyle and then fairly accelerating round and outside O'Brien. Slabbert converted. So with O'Meara the Highfield scrum-half having kicked a penalty at 9 , the halftime score was: Highfield 3 Quins 7 - which was highly satisfactory, Quins having played up the slope in this first 40. At halftime H'field went to the changing rooms and re-emerged to thunderous applause. H'field kicked off and a number of errors by cold Quins' players , at 42, resulted in a driving maul/ruck try for the home-team's no. 8 Bradley-Harris, converted by O'Meara: H'field 10 Quins 7. The lead was extended by 3 with another O'Meara penalty at 51. However as the game wore on into the last quarter the Quins pack started to rumble, with quite a number of H'field's front 5 left prostrate on the ground. Quins' backs were starting to take advantage of the down- hill in attack. One such passing movement going right through a number of hands, finished with Kettyle putting Philpott in, at 76, for a try with an inside pass at the right-hand corner flag. Slabbert converted: Highfield 13 Quins 14. At 80, a driven rolling maul started on the H'field 22, put Gillespie in for a very good try, converted by Slabbert: Highfield 13 Quins 21. So 4 League points to Quins and no consolation for H'field, who had topped the AIL II table earlier that day. H'field were magnanimous in defeat. Malone having beaten Barnhall handsomely with a bonus-point win, now top the table with 40 pts .Quins are 2nd with 38, H'field 3rd with 37 and Young Munster 4th on 37 points. . On 35 are UCC and Bucanerrs  places each in 5th & 6th , the last 3 having a game in hand. So Malone at home on 1st March is something of a cup-final for us the prize being promotion, with Suttonians and Barnhall on the 22nd & 29th March at home. During the week you may have noticed the harlequin beetle, a ladybird or as the French call it,une cochinelle, emerged appropriately as the ultimate forager, eating lesser beetles in its way. So one more forage,by the South Belfast pale-blue wheelie- bin cochinelles, against the Red-Sox (and their tie-ups)of Malone, and Harlequins will be in command. Incidentally Rory Blake Knox and Stephen Robinson subbed on for Keith Pyper and Alister Heatlie, Quins having started as: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Paul McKenzie 13 Darren Cave 12 Shane Stewart 11 Willem Slabbert 10 Keith Pyper 9 David Creighton 1 Niall Conlon 2 Stuart Philpott 3 Craig Voisey 4 Alister Heatlie 5 Neil McComb 6 Andrew Ward 7 Colin Atkinson(C) 8 Andrew Gillespie. The J & J man-of-the-match award went to Mark Kettyle for his contributions to the 1st 2 tries. A number of our players did have problems with the cross wind, when it came to punting. Other players who impressed were Andy Ward, Colin Atkinson, Willem Slabbert, Shane Stewart and Neil McComb - but this was a team performance which reflected Thursday night's concentrated and productive team-training session. It was good to have Stuart Philpott and Paul McKenzie back from respectively marriage (congratulations) and Ulster A. Also a special mention must go to Alan Solomons who, with Wardy and Maurice, has put a lot of effort into getting the team to its current progressive development. We have a bye in the Senior Cup and hence a week off (only for supporters!). Let's look forward to entertaining Malone in a fortnight's time. Derrick Crothers (prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO PS One little philosophical reflection:it is probably better to concede a turnover rather than a penalty, as on Saturday! Scorers: McKenzie(1T), Philpott(1T) , Gillespie(1T), Slabbert(3C)

 

Belfast Harlequins 22 De La Salle Palmerston 17 AIB AIL II, Deramore Park 9 February 2008

DLSP elected to defend the Atlantic Ocean end. Quins kicked off into the diagonal Sunlight and a very light breeze. By 1/2-time Quins 9 DLSP 3 reflected the run of play Slabbert having kicked 3 penalties at 3,19 and 31 to one by DLSP at 7. However only 2 minutes into the 2nd half, a mis-hit fly-hack gifted a converted try to the opposition : Quins 9 DLSP 10. Five minutes later, a turnover at a Quins' maul/ruck breakdown allowed DLSP to pass down the line for their right winger to cross in the corner and race round behind the posts for another easily converted try: Quins 9 DLSP 17. However when the going gets tough the tough get going and a series of rucks and mauls had Conlon scoring a try at 57, converted by Slabbert: Quins 16 DLSP 17. During this period DLSP's tight-head was yellowcarded as had Quins' loosehead in the 1st half, Alan Rankin subbing on solidly for the scrummage requirement. At 72 and 79 Slabbert secured the J and J man-of-the-match award ,for the second time this season, kicking two (winning) penalties: Quins 22 DLSP 17. (Conlon(1 T) Slabbert(5P,1 C)) The AIL II table now reads: 1 Highfield 37 ( 76) 2 Malone 35 ( 60) 3 Quins 34 ( 96) 4 UCC 34 ( 64), the points differential in brackets, being in our favour and Malone having picked up a bonus point v Dublin University (4 tries).Young Munster are 5th with 32, Bective 6th with 31,Buccaneers 7th with 30 and DLSP 8th with 28. - where the 4th, 5th, 7th,and 8th teams eachhave a game in hand.. A number of players had good games; our rucking and mauling was, in general, good as was our tackling. However two missed tries in the 1st half going left,due to indifferent handling and two conceded tries could have been costly. In the 2nd half Keith Pyper subbed for Rory Blake Knox and Stuart Philpott for Logan, Quins having started with: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Thomas Horner 13 Darren Cave 12 Shane Stewart 11 Willem Slabbert 10 Rory Blake Knox 9 David Creighton 1 Niall Conlon 2 Robert Logan 3 Craig Voisey 4 Alister Heatlie 5 Neil McComb 6 Andrew Ward 7 Colin Atkinson(C) 8 Stephen Robinson. Next week's match against Highfield will be a major and telling contest,as will Malone at home on 1st March. All to play for: see you in Cork at Woodleigh Park, Model Farm Road on the 16th. Derrick Crothers (prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO Conlon(1 T) Slabbert(5 P,1 C)

Thomond 16 Quins 18 AIL2, Liam Fitzgerald Park Saturday 26th January 2008

Quins elected to defend East Limerick playing into a strong Westerly wind.The pitch was muddy but the rain kept away if not the seagulls. Thomond kicked off, but to the dead ball-line - scrum back. Unsurprisingly this was to be a ding-dong battle royal of multiple-phase ruck and maul, interspersed with strategic punting and chipping. Thomond were 13-0 up at halftime (following the previous victory at home over Young Munster), and as a result of  penalties at 7 and 30 interspersed with a converted try at 17. In the second half, after 45, the Thomond 6 was yellow-carded. At 49, Slabbert scored an excellent try: game on. At 62, Stewart scored a second excellent try under the posts, Slabbert converting. At 65 Slabbert kicked the first of two well-struck penalties; at 67, Quins having failed to catch the restart,  the Thomond outhalf kicked a penalty for hands in the ruck: Thomond 16 Quins 15. On 70, Thomond were penalised for barging in the lineout and Slabbert kicked the second of his two  penalties-  giving Quins a deserved winning lead of: Thomond  16  Quins  18, Thomond thus secured a loser's bonus point. However four points were enough to keep Quins in 4th place, two points behind Highfield and Young Munster. The J&J man-of-the-match selected by our President Ronnie Gregg went to Andrew Gillespie for his excellent pick,  go,  and ruck tactics without losing possession. Quins did not use any of their five subs:16 Stephen Robinson 17 Stephen Beattie 18 Brian Howard 19 Roger Kirkwood 20 Thomas Horner, having started with: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Gavin McLoughlin 13 Darren Cave 12 Shane Stewart 11 Willem Slabbert 10 Rory Blake Knox 9 David Creighton 1 Niall Conlon 2 Robert Logan 3 Craig Voisey 4 Alister Heatlie 5 Neil McComb 6 Andrew Ward 7 Colin Atkinson(C) 8 Andrew Gillespie. One or two players thought we were going to Leopardstown judging by their attire at training. A good team song rendition fairly echoed in  the Quins' changing room after the game. The discipline was exemplary as was the team performance. Rucking,  passing and kicking were sharper - in trying conditions. The odd scrum and the odd lineout were less than perfect but this was a great win, in the circumstances. I particularly liked Creighton's precision and Voisey's continual backing-up. Well done team! See you on the 9th February at Deramore for the DLSP match:all to play  for. Derrick Crothers (prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO   PS The prof's new jag was well secured in Pery's Best Western lockup !!!   Scorers: Stewart (1T), Slabbert (1T, 2P, 1C)

Bective Rangers 9  Quins 7 AIL2, Donnybrook Saturday 19th January 2008

With Old Wesley Clubhouse at the South-East end and Bective Rangers at the North-West,Quins elected to attack Old Wesley, at Donnybrook. Bective kicked off with a strong Southerly wind and in rain which gained momentum as the game wore on. Despite the wind, Quins had most of the play and territory in the 1st half, but had only one excellent try by McKenzie at 19, converted by Slabbert, to show for their efforts, so that the half-time score was: Bective 0 Quins 7. The penalty count was 5-1 in favour of Quins in the 1st half, including a couple that were kickable. In the 2nd half it was 7 penalties to nil in favour of Bective, who in their three colours of green, red and white fairly ranged in three converted penalties, the last being 5 minutes into time added on, such were the number of stoppages. All three were kicked from the same spot, near the Quins' 22, halfway out, to the left of the posts and straight into the wind at 58, 65 and 85. Hence the final score was:           Bective  9  Quins  7. The loser's bonus point leaves Quins in 4th place on 26 points, 6 behind UCC, 2 behind Highfield who beat UCC and 1 behind Young Munster (who play Thomond away on Sunday), and ahead of Malone on points differential, with Bective hot on both our tails on 25. This must be classed as a missed opportunity, in that a bare win would have taken us into 2nd place, 3 points behind UCC. We must now win all of our last six games: 2 away, 4 at home. There can be few complaints re our scrums and lineouts; however the unfavourable penalty count was mostly due to our indiscipline at the maul/ruck breakdown. Moreover, too many punts were charged down or misguided, and too many passes went astray. No J & J man-of-the-match accrued, although I did think Kettyle's catching of the high ball was exemplary. Their 9 and 11 both countered well off our more speculative kicks. Each side received a yellow card. In the 2nd half David Creighton and Stephen Robinson subbed on for Kirkwood and Heatlie respectively, Quins having started with: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Paul McKenzie 13 Darren Cave 12 Shane Stewart 11 Willem Slabbert 10 Keith Pyper 9 Roger Kirkwood 1 Niall Conlon 2 Stuart Philpott 3 Craig Voisey 4 Alister Heatlie 5 Neil McComb 6 Andrew Ward 7 Colin Atkinson(C) 8 Andrew Gillespie. Subs not used were Alan Rankin, Robert Logan and Rory Blake Knox. See you at Liam Fitzgerald Park , Limerick, next Saturday for the match against Thomond.   Derrick Crothers (prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO PS Many thanks to Mike Wallace for helping me in extricating my last-stand Audi A6 from Bective Car Park!

Clonnakilty -v- Quins AIL 2
Shannonvale Cross
Saturday 17th  November 2007

Quins elected to defend the Irish Sea ( the East) and attack further -West Cork.  There  was incessant rain resulting in memorable down-town flooding, prohibiting pedestrians.

Clon kicked off with the strong Westerly wind which was to veer South-Westerly and by  the second  half , Southerly. (Quins were to benefit from only a transverse component which favoured kicking penalties across to the far left touchline)

Clon kicked off.Quins attacked from the off, but could not break down Clon's defence.
On 16 Lombard kicked a penalty. Worse was to follow when on 33 centre Dillon intercepted in his own half to score.His try was converted by Lombard.
Fortunately on the stroke of half-time (40), Ward scored a great rolling-maul try for Quins so that  the score  was Clon   10   Quins   5  at  half-time.

In the 2nd half and despite uncontested scrums ( previously dominated by Quins) and the unfortunate yellow-carding of Philpott by Leinster referee (Paul Haycock), Slabbert kicked a penalty at 57 and Stewart  got in for a rolling-maul try, converted by Slabbert, to leave the final score at :  Clon  10    Quins 15

Thus Quins claimed four valuable points to move into 4th position in AIL 2 league, with Clon securing a loser's bonus point. 

In the 2nd half Andrew Gillespie temped for Atkinson ( blood injury) and then subbed for Conlon.
This was a very valuable win in atrocious conditions.
A special mention fro Maurice Field who "warmed" the team up and for our videographer Rodney Mairs who managed to keep his lenses dry.
Johnstons'  Man of the match went to Craig Voisey for his general robust , energetic and mobile tight-head play.
This was  a cross-gender decision by Ronnie Gregg ( President), Emma Bester ( nee Mairs:photographer) and myself.
Thirteen  points  from a maximun of twenty is 65%( IIi). A win against Young Munster at Deramore on the 1st December will merit the coveted  I ( 70% ), assuming 4 tries.

It must be said that our p's and c's were well justified this week: "patience, persistence and perseverance" up front in both attack and defence and " coherence, composure, cohesion and concentration" in the backs (apart from that unfortunate interept try )

See you in Dungannon next week for a vital Ulster League match.

UCC elected to attack the Malone Road;Quins kicked off, with a strong North-Westerly wind, in our first home game of the  AIL II season. Horner kicked two penalties (3, 8)and Referee Mr Dermot Moloney  awarded Quins a penalty try (40), converted by Horner, one minute before the break. Dunne had kicked a penalty (18) so the half-time score was Quins  13  UCC  3. In the second half Quins did not trouble the scoreboard but UCC scored two rolling-maul tries ( 59, 84), both converted by Dunne who also had kicked a penalty (48). The winning goal  was the last event of a match, disappointing from a Quins' perspective. The final score:Quins  13  UCC  20 did at least afford Quins a loser's' bonus point. The consensus was that Quins did not deserve to win; equally they did not deserve to lose  -  13 points each might have been a more balanced result. The penalty count was 12-8 in favour of UCC, whose pack showed more  patience and perseverance in the Eton wall game of multiple phases of rucks and mauls. Our back-line, to a man, showed , in alphabetical order,  a lack of cohesion, composure and concentration.  In the second half Shane Stewart and David Johnston subbed on for Rea and Gillespie. Willem Slabbert,Colin Atkinson and Graham Jewhurst were all missing due to injury. For his excellent lineout jumping, Norman Johnston, Bertie O'Neill and I nominated Chris McCarey as the Quins Man of The Match, taking into account his consistent performance over the first three AIL matches. Quins started with: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Simon Rea 13 Darren Cave 12 Thomas Horner 11 Paul McKenzie 10 Keith Pyper  9 Paul Marshall 1 Niall Conlon 2 Stuart Philpott  3 Craig Voisey 4 Stephen Robinson 5 Neil McComb 6 Andrew Ward 7 Andrew Gillespie 8 Chris McCarey See you in Clonakilty next weekend.!   Derrick Crothers (prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO

Dublin University v Quins AIL II , 3rd November,2007 College Park,Dublin.

Quins elected to defend the Physics Department and Samy Nasr Institute end.  (otherwise known to some as the Westland Row, Pearse Station end) Dublin kicked off. At 28, 63 and 78 Darren Cave completed his third hat-trick of the season and appropriately secured the Johnstons' man-of-the-match award, notably for his third try which secured the victory and denied Dublin a bonus point.All 3 involved good backing up of well constructed back moves, but the last involved the beating of two men on the outside and one on the inside:a bit like Diana Ross' famous song: "you turn me inside out, upside down.". Dublin's left wing scored a good try at 21, while O'Connor (11) and Dublin's No. 10,Johnny Watt,( 31) exchanged successful penalties.  So that the halftime score was: Dublin  10  Quins  8, (Watt having converted Dublin's try). Of course, Quins had played up-hill in the first half. Apart from the Derrick Crane on Nassau Street, this was a picturesque setting on a beautiful late-Autumn afternoon. Marshall  had started off with an electric break up the right wing. McComb nearly got in at the left-hand corner. It has to be said Dublin had a young strong pack which rucked well. Only in the second half did we really get our driving maul going:very effective against tiring students. In the second half Keith Pyper, Stuart Philpott and Andrew Gillespie subbed on for Stewart, Logan and Atkinson. Moreover O'Connor converted our 2nd and 3rd tries. Trevor Collins(Munster) refereed the match efficiently. As is now expected,Ward and McCarey had skilful energetic games. But this was a good team performance.We are now third in the Division II table after two away wins,closely behind Highfield and Young Munster. Well done,men, team,coaches, managers,e tc. Here Alan Solomons deserves a special mention. So the final score was: Dublin  10  Quins  22. Quins started with: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Willem Slabbert 13 Darren Cave 12 Shane Stewart 11 Paul McKenzie 10 Niall O'Connor 9 Paul Marshall 1 Niall Conlon 2 Robert Logan 3 Craig Voisey 4 Stephen Robinson 5 Neil McComb 6 Andrew Ward 7 Colin Atkinson(C) 8 Chris McCarey.   Derrick Crothers(prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO

AIL 2007 - 2008 Week 1 Wanderers vs Belfast Harlequins

Wanderers v Quins                 All Ireland League II                   27 October 2007                    Merrion Road Wanderers elected to play towards the black North, with the Sun and strong breeze behind them. Quins kicked off. Cave scored an early try (5) following the charging down of a Wanderers' punt. O'Connor converted. At 37 Fitzgerald atoned for two earlier misses and kicked a penalty, leaving the halftime score at Wanderers  3  Quins 7. At 55, O'Connor was unfortunate to be yellow carded for offside and Fitzgerald kicked his 2nd penalty, O'Connor having previously kicked a penalty for Quins at 42: Wanderers  6  Quins 10. At 60 Slabbert hit a penalty from halfway: Wanderers  6  Quins 13. THE turning point came eight minutes later (68) when, following a concerted Quins attack, Conlon scored a great try, shaking off two would-be tacklers with his powerful surge:   Wanderers  9  Quins  18, Fitzgerald having landed his third penalty at 63. As is his right by law, Mr Peter Roche, the Munster referee, overruled the conversion of Conlon's try. Quins were, however, two scores ahead. Wanderers throwing caution to the wind, attacked the Quins 22, far right, incessantly with a series of rucks and mauls (Eton wall game?), only for Quins to intercept and McKenzie sprint the length of the pitch to score under the posts, O'Connor converting to leave the no-side victory at                   Wanderers  9  Quins  25. Regrettably there was no time to chase the fourth try and a bonus point. Still, four League points to none was an excellent outcome from our first outing in AIL II and an away one at that. This was a very encouraging team/squad performance against last year's Division III Champions, a side which will trouble most other division 2 sides this season. The entire back row of Atkinson, McCarey and Ward were outstanding in all phases of play. Slabbert's penalty and punting in general and Conlon's try were significant, as was Creighton's box kicking. However our Honorary Secretary requires a man-of-the-match and following discussions with Norman Johnston (sic)and Bertie O'Neill, photographer and trustee, I nominate Paul McKenzie for his 80 minutes' contribution: first 40 mins of tremendous defensive catching often at high pace and his punting and countering, under continual pressure from bombardment by Fitzgerald and Hunt, and then the sprint for the third and final try, over 80 metres. Quins started with: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Willem Slabbert 13 Darren Cave 12 Shane Stewart 11 Paul McKenzie 10 Niall O'Connor 9 David Creighton 1 Niall Conlon 2 Stuart Philpott 3 Craig Voisey 4 Graham Jewhurst 5 Neil McComb 6 Andrew Ward 7 Colin Atkinson(C) 8 Chris McCarey Andrew Gillespie subbed on for the injured Jewhurst late on. Other subs were Robert Logan, Conor Keown, Roger Kirkwood and Keith Pyper. See you at College Park next Saturday for our second AIL II match, against Dublin University, better known as Trinity College Dublin. Derrick Crothers (prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO

All Ireland Cup Round 2 Quins v Shannon Deramore Park, Saturday 13th October 2007

Quins chose to attack the Black Mountain end. Shannon kicked off. Suffice it to say,  Shannon were very strong in the 1st half and built up a sixteen-point lead. A pushover try (at 9) was converted by Thompson, who added 3 penalties at 5, 13 and 20 mins. At 38 mins Slabbert kicked a penalty in reply to leave the halftime score at   Quins  3  Shannon  16. Lack of composure in handling had denied us two try-scoring opportunities. In the 2nd half Quins showed more determination and many Shannon players went down injured. For persistent infringement, Sean Cronin and Andrew Finn were yellow-carded. Cave went round his man and came under the posts for his first try at 60. This was followed at 76 when Shannon dropped the ball in their own 22. Cave fly-hacked through and beat his opponent - diving on the ball under the posts. Slabbert converted both. So, with just 3 minutes to play (plus time to be added on) we were ahead for the first and only occasion,  Quins  17  Shannon  16. Unfortunately Quins did not deal with Shannon's restart kick. A ruck on Quins' 22 resulted in an offside decision and Thompson kicked the winning points: Quins  17  Shannon  19   ----   C'est la vie! I was impressed with Wardy's left-hand touch kicking in the 2nd half!    Derry in the Ulster League next Saturday at home, then Wanderers at Merrion Road, Dublin, in our first AIL II match of the season. Our performance to date augurs well. Just two minor suggestions  -  take and give earlier rather than later (to negate the drift defence) ; grabbing and binding a partner at the back of the ruck before driving is less likely to lead to a penalty. At the end of the day Shannon knew they had been in a tough hard match.   Quins started with: 15 Willem Slabbert 14 Mark Kettyle 13 Darren Cave12 Shane Stewart 11 Paul McKenzie 10 Thomas Horner 9 Karl Trask 8 Chris McCarey(C) 7 Andrew Gillespie 6 Andrew Ward 5 Neil McComb 4 Graham Jewhurst 3 Chris Voisey 2 Stuart Philpott 1 Niall Conlon Robert Logan, Stephen Robinson and Keith Pyper had subbed on for Philpott, Jewhurst and Horner, in the second half .     Our fist defeat:    -------  never mind:, promotion is more important!   Derrick Crothers (prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO

Thomond v Quins Round I AI Cup Liam Fitzgerald Park, Limerick 6th October 2007 Thomond chose to defend the terraced row of houses at the Clubhouse end, playing East to West. Quins kicked off. Quins scored five tries: Kettyle(10), McKenzie(41), Conlon(50) and Trask (62,73).Slabbert converted one and at 3 kicked an early penalty, while Horner converted two. The halftime score was hence only: Quins 13 Thomond 0. In the 2nd half Quins were more dominant and but for a strong Westerly Sun would have won more handsomely. Indeed had some sixteen points not been passed up the final score might have been 50-0. As it turned out the final score was Quins 34 Thomond 7, The ^Thomond score came when their right wing chipped over the defence and won the chase to the line. In the 2nd half Simon Rea, Stephen Robinson and Robert Logan subbed for McKenzie,Rourke and Philpott, Thomond using their full complement of subs. At 65 a spell of fisticuffs resulted in the referee, Mr Dudley Phillips, yellow carding one from each side. At 72 a red card was given to the Thomond 16. Three of the tries came from Wardy winning a lineout. In the 1st ,Pypes cut, then rucked; Atky attacked hard and fast going right and Kettyle scored in the left corner. For the 2nd Trask broke from good lineout ball and terrific interpassing between the back three resulted in McKenzie scoring in the right-hand corner. For the 3rd Quins drove the maul and Thomond appeared to drop it. However from the Thomond scrum in front of their posts an intercept allowed Conlon to barge over to the right of the uprights. The fourth try involved Stewart stepping inside and linking with Trask for the first of his brace of tries. The final try, Trask's 2nd, was a simple attack going right in their 22 from a ruck. I thought Thomond, like Rainey the week before, had a fairly heavy pack, while their back three were useful footballers. This was a very solid Quins' performance who now look forward to the second-round home-tie against Shannon next Saturday 13th October. It is worth mentioning that both Pypes and McComb each saved a try in the 1st half by excellent covering. Since Dave McHugh, Assessor and ex-International referee asked me, I made the penalty count 10 to 5 in favour of Quins who started with: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Willem Slabbert 13 Shane Stewart 12 Keith Pyper 11 Paul McKenzie 10 Thomas Horner 9 Karl Trask 1 Niall Conlon 2 Stuart Philpott 3 Craig Voisey 4 Gareth Rourke 5 Neil McComb 6 Andrew Ward 7 Colin Atkinson(C) 8 Alasdair Heatlie. Derrick Crothers(prof) Belfast Harlequins RFC PRO. PS Nine scores for Quins, one for every supporter who stayed both nights in Pery's Best Western Hotel.

UCD v Grafton Belfast Harlequins AIB/AIL I 21st April 2007 2-30pm Belfield Bowl UCD elected to play right to left(from the stand/Students' Union);Quins kicked off. In the first half UCD did most of the attacking as one would expect of a big fit University side. Quins' tackling however was absolutely outstanding and against the run of play, Cave nonchalantly kicked a penalty on the stroke of normal time -following  UCD hands in the ruck. That was 2 minutes from half-time though I counted 5 injury stoppages. Given that UCD had missed two penalties and a drop goal, this score was a little flattering. From scrum, lineout, maul and ruck generally either Marshall boxed or Kettyle found touch. Quins fielded two outside centres with Pyper on the bench following hamstring twinges. Spare a thought for McKenzie who, for the second week running flew in from Gt Britain, having been on the Ulster bench, how's that for commitment. At least thrice in the first half we won crucial turnovers at the ruck. At 9 minutes our player-coach Wardy was down after a heavy knock: supporters were relieved when the physio helped him to his feet: halftime: UCD 0 Quins 3. Ironically Quins came much more into the game in the second half, many of the UCD players having taken big hits. Nevertheless at 4 and 36 minutes, McFadden made amends for his first-half lapses and kicked two penalties; each followed an attempted drop goal, no advantage accruing in the second case. Charged down kicks and mishandling by our inside backs were unfortunately our undoing and the original causes of these 6 points. At 47 minutes no-side arrived: final score: UCD 6 Quins 3. On 25 League points we are relegated to Division II to join Ballynahinch and Malone. Dolphin and Ballymena survived on 26, with UCD on 27. This is not the end of the world: as the April/May edition of Hooker reminds us, we did win Division II in season 2001/2. Moreover we did reach a League Final in 2004/5 and a Cup Final in 2006/7, in the latter of which O'Connor injured his left ac joint early on. It has ben a tremendous effort since the New Year by Solly, Wardy and Maurice and the team/squad: from being on our knees we very nearly survived. In mathematics an improperly posed problem is one in which a small error in input data causes a large error in output data. Never mind: onwards and upwards! Commiserations to Colin Atkinson our team captain; since his return following a very early-season shoulder injury, he has tackled like a demon. Pre-season injury to Andress and intra-season injury to Stevenson and McCarey also caused disruption. It should be pointed out that even if we had taken the penalty kick at Lansdowne to secure 2 points for a draw we would still have been relegated on points differential. Solly is returning immediately to IRB business, I understand, we wish him all the very best and are very grateful for his turning the ship around since Christmas. All the very best to the men for 4th May at Ravenhill for the Ulster Senior Cup Final and the possibly to be arranged Ulster League match, both against Dungannon. Quins fielded: 15 Mark Kettyle 14 Jonny Lowe 13 Darren Cave 12 Paul McKenzie 11 Simon Rea 10 Rory Blake-Knox 9 Paul Marshall 1 Niall Conlon 2 Stuart Philpott 3 John Andress 4 Gareth Rourke 5 Lewis Stevenson 6 Andrew Ward(VC) 7 Colin Atkinson(C) 8 Andrew Gillespie Subs were: 16 Alan Rankin 17 Ben Hanvey 18 Stephen Robinson 19 Keith Pyper 20 Gavin McLoughlin UCD fielded: 15 Ross McCarron 14 Killian Lett 13 Fergus McFadden 12 Michael Hastings 11 Robert Kearney 10 Ian Keatley 9 Paul O'Donohoe 1 Brian McGovern 2 Conor Geoghegan(C)3 Keith Doyle 4 Conor McInerney 5 Richard Mandeno 6 Kevin Sheahan 7 Kevin Croke 8 Sean O'Brien Subs were: 16 Conor Mitchell 17 David Gilchrist 18 Arthur Houlihan 19 Vasily Artimiev 20 Brian O'Neill. Referee:Mr George Clancy(Munster).   Derrick Crothers(prof) GBHRFC PRO