There are times when it must be tough being a benchwarmer, especially for a side having a decent run of form like England. You sit around for an hour, maybe coming on if the game is already won and the coach decides it's safe enough for there to be no chance of you f*cking it up, and you'll never get a man of the match award. The worst case scenario, as was what happened to Danny Care and Toby Flood in Dublin 9 days ago, is that you sit through 80 minutes in the freezing cold rain, don't get on at all and then have to still do the warm down for some reason – which seems just mean to be honest.
However, there is the odd benefit. Care and Flood were released from the
international squad to get some game time this weekend and they took the
opportunity to shine whilst their respective rivals were sitting on their
backsides with both hands. Care,
especially, looked razor sharp, scoring a stunning try and getting a man of the
match award in the process. Flood, who
has his critics, was assured with the boot, opened the scoring with a great
show of pace and set another one up with a delightful dink off the outside of
his boot. Yes, this was a day when they
had the spotlight, and there wasn't an England starter in sight to take it off
them.
As befitted a top of the table clash, both sides looked up
for it from the off, but it was Harlequins who looked the more dangerous in the
opening exchanges. Danny Care made a
half break after hooker Rob Hawkins was slow to realign, centre Jordan Turner-Hall
made a couple of significant dents and Nick Easter, pushed into service in the
second row, was getting his big mitts on the ball plenty of times early
on. Possibly one too many times,
however, as the ex-England number 8 threw a miss-2 pass that was snaffled by
Toby Flood on the Leicester 22. The
Tigers 10 then showed a superb turn of pace to run 80 metres in for the try,
holding off chasing winger Tom Williams in the process. How someone could run that fast with their
ears acting as a windbreak is beyond me – Flood was actually quoted as saying,
after he scored a similar try against the Ospreys this season, that the phrase
"pin your ears back" has a cruel element to it when it's directed at
him. Despite Harlequins having all of the
play, the visitors were leading 7-0.
The game then started to ebb back and forth, played at a
high level of intensity and with a fair amount of ambition from both
sides. Quins struck back first after a
lovely break by Ben Botica, who looks, game-by-game, to be another fantastic
Kiwi signing for the London club, which lead to Toby Flood going off his feet
in the ruck. Botica finished off his
good work with a simple penalty kick, before Danny Care was caught offside to
allow Flood to add one in return.
The crowd were treated to breaks from Ugo Monye down the
left wing and a couple of huge charges by centre Manu Tuilagi, one of which led
to Botica, understandably, almost diving out of the way to avoid being used as
a Samoan doormat. Botica added 2
penalties to Flood's 1 over the next 15 minutes, with both kickers looking like
their radars were on top form.
Then it was the Tigers' turn to strike again. They had grown into the half following a
dancing run from Tuilagi and good half breaks from full back Mathew Tait and
lock Graham Kitchener, but their ball security at the breakdown had let them
down at key times, with Quins flanker Luke Wallace and number 8 Tom Guest
causing mayhem in the close-quarter exchanges.
Eventually though, the pressure told, and Flood tapped a beautiful
grubber into the corner for winger and try-machine Adam Thompstone to touch
down. After Wayne Barnes had watched
effectively the entire first half through the video referee, the try was given
and, though Flood couldn't hit the conversion, Leicester went into half time
with an 18 – 12 lead.
It had been an entertaining half, but things were about to
get better. The game-changing moment of
magic came 10 minutes into the second half when Care took a quick tap on half
way and scuttled through the Tigers pack before turning Tait inside out and
crashing over for a stupendous try, which Botica converted to give the home
side the lead. Now, I take issue with
Danny Care's appalling haircut and the fact he generally looks like a
hyper-active school child, with little arms and legs, when he's running, but
there was no denying the absolute class and electrifying pace on show.
Having stolen the limelight, Care was now working in
overdrive, upping the pace of the game and making half breaks, whilst Wallace
and Easter were outperforming the Leicester backrow – continuing to disrupt or
pilfer ball whenever they got the chance.
The end result was that Leicester's chief attacking weapon, Tuilagi (who
had looked good in the first half), was virtually invisible in the second.
As the game wore on Leicester tried in vain to conjure a comeback,
but with the team looking lethargic at rucktime, Quins getting the nudge in the
scrum and Wayne Barnes liking the taste of his whistle, Quins converted two
more penalties through the flawless Botica to just the 1 from Flood, meaning the
home side deservedly ran out 25-21 winners.
Leicester coach Richard Cockerill used his post-match
interview to both praise the quality of the game and question the consistency
of Wayne Barnes' decision making – but despite a couple of odd calls, the
Tigers were uncharacteristically clumsy at the back of rucks and mauls, giving
promising positions away time and again.
But for Danny Care and, to a lesser extent, Toby Flood,
nothing was going to steal the limelight from them now – it looks like they
enjoyed their time in the spotlight, and maybe it won't be too long when
they'll be main players on the international stage again.
Let’s see who else was stealing scenes across the rest of
the premiership
Worcester 18 – 27 Northampton: Saints got a good win under their belts
to put an end to an awful run that has seen them lose 3 of their last 4
games. Big second row Samu Manoa put
last week's nightmare behind him with a try, whilst a penalty try was also
awarded in the Saints favour. England
duo Dyland Hartley and Courtney Lawes both managed to get themselves sinbinned
whilst all of the Warriors points came from the trusty boot of Andy Goode,
who's allegedly a target for Saints next season. One for the future, then.
Bath 40 – 16 London
Irish: Bath kept their good run of form going and ended Irish's with a
thumping bonus point win at the Rec. A
penalty try was followed by scores for Nick Abendanon, Nathan Catt and Anthony
Perenise, whilst Irish could only reply through the boot of Tom Homer and a solitary
score by Jack Moates. The result leaves
Irish just 1 point above bottom-placed Sale.
Saracens 31 – 11 Exeter:
Sarries brushed aside Exeter in their first league game at their new
Allianz Park and it's artificial pitch.
Ex internationals Charlie Hodgson and Matt Stevens both got on the board
for the Fez-heads, before current England boy Mako Vunipola grabbed a rare
double. Exeter grabbed a consolation try
3 minutes from time through Richard Baxter.
London Wasps 33 – 29 Gloucester: Wasps maintained their remarkable
surge towards the playoffs with an entertaining win over the Cherry and Whites,
with the home side scoring tries through Ashley Johnson, Christian Wade (a
scintillating effort) and number 8 prospect Billy Vunipola. Gloucester though, managed to grab both a
losing bonus point and a try bonus point following scores from Dan Robson, Mike
Tindall, Ryan Mills and Charlie Sharples.
London
Welsh 25 – 26 Sale Sharks: In
arguably the most important game of the weekend, Sale nabbed a critical 1 point
victory at the Kassam Stadium which sees Sale drag themselves within striking
distance escaping relegation, and hauls Welsh right back into the
equation. Irritatingly, the show-pony
fly halves on either side, Gavin Henson and Danny Cipriani, both had fine games. The home side scored a try through Phil
MacKenzie, whilst Sharks notched up scores from Will Cliff and Daniel Braid to
sneak the win.
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