Harlequins vs Connacht 12/01/13 13:35 SS1 HD

Some day, one of us will come clean and admit we did something heinous to a much-beloeved member of Neil Paterson's family. It's the only explanation

16-3 at ht. Doing ok in general but our scrum is underpowered and its showing. Harlequins getting joy there and our buddy Patterson is only too happy to oblige them with some frankly ludicrous decisions.

Really its damaged limitation in the 2nd half. Quins are just going to keep it tight and wear us into the ground.

No good news from Italy either unfortunately. Biarritz 20-6 up at half time which rules out any hope we had of 2nd place.

Lord above. Atrocious defensive play from Connacht. Just the start we didn't need. Bonus point looks on for Harlequins now.

Just as I was ready to praise Connacht for not switching off at the end of the first half this happens, good move by quins but too easy.

What about loughney at hooker.....doing ok...lol

And Harlequins have all day to touch down for a 5th try, followed by blind Neil and some tit in the TMO box awarding them a try for no reason.

We've been hammered. Much as I'd like to use the hopelessness of Patterson as an excuse we were just outclassed. Having said that I don't really rate Quins as serious HC contenders and we have made them look a lot better than they are today.

Lam's concentration needs to be on bolstering the physicality in the pack if we are to move forward, With Swifty coming towards the end and Mike McCarthy off the pack is going to be even more lightweight next season.

Agreed, and I'm very apprehensive saying this but if Lam can do something with Ah You maybe there is a place for his bulk in the pack, although almost certainly not at tighthead. Lam has his work cut out for him at this point imo.

As expected chain is only as strong as its weakest link and we have a few major weak links, what was learned? We still know these players are past it or not up to par and never will be and our backline moves against any type of decent defense are impotent and the constant 80 min scores for the opposition smack of unprofessionalism..Nothing learned from or subs only that we all knew it would make the team even weaker week in week out, again pointless..coaching team are extremely stale I for one wouldn't mind a clear out.

Players have to carry the can for that. Unforgivable to find yourself playing with 12. Lacking discipline with a crap ref is a recipe for disaster. Once you start having to make it up as you go along because of players in the sin bin then all structure and everything done in training goes out the window.

Terrible performance really.

White is no johan muller so leadership is an issue.

For all the huff and puff pck needs a big hooker, loosehead, second row and a big six longside naoupu next season.

Centres were dire. Thought macca didnt want to know about it.

Nd for ll the hype about henshaw, mike brown was in a Different league as a fullback.

For old dawgs sift and joc were immense, but the game is moving on.

I think Quins targeted Griffin today and he wasn't up to it. There was a severe lack of leadership all round. We were good for the 1st half hr but then Quins stepped it up a gear and didn't let up til the end.

Our discipline was the worst I've ever seen from any team ever. Reyneke deserves to never play again as he's been asking for that for some time now. I'd love to know the penalty count, I looked at espn scrum but it says 14 and it had to be more.

It really shows why the English and French are giving out about the qualification when we go and do this and more or less back them up.

I saw this at home so I have a different viewpoint. Firstly McSharry had a good game. Harlequins had him pegged as our danger man and he ran decoys all day long making vital space for the other guys. (Props to the analysis guys on sky sports for showing this). Considering that we lost McKeown and Swift early I thought the guys did well. Yes are pack is to lightweight and needs an overhaul but the guys tackled all day long. The last two trys scored were down to exhaustion and if you consider they played 20-30 with a man down you can't blame them.

As for the ref two of our three yellow cards were decisions by the linesmen. Vainikolo and Reynecke were booked because of his recommendations but yes Patterson is Sh*te.

Quin in peace. It is easy to be magnanimous in victory. But. first half you had me scared. Our defence was leaking like a sieve and your centres were ripping holes through it, if you could have finished even one of the moves off it could well have gone the other way.

I know it doesn't make up for the result but... your supporters were the loudest we've had in my memory and in the post match craic were the most knowledgeable, the most fun and the supporters I would most enjoy having back every week.

You just have to persuade the IRFU not to treat you like second class citizens.

Arlecchino wrote: Quin in peace. It is easy to be magnanimous in victory. But. first half you had me scared. Our defence was leaking like a sieve and your centres were ripping holes through it, if you could have finished even one of the moves off it could well have gone the other way.

I know it doesn't make up for the result but... your supporters were the loudest we've had in my memory and in the post match craic were the most knowledgeable, the most fun and the supporters I would most enjoy having back every week.

You just have to persuade the IRFU not to treat you like second class citizens.

Well done and best of luck in the quarters. Hope you get the home draw

I was in the north stand yesterday. While the obvious issues (penalty county, discipline, getting bullied in the scrum and at the breakdown) need no further discussion, I felt the backline just didn't look comfortable playing with Jarvis.

Parks has a calming presence on the young backline, but he also shouts and screams and gets them organised. And then his passing tends to be right on the money. This allows our centres to run onto the ball at 100mph, and they have the confidence that their outhalf will choose the right option.

Yesterday the backline all looked a bit headless, and Jarvis seemed to go into his shell rather than bossing the backs like a good outhalf should. The strike runners looked hesitant and didn't come onto the ball at their usual pace, and when Jarvis did pass it out he shovelled some shit out when there was nothing on.

Meanwhile his tactical kicking left a lot to be desired also, with a couple of horrendous clearance kicks going in just before he was hauled off.

Yesterday really highlighted the importance of Parks in our side. With a young inexperienced backline, it is vital that there is a steady old head pulling the strings.

N17 wrote: What about loughney at hooker.....doing ok...lol

I suppose it's too late to convert him to hooker. He deserves most of the credit for our try. He hit 4 from 4 (short, two, two, four I think) in the run-up to it.

Thought Browne had a good game - not many blindsides could run down Danny Care - but Swifty and JOC were gone at 30 minutes. TOH played well and Marmion did alright considering the pack was going backwards for much of the game and Parks was missing.

Still need a hooker, 2 locks, another 7, and a backup 10 at the very least.

On the plus side tis is the first real beasting we've taken over 11 HEC games. The likes of Leinster and Munster endured far worse when they were at our stage of development.