I also thought it was very odd to see Swifty going up for line outs, I can only assume it was an attempt to catch quins by surprise, which would have been fine for one or two but it happened too often and lost that element.

My thoughts from the game....

They tried hard, but were simply outgunned out wide. Too much experience for our very young and denuded backline.

Jarvis played well enough, certainly better that we could have expected with so little game time behind him against the Premirship champions on their home ground in a Heineken Cup game.

Live, I though Tiernan had a poor game with the ball, but watched it again last night and he put in a very decent shift.

Dennis Buckley is a fabulous fotballer, but he will never be a top class prop. He is absolutely tiny. He's ERC listed as 17 stone 11 and 5" 10" which is wildly exaggerating his actual size (put it this way that would make him two stone heavier than Cronin who is four inches taller). I would reckon is no more than 5'7 and 16 stone, and you couldn't add the bulk he desperately needs without impacting his mobility and contribution around the park. For me I would love to see him being developed as a Hooker, I think he could be every bit the player Croning was at his best for us with his dynamism around the park, the only question would be can he throw into the lineout. If it was viable now would be the age to convert him.

Andrew Browne is having a brilliant season, he's been fabulous for us and was great again yesterday. Mul is going to have a helluva job shifting him.

Why was Swifty jumping at two with Mick Kearney on the pitch, the quality of ball we got when Swifty went off and Kearney started jumping at two was immesurably better. Swifty's aerials are not his strong point, but it's a key area. We have to win good ball from our setpieces to be competitve. Think it's time Swifty was used from the bench, Kearney did absolutely fine alongiside Macca against Biarritz on another dry track and a few thumping defensive hits from Swifty apart there wasn't much to see from him overall.


And while I'm on...

Quin Kong wrote: The fighting came because your front five kept pushing even when the scrum collapsed leading to a very real danger of very serious injury. I think you would have a go if you felt that there was an attempt to make you a paraplegic!

That is a complete load of old billhooks, absolute fabrication. Marler, Care and Brown would start a fight in a an empty room and have plenty of form over the years. You must seriously think we don't see Premiership rugby ever. I've live in the UK for 24 years and have watched loads of it.

And while Quins have loads of fantastic players and are capable of being an outstanding team, I would lump those three individuals in with Ashton, Cueto, Clark and Hartley in a list of players who invariably always start or are looking for trouble.

Don't know what 'roids you pump into your boys over here but perhaps they should lower the dosage for those individuals..... :lol:

connachtexile wrote:

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.

Loughney could be a great 2! But yes a few years to late I think.

Didn't see the incident which got him and Reynecke sent off. It wasn't televised. Anyone see it?

He played hooker when he was younger

A couple of seasons ago we had Cronin on international duty and Flavin injured so Dermot Murphy started a few games and Loughney was back up hooker. This was for 2 games. Lets just say when Loughney came on, everyone was praying the ball wouldn't be kicked into touch. His throwing was disastrous

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.

Loughney could be a great 2! But yes a few years to late I think.

Didn't see the incident which got him and Reynecke sent off. It wasn't televised. Anyone see it?

Quin Kong wrote: The fighting came because your front five kept pushing even when the scrum collapsed leading to a very real danger of very serious injury. I think you would have a go if you felt that there was an attempt to make you a paraplegic!

Simply not true, Marler is a class A prick, he spent 82 minutes running around the paddock looking for fights. He has this idea he is a hard man where he is anything but, and the fact he was involved in six incidents highlights how stupid the boy is. He reminds me of Neil Francis an old Irish second row, another prick who used to spend his 80 mins of match time looking to start something.

Quinns is a great club with great supporters and coaches, and I have watched and followed them right back to eighties and always wished them well as I do this year both in the Aviva and the H Cup but Marler is a different matter. On a separate note how Stuart Lancaster can leave out Nick Easter baffles me, to rub salt into the wound he picks a Kiwi instead. Anyway best of luck in Quarter finals .

Quin Kong wrote: The fighting came because your front five kept pushing even when the scrum collapsed leading to a very real danger of very serious injury. I think you would have a go if you felt that there was an attempt to make you a paraplegic!

:whistle:

Marler involved in 6 separate punch ups according to the Telegraph

Keep your own house in order

The fighting came because your front five kept pushing even when the scrum collapsed leading to a very real danger of very serious injury. I think you would have a go if you felt that there was an attempt to make you a paraplegic!

We all know this particular ref is not that good, but yesterday he was OK, now I watched it on Sky and he got most calls right, a few wrong and missed a few things but in the whole it was one of his better games. Two of the yellows came from the touch judge,one was warranted, one could have been let go and that was Reyneeke's but I think they had no choice but to send Marler to the bin, where he should have been in the first half. JOC's was warranted, but watching the Leinster game later, two identical offences were let go without even a penalty and right in front of the ref and touch judge.

What pissed me off no end is the lack of fight, Marler is a prck, and not one of our boys stood up to him and that in my book is not acceptable , at one stage he was choking White from behind that to me is red and a fist full of fives to go with it he got neither. One missed tackle directly after half time when we looked like we wanted to go home yet the game was all to play for, easy try. Loughneys missed tackle on Ego and another try and the last try, you can clearly see a hand under the ball. Quinns are a good team, no mistaken that but we really made a rod for our own back. McSharry passing inside and badly passing inside was just plain stupid and reminded me of the game in Toulouse last year when he butchered a similar opportunity. Lovely preplanned backs move for O Halloran off a line out and not one support runner WTF. If we had the brains that would have been two tries and it would have put Quinns on the back foot.

The penalty try, if you see the camera angles from right above the scrum, you can clearly see Swifty was not supporting Buckley properly and hence why he was been pushed backwards, in the image you can clearly see it was not a tight five. Anyway, we will get a few more of these results before the season is out, Pat Lam cannot come soon enough imho.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.