Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Sat Mar 22, 2025 5:05 pm
What a second half and what an impact from Benson. Shame nobody on here had noted his talent before today.
Jordan Els with a bizarrely impactful cameo in the loose too.
What a turnaround in a game where nobody gave us a chance. Kenningham may be unlucky to miss out on England recognition, if they’re looking to the next generation already, but he really looks like a test quality player to me. I’d have given him MOTM but hard to argue with Benson’s impact.
Is that sarcasm? Pretty sure I’ve consistently championed Benson as better than JEv. I seem to remember @Mellsblue or possibly @Banquo giving him some positive recognition too.
I don’t think anyone on the board would have picked Jarrod over him…
While I think you're a bit OTT on Evans, it's fair to say it's not really clicking for him. Some lovely moments, but lots of not quite moments as well. His timing and execution just feels off at key points. The system really does feel built around Smith, and it appears Benson can step in to that better than Evans.
I don't kow if we'd seen him in such a big game yet, or if I just hadn't been paying attention. He was channeling the ice man today.
Seems he's played a little bit of centre too. His only start has been against his loan side London Scottish.
Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Sat Mar 22, 2025 5:05 pm
What a second half and what an impact from Benson. Shame nobody on here had noted his talent before today.
Jordan Els with a bizarrely impactful cameo in the loose too.
What a turnaround in a game where nobody gave us a chance. Kenningham may be unlucky to miss out on England recognition, if they’re looking to the next generation already, but he really looks like a test quality player to me. I’d have given him MOTM but hard to argue with Benson’s impact.
Is that sarcasm? Pretty sure I’ve consistently championed Benson as better than JEv. I seem to remember @Mellsblue or possibly @Banquo giving him some positive recognition too.
Given he played for us most of last season, I’ve seen how good he is and mentioned it a lot. Someone was saying he’d stalled last season which wasn’t true, he developed a lot.
Is that sarcasm? Pretty sure I’ve consistently championed Benson as better than JEv. I seem to remember @Mellsblue or possibly @Banquo giving him some positive recognition too.
I don’t think anyone on the board would have picked Jarrod over him…
While I think you're a bit OTT on Evans, it's fair to say it's not really clicking for him. Some lovely moments, but lots of not quite moments as well. His timing and execution just feels off at key points. The system really does feel built around Smith, and it appears Benson can step in to that better than Evans.
I don't kow if we'd seen him in such a big game yet, or if I just hadn't been paying attention. He was channeling the ice man today.
Seems he's played a little bit of centre too. His only start has been against his loan side London Scottish.
Enjoyable game that. Little note to Phil Brantingham’s contribution off the bench. The move to Sarries is doing him the world of good and giving him the spotlight. That hit on Herbst! But it was more his intelligence of hands. Very Mako Vunipolaesque, but with better scrummaging.
p/d wrote: ↑Sat Mar 22, 2025 6:31 pm
I thought Benson was a centre
Primarily a 10, but excellent at 12 for us too. Age group coaches thought his future was at 12.
Ah!! That is where I must have ‘read’ it. Can we begin to dream
I assume the stalling post came from Leicestershire
If that one's aimed at me, I don't know enough about Benson to have previously commented one way or the other.
Based on yesterday I'd assume he'll be looked at as the backup 10 for Quins going forward. Being able to promote him and use Slevin and Bellamy as depth should mean they can save some cash by cutting Jarrod Evans instead of renewing his contract. Ben Waghorn seems to be doing a very handy job at 12 for Quins, Northmore to come back, Bradley and Kerr in the development squad. The competition for 12 looks more difficult at Quins. The academy down there is working well.
p/d wrote: ↑Sat Mar 22, 2025 6:31 pm
I thought Benson was a centre
Primarily a 10, but excellent at 12 for us too. Age group coaches thought his future was at 12.
Ah!! That is where I must have ‘read’ it. Can we begin to dream
I assume the stalling post came from Leicestershire
Looked useful to me even if I was surprised by the emphasis of his 'young-ness' at 22. Woodward looked special to me on Friday night so maybe prospects for the 12 shirt are improving.
Benson did himself a power of good yesterday. If the Smiths go with the Lions we would be short of cover at 10 for the summer tour and he might be a candidate.
Interesting to see how much game time he's going to get for the rest of the season.
Epaminondas Pules wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 7:50 am
Enjoyable game that. Little note to Phil Brantingham’s contribution off the bench. The move to Sarries is doing him the world of good and giving him the spotlight. That hit on Herbst! But it was more his intelligence of hands. Very Mako Vunipolaesque, but with better scrummaging.
fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 8:55 am
Benson did himself a power of good yesterday. If the Smiths go with the Lions we would be short of cover at 10 for the summer tour and he might be a candidate.
Interesting to see how much game time he's going to get for the rest of the season.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Personally, I’ve been waiting for him to get his chance as I’m confident he has the goods to be a very decent player. I don’t know how much game time he’ll get across the run-in. We play 5 of the current top 6 (the other is us) win 3 away from home (Bath, Tigers and Bristol). Now we have a more realistic shot at the play offs, I’d expect Marcus to lead the charge. Particularly given there’s a Lions spot at stake for him.
Benson would be a good shout for future A squads though. Atkinson hasn’t really lived up to his early promise at Wasps and Bailey is too far down the pecking order at Bath (and now injured I think?).
fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 8:55 am
Benson did himself a power of good yesterday. If the Smiths go with the Lions we would be short of cover at 10 for the summer tour and he might be a candidate.
Interesting to see how much game time he's going to get for the rest of the season.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Personally, I’ve been waiting for him to get his chance as I’m confident he has the goods to be a very decent player. I don’t know how much game time he’ll get across the run-in. We play 5 of the current top 6 (the other is us) win 3 away from home (Bath, Tigers and Bristol). Now we have a more realistic shot at the play offs, I’d expect Marcus to lead the charge. Particularly given there’s a Lions spot at stake for him.
Benson would be a good shout for future A squads though. Atkinson hasn’t really lived up to his early promise at Wasps and Bailey is too far down the pecking order at Bath (and now injured I think?).
for me, this highlights (and not having a pop at all quins, to be clear) why we don't maximise talent; Benson is 22, clearly got a big match temperament and skills, but will likely end up the season with very few senior starts for Quins, one or two starts for London Scottish and some hours off the bench, having been travelling back reserve a lot. Its not a glorious way to develop talent, and at 22 should already have more top flight experience than he has (that said, he chose to get a quality degree, rather than be fully pro for 3 years). This could have been a breakthrough season for him, and have to think through how this is best done (I don't have a solution, to be clear, other than maybe centrally contracting 'project' young players and placing them where they will get a lot of meaningful game time).
fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 8:55 am
Benson did himself a power of good yesterday. If the Smiths go with the Lions we would be short of cover at 10 for the summer tour and he might be a candidate.
Interesting to see how much game time he's going to get for the rest of the season.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Personally, I’ve been waiting for him to get his chance as I’m confident he has the goods to be a very decent player. I don’t know how much game time he’ll get across the run-in. We play 5 of the current top 6 (the other is us) win 3 away from home (Bath, Tigers and Bristol). Now we have a more realistic shot at the play offs, I’d expect Marcus to lead the charge. Particularly given there’s a Lions spot at stake for him.
Benson would be a good shout for future A squads though. Atkinson hasn’t really lived up to his early promise at Wasps and Bailey is too far down the pecking order at Bath (and now injured I think?).
for me, this highlights (and not having a pop at all quins, to be clear) why we don't maximise talent; Benson is 22, clearly got a big match temperament and skills, but will likely end up the season with very few senior starts for Quins, one or two starts for London Scottish and some hours off the bench, having been travelling back reserve a lot. Its not a glorious way to develop talent, and at 22 should already have more top flight experience than he has (that said, he chose to get a quality degree, rather than be fully pro for 3 years). This could have been a breakthrough season for him, and have to think through how this is best done (I don't have a solution, to be clear, other than maybe centrally contracting 'project' young players and placing them where they will get a lot of meaningful game time).
It's a tough one to get the right balance with because you want the younger guys to get first team game time but at the same time you want them to earn it. Forcing Benson to prise the backup 10 shirt out of the hands of Evans will be good for him in the long run because to do so he'll have had to work on the technical and tactical elements of his game. Sometimes if players get given the shirt to early they skip some of the development steps.
Now Benson has burst onto the scene, he should be given more chances to the end of the season. Quins have quite a few games against big sides left. They won't win all of them so Benson might get 20 mins towards the end of those to try and spark something or just gain experience.
Banquo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 11:02 am
for me, this highlights (and not having a pop at all quins, to be clear) why we don't maximise talent; Benson is 22, clearly got a big match temperament and skills, but will likely end up the season with very few senior starts for Quins, one or two starts for London Scottish and some hours off the bench, having been travelling back reserve a lot. Its not a glorious way to develop talent, and at 22 should already have more top flight experience than he has (that said, he chose to get a quality degree, rather than be fully pro for 3 years). This could have been a breakthrough season for him, and have to think through how this is best done (I don't have a solution, to be clear, other than maybe centrally contracting 'project' young players and placing them where they will get a lot of meaningful game time).
Yep. Mind you Seb Atkinson is 22 and has god knows how many first team starts and yet still completely over looked.
Hopefully someone in the England set up is keeping an eye out for these players.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Personally, I’ve been waiting for him to get his chance as I’m confident he has the goods to be a very decent player. I don’t know how much game time he’ll get across the run-in. We play 5 of the current top 6 (the other is us) win 3 away from home (Bath, Tigers and Bristol). Now we have a more realistic shot at the play offs, I’d expect Marcus to lead the charge. Particularly given there’s a Lions spot at stake for him.
Benson would be a good shout for future A squads though. Atkinson hasn’t really lived up to his early promise at Wasps and Bailey is too far down the pecking order at Bath (and now injured I think?).
for me, this highlights (and not having a pop at all quins, to be clear) why we don't maximise talent; Benson is 22, clearly got a big match temperament and skills, but will likely end up the season with very few senior starts for Quins, one or two starts for London Scottish and some hours off the bench, having been travelling back reserve a lot. Its not a glorious way to develop talent, and at 22 should already have more top flight experience than he has (that said, he chose to get a quality degree, rather than be fully pro for 3 years). This could have been a breakthrough season for him, and have to think through how this is best done (I don't have a solution, to be clear, other than maybe centrally contracting 'project' young players and placing them where they will get a lot of meaningful game time).
It's a tough one to get the right balance with because you want the younger guys to get first team game time but at the same time you want them to earn it. Forcing Benson to prise the backup 10 shirt out of the hands of Evans will be good for him in the long run because to do so he'll have had to work on the technical and tactical elements of his game. Sometimes if players get given the shirt to early they skip some of the development steps.
Now Benson has burst onto the scene, he should be given more chances to the end of the season. Quins have quite a few games against big sides left. They won't win all of them so Benson might get 20 mins towards the end of those to try and spark something or just gain experience.
It’s a tricky one. His performance yesterday will surely put him in contention for more game time. However, while Quins still have a realistic chance of making the play offs, I suspect his inexperience means he’s less likely to feature. I’d definitely have him ahead of JEv, but that’s not a new thing.
Banquo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 11:02 am
for me, this highlights (and not having a pop at all quins, to be clear) why we don't maximise talent; Benson is 22, clearly got a big match temperament and skills, but will likely end up the season with very few senior starts for Quins, one or two starts for London Scottish and some hours off the bench, having been travelling back reserve a lot. Its not a glorious way to develop talent, and at 22 should already have more top flight experience than he has (that said, he chose to get a quality degree, rather than be fully pro for 3 years). This could have been a breakthrough season for him, and have to think through how this is best done (I don't have a solution, to be clear, other than maybe centrally contracting 'project' young players and placing them where they will get a lot of meaningful game time).
Yep. Mind you Seb Atkinson is 22 and has god knows how many first team starts and yet still completely over looked.
Hopefully someone in the England set up is keeping an eye out for these players.
Does ambition keep Benson at Quins as 3rd choice or does he shift to, say, Exeter where he might be 1st? Maybe, interference/manipulation from a central contract team should step in at this stage? Paying a small percentage of his wages perhaps.
fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 8:55 am
Benson did himself a power of good yesterday. If the Smiths go with the Lions we would be short of cover at 10 for the summer tour and he might be a candidate.
Interesting to see how much game time he's going to get for the rest of the season.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Personally, I’ve been waiting for him to get his chance as I’m confident he has the goods to be a very decent player. I don’t know how much game time he’ll get across the run-in. We play 5 of the current top 6 (the other is us) win 3 away from home (Bath, Tigers and Bristol). Now we have a more realistic shot at the play offs, I’d expect Marcus to lead the charge. Particularly given there’s a Lions spot at stake for him.
Benson would be a good shout for future A squads though. Atkinson hasn’t really lived up to his early promise at Wasps and Bailey is too far down the pecking order at Bath (and now injured I think?).
for me, this highlights (and not having a pop at all quins, to be clear) why we don't maximise talent; Benson is 22, clearly got a big match temperament and skills, but will likely end up the season with very few senior starts for Quins, one or two starts for London Scottish and some hours off the bench, having been travelling back reserve a lot. Its not a glorious way to develop talent, and at 22 should already have more top flight experience than he has (that said, he chose to get a quality degree, rather than be fully pro for 3 years). This could have been a breakthrough season for him, and have to think through how this is best done (I don't have a solution, to be clear, other than maybe centrally contracting 'project' young players and placing them where they will get a lot of meaningful game time).
And it's frustrating because it's been apparent that Evans is just not up to it. Our performances sans Smith have been generally woeful. And we immediately improved when Benson came on...He should have had that 22 shirt all season, except when Smith wasn't available, when he should have started.
I'll be honest...I don't see the point of these Welsh journeymen. We have a good handful of them, surely the influence of Jones, and they're all bang average. I would just promote the kids.
Banquo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 11:02 am
for me, this highlights (and not having a pop at all quins, to be clear) why we don't maximise talent; Benson is 22, clearly got a big match temperament and skills, but will likely end up the season with very few senior starts for Quins, one or two starts for London Scottish and some hours off the bench, having been travelling back reserve a lot. Its not a glorious way to develop talent, and at 22 should already have more top flight experience than he has (that said, he chose to get a quality degree, rather than be fully pro for 3 years). This could have been a breakthrough season for him, and have to think through how this is best done (I don't have a solution, to be clear, other than maybe centrally contracting 'project' young players and placing them where they will get a lot of meaningful game time).
Yep. Mind you Seb Atkinson is 22 and has god knows how many first team starts and yet still completely over looked.
Hopefully someone in the England set up is keeping an eye out for these players.
Does ambition keep Benson at Quins as 3rd choice or does he shift to, say, Exeter where he might be 1st? Maybe, interference/manipulation from a central contract team should step in at this stage? Paying a small percentage of his wages perhaps.
I don’t think he’ll be third choice for long. I’m not sure what Evans’ contractual situation is, but letting him go back to Wales would definitely free-up cap space with Benson promoted to second choice.
Banquo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 11:02 am
for me, this highlights (and not having a pop at all quins, to be clear) why we don't maximise talent; Benson is 22, clearly got a big match temperament and skills, but will likely end up the season with very few senior starts for Quins, one or two starts for London Scottish and some hours off the bench, having been travelling back reserve a lot. Its not a glorious way to develop talent, and at 22 should already have more top flight experience than he has (that said, he chose to get a quality degree, rather than be fully pro for 3 years). This could have been a breakthrough season for him, and have to think through how this is best done (I don't have a solution, to be clear, other than maybe centrally contracting 'project' young players and placing them where they will get a lot of meaningful game time).
Yep. Mind you Seb Atkinson is 22 and has god knows how many first team starts and yet still completely over looked.
Hopefully someone in the England set up is keeping an eye out for these players.
fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 8:55 am
Benson did himself a power of good yesterday. If the Smiths go with the Lions we would be short of cover at 10 for the summer tour and he might be a candidate.
Interesting to see how much game time he's going to get for the rest of the season.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Personally, I’ve been waiting for him to get his chance as I’m confident he has the goods to be a very decent player. I don’t know how much game time he’ll get across the run-in. We play 5 of the current top 6 (the other is us) win 3 away from home (Bath, Tigers and Bristol). Now we have a more realistic shot at the play offs, I’d expect Marcus to lead the charge. Particularly given there’s a Lions spot at stake for him.
Benson would be a good shout for future A squads though. Atkinson hasn’t really lived up to his early promise at Wasps and Bailey is too far down the pecking order at Bath (and now injured I think?).
If FSmith and MSmith go on the Lions tour then we are very much into the Atkinson realm for back up ten! I'm sure Benson was rated highly through the age groups but obviously missed a few years to get his degree (probably a sensible call given the nature of rugby).
Any chance MSmith plays mins at 15 for Quins?
On back up 10s, it was also good to see Coen starting for Chiefs and having a few good touches in a chaotic game.
fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 8:55 am
Benson did himself a power of good yesterday. If the Smiths go with the Lions we would be short of cover at 10 for the summer tour and he might be a candidate.
Interesting to see how much game time he's going to get for the rest of the season.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Personally, I’ve been waiting for him to get his chance as I’m confident he has the goods to be a very decent player. I don’t know how much game time he’ll get across the run-in. We play 5 of the current top 6 (the other is us) win 3 away from home (Bath, Tigers and Bristol). Now we have a more realistic shot at the play offs, I’d expect Marcus to lead the charge. Particularly given there’s a Lions spot at stake for him.
Benson would be a good shout for future A squads though. Atkinson hasn’t really lived up to his early promise at Wasps and Bailey is too far down the pecking order at Bath (and now injured I think?).
If FSmith and MSmith go on the Lions tour then we are very much into the Atkinson realm for back up ten! I'm sure Benson was rated highly through the age groups but obviously missed a few years to get his degree (probably a sensible call given the nature of rugby).
Any chance MSmith plays mins at 15 for Quins?
On back up 10s, it was also good to see Coen starting for Chiefs and having a few good touches in a chaotic game.
With the drop off between him and Evans, and the fact we have Green and David at FB...and 1/2p...he's far more needed at 10.
I didn't catch the second half of this game as went to watch my local club - how did Beard play? I saw in the highlights he made a fantastic break on the outside for one of the tries.
fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 8:55 am
Benson did himself a power of good yesterday. If the Smiths go with the Lions we would be short of cover at 10 for the summer tour and he might be a candidate.
Interesting to see how much game time he's going to get for the rest of the season.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Personally, I’ve been waiting for him to get his chance as I’m confident he has the goods to be a very decent player. I don’t know how much game time he’ll get across the run-in. We play 5 of the current top 6 (the other is us) win 3 away from home (Bath, Tigers and Bristol). Now we have a more realistic shot at the play offs, I’d expect Marcus to lead the charge. Particularly given there’s a Lions spot at stake for him.
Benson would be a good shout for future A squads though. Atkinson hasn’t really lived up to his early promise at Wasps and Bailey is too far down the pecking order at Bath (and now injured I think?).
If FSmith and MSmith go on the Lions tour then we are very much into the Atkinson realm for back up ten! I'm sure Benson was rated highly through the age groups but obviously missed a few years to get his degree (probably a sensible call given the nature of rugby).
Any chance MSmith plays mins at 15 for Quins?
On back up 10s, it was also good to see Coen starting for Chiefs and having a few good touches in a chaotic game.
Benson was very highly rated through age grades. A real talent. He’s not had the development plan to help him kick on. And it is down to the individual plans that we don’t have in place for the talent pipeline that hurts us badly in our conversion of talent into maturity.
As Mr B said he’s does a very decent stint at 12, and was seen as a 10/12 as he progressed through the age groups, though he predominantly played 10.
SixAndAHalf wrote: ↑Sun Mar 23, 2025 8:54 pm
I didn't catch the second half of this game as went to watch my local club - how did Beard play? I saw in the highlights he made a fantastic break on the outside for one of the tries.
He came into it much more in the second half. Made hard yards when needed and a couple a very good breaks, one of which set up the Waghorn try. A better defender would have stopped him on that try, but he powered through contact really well and then was very composed and made the right decision to put Waghorn in.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Personally, I’ve been waiting for him to get his chance as I’m confident he has the goods to be a very decent player. I don’t know how much game time he’ll get across the run-in. We play 5 of the current top 6 (the other is us) win 3 away from home (Bath, Tigers and Bristol). Now we have a more realistic shot at the play offs, I’d expect Marcus to lead the charge. Particularly given there’s a Lions spot at stake for him.
Benson would be a good shout for future A squads though. Atkinson hasn’t really lived up to his early promise at Wasps and Bailey is too far down the pecking order at Bath (and now injured I think?).
If FSmith and MSmith go on the Lions tour then we are very much into the Atkinson realm for back up ten! I'm sure Benson was rated highly through the age groups but obviously missed a few years to get his degree (probably a sensible call given the nature of rugby).
Any chance MSmith plays mins at 15 for Quins?
On back up 10s, it was also good to see Coen starting for Chiefs and having a few good touches in a chaotic game.
Benson was very highly rated through age grades. A real talent. He’s not had the development plan to help him kick on. And it is down to the individual plans that we don’t have in place for the talent pipeline that hurts us badly in our conversion of talent into maturity.
As Mr B said he’s does a very decent stint at 12, and was seen as a 10/12 as he progressed through the age groups, though he predominantly played 10.
