RugbyRebels

Harlequins: Brown; Lynagh, Marchant, Lang, Murley; Smith, Steele; Marler, Baldwin, Louw, Symons, Young, Lawday, Evans, Dombrandt (capt).

Replacements: Elia, Els, Kerrod, Tzard, White, Landajo, Tapuai, Morris.

London Irish: Parton; Stokes, Rona, Brophy Clews, Hassell-Collins; Jackson, Meehan; Elrington, Matu'u, Hoskins, Mahu, Mafi, Rogerson (capt), Cowan, Tuisue.

Replacements: Creevy, Goodrick-Clarke, Green, Simmons, Donnell O'Brien, Phipps, Meakes.

Is that Sean O'Brien actually fit or someone called Donnel O'Brien?

I’m pretty sure Donnell is on the bench and not O’Brien

Both Ben Donnell and Sean O'Brien are named as replacements.

Not sure what to expect from this game. Irish dont seem to have played for ages and look a little light in some positions, while Quins have been pretty awful over the last month.

Recipe for a 45-44 thriller?

fivepointer wrote:Both Ben Donnell and Sean O'Brien are named as replacements.

Not sure what to expect from this game. Irish dont seem to have played for ages and look a little light in some positions, while Quins have been pretty awful over the last month.

Recipe for a 45-44 thriller?

Maybe.

Quins are due a good game having had a few bad ones, but Irish are one of those teams we seem to struggle against frequently.

Maybe a Bath-esque try-fest and capitulation, yeah that sounds about right.

Mikey Brown wrote:

fivepointer wrote:Both Ben Donnell and Sean O'Brien are named as replacements.

Not sure what to expect from this game. Irish dont seem to have played for ages and look a little light in some positions, while Quins have been pretty awful over the last month.

Recipe for a 45-44 thriller?

Maybe.

Quins are due a good game having had a few bad ones, but Irish are one of those teams we seem to struggle against frequently.

Maybe a Bath-esque try-fest and capitulation, yeah that sounds about right.

Irish are getting their excuses in early as apparently a few of their players are still feeling the aftereffects of COVID and wouldn't be involved if they weren't needed to get an uninfected XXIII out.

Puja

Dombrandt not going to impress Eddie getting hit into touch by the 9, especially with that amount of time to choose the collision as such.

Have to say, hearing "Who the f**k are you defending!" being yelled in less than 5 minutes into the game, makes me wonder if there's a bit of frustration between some players in camp?

Brilliant pace on the ball from Meehan there. Didn't bother to wait for the attack to get fully supported, but had players calling for it on the charge and gave it to them.

Raggs wrote:Dombrandt not going to impress Eddie getting hit into touch by the 9, especially with that amount of time to choose the collision as such.

Have to say, hearing "Who the f**k are you defending!" being yelled in less than 5 minutes into the game, makes me wonder if there's a bit of frustration between some players in camp?

Fairly sure that was Marler, so it could mean absolutely anything.

That moment from Dombrandt was very strange. One for EP's spank bank.

A fun start.

Parton has looked bloody good, how old is he?

He has looked good but the off load was a dolly and should’ve been made.
As an aside, did Matu’u just scream cowabunga?!?

Love that. Quins refusing to use perfectly good ball, then end up getting pinged after collapsing.

I wish I was more surprised to see us let that game go. Feel Quins are lucky to take 2 points from that.

Parton is just 22. Was good for the u20s but has had very limited chances. Looked very tidy, i thought.

Quite an enjoyable game. Both sides a bit of a mixed bag but evenly matched. A draw seemed fair enough.

The most impressive thing about Parton was his positioning. He's a true full-back and you could see it in how he was alaays in the right position and making the right choices in the backfield and cover defence. I hadn't realised how quick he was though!

Puja

He has very nice footwork.