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Monye and Harlequin FC Come Full Circle

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Ugo Monye has been an ever present figure for Harlequin FC – having witnessed the despair of the fans when the club got relegated from the Premiership in 2005, the scandal and now, finally, he considers his stint at the club to have come full circle with The Quins winning their first ever Aviva Premiership title. The 29 year old winger is the longest serving player for the club at the moment, having spent 11 years of his career at Twickenham Stoop and having had to wait this long for the biggest success in the professional sport of the country, it is obviously very special to him.

Monye was also a part of The Quins side that won the Amlin Cup last season but the triumph of the club at the Aviva Premiership is bigger than any other win. The journey has been long and rigorous for the flanker, who made his debut for Harlequin FC back in 2002 and now that he has finally tasted the champagne of victory, he wants more such moments before he decides to call time on his career and hang up his boots.

According to Monye, he and his team mates had always known that success was going to come at some point in time, the question was when. He also cited Matt Hopper, who was playing in the playoffs of the Championship last year and now, has a Premiership medal around his neck and although he has had to wait a long time for success, it is worth it.

According to Ugo, this is the first major trophy for the club. Although the Amlin Cup victory of Harlequin FC was important, it was more of a springboard toward greater success than a success in itself and the cub will now aim for the Heineken Cup.

SARACENS vs HARLEQUINS

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Two of the biggest names in the Aviva Premiership, Saracens FC and Harlequins Football Club go head to head this week and as per the ticket sales, the London derby might just be the biggest ever in the history of the game with as many as 85,000 people expected to make their way into the stadium to cheer on their respective teams. This milestone, should it be reached, will represent a huge step forward for rugby as a club based game in England since the start of the Aviva Premiership in 1997.

At that time, Mark McCall, the Director of Rugby for Saracens and his counterpart at Harlequins Football Club Conor O’Shea were teammates for another Aviva Premiership side the London Irish and the biggest home crowd that they could expect at the home stadium of The Exiles at The Avenue was a meager 5,000. According to officials of Saracens, they just have a few hundred tickets still left to be sold and with the match taking place at Wembley, which has a capacity of 90,779, they are well on their way to beat the attendance record set in the match between the Leicester Tigers and the Celtic League side from Ireland, Munster Rugby which was recorded to be 82,208.

According to McCall, it is great for English rugby to be selling games out like this and he also extended his gratitude to The Quins who are as much responsible for pulling such a huge crowd for the match as they are – Nick Easter in particular has been sensational recently.

Harlequins Football Club might be struggling in the European Challenge Cup and was knocked out unceremoniously, but they are still on top and a victory against the arch enemies will give them immense confidence ahead of the next few matches that are left and the new season.

HARLEQUINS STILL STRUGGLING

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Harlequins failed to get their stuttering season back on track with a defeat at the hands of Gloucester and a poor performance to match. Ross Chisholm ran in two tries for Quins but an inability to convert their second half pressure meant they had to settle for a losing bonus point.

Since December’s Heineken Cup heroics and the victory over Toulouse, Harlequins have failed to impress, losing to the likes of Northampton, Saracens and now Gloucester and scraping past Worcester and Exeter. Their run of dire form since the New Year has also seen them crash out of the Heineken Cup and the LV=Cup.

The Gloucester game was the sort of match they were taking a minimum of 4 points from prior to Christmas but they were left with huge regrets.

Saracens’ shock defeat to Worcester on Friday had meant Quins could reopen the ever closing gap at the top of the table. Victory would have given them a nine point lead but they too would slip up.

They started slowly and never really got back on track, going 10 points down within 10 minutes and managing to stay in touch with Gloucester but to never really take control of the game.

Sloppy defensive errors from the league leaders meant Gloucester were always going to have chances and Jonny May’s try only went to highlight this. He broke through the defence from just short of halfway to add Gloucester’s second try in the second half and boost talk of an England call up.

Late in the first half Quins were lucky to not be reduced to 14 when Ugo Monye was penalised for a high tackle.

The half time score of 21-13 highlighted the openness of the game and the extent to which Gloucester had dominated. Quins would not recover. Yes, they made more chances in the second half and had they been more clinical in their finishing could have run out with a victory but the killer instinct that was so present in the earlier parts of the season was certainly missing when they made it to Gloucester’s 22.

The Quins pack led by example and was able to give Quins the territory but a combination of resilient defence from Gloucester and a lack of ingenuity from Harelquins meant they never really looked like snatching victory. They did stop Gloucester securing a bonus point and snatched one of their own with a late touchline conversion from Evans.

Quins will now turn their focus to regaining some sort of form before next month’s clash with Saracens. Next up is a trip to Newcastle, a game Quins can expect to win, but the performance will be under scrutiny as much as the result

EASTER IS STAYING

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Nick Easter has recently signed a new deal for three years till the end of the 2014-2015 seasons with the Harlequins. The director Conor O’Shea has clearly mentioned that this is quite an achievement for the Harlequins considering the fact that Nick is currently the 8th best player in the country known for rugby.

He is quite sure that each and every member of the Harlequins club is elated and excited to play with such a top notch payer who has shown an excellent array of skills and talents through the years.

The beauty of Nick Easter is the fact that he has managed to come up the ladder even though he hasn’t been on the field for long. His regime and the condition he keeps himself in most of the time is what help him to remain fit and active all throughout. Nick himself feels happy joining this club as he feels that they allow him to express himself to the fullest and best of his potential.

Moreover, by bringing about an attractive style of rugby, it not only becomes enjoyable but also manages to bring about positive results to the game. He is quite keen and concerned in bringing about positive increments to the team’s performance and ratings on the points table. He hopes that Harlequins becomes better with his entry as he is ready to put in his cent percent effort and make sure that no stone remain unturned. He has managed to play as a flanker for the England team and can even do the same here for the Harlequins if needed and required. Let’s hope for the best as Harlequins have managed to strike a great deal with this star and gem of a player.

HARLEQUINS STRUGGLE PAST GLOUCESTER

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Harlequins struggled past Gloucester to keep their Heineken Cup dreams well and truly alive. Mike Brown’s try was just about enough to ensure the Quins inched through 20-14 to remain in touching distance of Pool leaders, Toulouse.

In the 73rd minute, Quins were trailing 14-13 and heading out of the competition, but a Danny Care kick was met by Brown and Harlequins seem now to be in an excellent position for a spot in the quarter finals as runners up at the very least and even keeping their outside chances of topping the group alive.

Brown was one of a number of Quins players to impress and is amongst a contingency of four players from the Stoop to be called into the England squad for the 6 Nations. His head coach Conor O’Shea has heaped praise on Brown for his recent performances, which he feels have put him in an excellent position to oust Ben Foden from the England full back position.

Gloucester had proved a difficult challenge for the Quins, who have cooled since their invincible start to the league campaign and the Quins were looking set to go out of the competition when on three occasions late on skipper Robshawe turned down kickable penalties to regain the lead from Gloucester. The gamble seemed to have back fired when they seemed to have wasted when a five metre scrum resulted in a scrappy penalty award to Glaws. Quins though composed themselves and created one last chance to secure their survival in the competition and eliminate their English rivals from the competition.

Quins next travel to Connauct, who are yet to register a win in this seasons tournament whilst Gloucester face a challenging visit from Toulouse. Gloucester will be looking to do themselves justice with their performance, and if they can stop the French side from winning Quins will be gifted a chance to top the group.

HARLEQUINS BEATEN BY NORTHAMPTON

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Harlequins suffered a crushing blow as Northampton beat them 24 – 3 at the Franklin’s Garden. This was the second defeat that Harlequins have suffered in the Aviva Premiership and was a rather bad one.

This win over Harlequins has now consolidated their position at the third place in the standings – with this win the latest in a dream run of matches for Northampton in the Aviva Premiership. It was their two star players, Roger Wilson and Ben Foden, who combined brilliantly all match in order to crush the Harlequins. Ryan Lamb also contributed fourteen points.

Rory Clegg kicked the Harlequins only goal from their side, but won’t hae enjoyed it -he had a horrible day at work and will hurt all the more because he would love to see his team back on track and on its winning ways.

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