By Frank Stormont
April 27 2006

As Albion travel the 200 miles to Twickenham for the last game of the season looking forward to a close game. The supporters will be wondering how many of their players will still be in the squad in a few weeks time.  

Possibly in an attempt to record the largest attendance at a NL1 fixture Harlequins have double headed our game with an evening Rugby League game.  This is now a sell out but how many RL supporters will arrive before 3pm when their match is not until 6pm?? I think it will boost the RL match against Huddersfield Giants but there may be a large number of empty seats for the more important match.  (The RL match is on Sky)

Before the start of the season a number of NL1 teams may have thought that they had a realistic chance of beating Quins and although they may be straight back into the Premiership they would go back with a few defeats to their name.  As the season went on it looked as though this was not going to be the case and that they would return with a 100% record.  Well that was until their trip to sunny, or was it rainy, Devon and Exeter showed the rest of the league that Quins were not invincible. Even more of a surprise since Quins had previously turned out to be their biggest win of the season back in October  with a 70 points to 5 win over Exeter.

Albion have played Quins twice this season and history tells us that we lost on both occasions both could be considered as close games one within 7 points and the other by 13. When you consider that the Quins performance has shown an average winning margin this season is greater than 25 points and we are one of only 4 clubs that have taken a bonus point from their matches against them we must stand a chance. The others to have taken a bonus point were Bedford, Otley and Sedgley Park.

The last time we played Quins we had a number of problems, Alfie was still out after his injury against Pirates and Ed Barnes' kicking was at a low. On Saturday we should be going with a full strength side and with the addition of Ed Lewsey who has returned to form after 11 months out. So it should be a far closer game and hopefully go the other way.

Quins will looking to put a strong team for the final match of the season and looking at keeping their 100% home record but the game will tell and it's not until the referee blows the final whistle that the match is over.  On the other hand it will be Will Greenwood's last match and atmosphere will be great he is playing great at the moment and seems to be enjoying his game

Will Greenwood the final curtain? Will Played his first game for Quins at the age of 21 just before his 22nd Birthday back in 1994.  Most of his playing career has been at Quins apart from four seasons at the other red, green and white team, Leicester. He has scored 6 tries this season and made a total of 150 appearances for the club. At 33 he has 55 England caps and 2 for the British & Irish Lions. He weighs in at 100Kgs, that's 15st 10lbs in old money and stands at 6' 4". This could be his last game of professional rugby but will he move to coaching?

Who will Will be marking and who will be marking Will?  On the current play it will probably be seven try Regardt Van Eyk but other possibilities would include nine try Keni or big Nat Saumi or then there's Sam Leung Wai but he is out of match fitness at present. He had hoped to be fit for Tuesdays Warriors match against Launceston but was not in the team.

Nick Easter has played in virtually every match for Quins and at number 8 has run in 21 tries this season! He too stands at 6' 4" but at 115Kgs he is a big man. He has been with Quins for two years and was named NEC player of the season in his first year even though he only scored 3 tries. Nick was at Orrell prior to his move to Quins and I am sure he will be upset to see them being relegated for the second year running.

Simon Keogh and Ugo Monye pair on the wings have over 40 tries between them for the season and will have speed that will need to be stopped with low tackles. Simon has played for Ireland U21 and made crucial last minute tries in a number of matches when Quins were in the premiership. Ugo has played a number of times for England 7s and also part of the England squad in the Churchill cup last year.

Adrian Jarvis is taking the kicking duties at present and in the 13 matches he has played in kicked the ball between the posts more than 78 times. At just 22 years old he is not bad with his hands either and has put the ball over the line for 4 tries.

 

My prediction is an away win by 5 points.

 

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