GUARDIAN VERDICT: Harlequins 60 Warrington Wolves 8 (From Warrington Guardian)

GUARDIAN VERDICT: Harlequins 60 Warrington Wolves 8

6:10am Thursday 19th March 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(4)

WE all surely share Tony Smith’s hope that Wolves hit rock bottom with Saturday’s thoroughly inept display at Harlequins.

“Sometimes you’ve got to hit the bottom before you start to go up again,” said the man put in place a fortnight ago to sort out the horrible mess Warrington Wolves find themselves in.

And boy, doesn’t everyone need a lift as far as Wolves are concerned?

This was by far the worst performance in the club’s record-breaking 10-match losing run and the approximate 600 Wolves fans made their feelings known as they booed and chanted ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt.’ And on this performance, they are right.

Warrington, for all their expensive international talent and enthusiastic youth on show, were light years behind a hard-working Harlequins team in everything they did.

But most of all, Wolves’ defence was shocking and ended up shredded time after time by the probings of excellent Quins half backs Luke Dorn and Danny Orr.

Wolves struggled to read the moves in front of them, were constantly pulled out of position, regularly fell off tackles and there were cases of being dragged for extra metres on the backs of determined runners.

And that is when players could be bothered to even make an attempt to tackle.

There were numerous observations of players leaving the work to teammates and being found out for doing so. Focus was disastrously lacking.

With the ball in hand, Wolves looked laboured and predictable although they did create more chances than they actually scored. As has been the case this season, the last pass or handling ability let them down at key times.

Although the signs had not been good, there was still hope Warrington could get back into the game as they trailed 18-8 until the 34th minute mark, with tries from Kiwi pair Vinnie Anderson and Paul Rauhihi keeping them in the picture.

But two tries in six minutes before half time and then another one five minutes into the second period took Harlequins out of reach at 36-8.

Wolves stemmed the flow of scoring and had near misses at the other end, the best chance falling to Vinnie Anderson but fumbling a grubber kick over the line, before Wolves threw the towel in and Quins finished the game with the last four of their 10 tries in the final 18 minutes.

The final result, Wolves’ highest defeat for seven years, was their worst in history against the top team from the capital and it is difficult to see how it could get any worse than this.

---

Match facts

Harlequins 60 Warrington Wolves 8

Wolves: Chris Hicks; Paul Johnson, Martin Gleeson, Simon Grix, Matt King; Lee Briers, Michael Monaghan; Adrian Morley, Jon Clarke, Paul Rauhihi (1t), Lee Mitchell, Louis Anderson, Vinnie Anderson (1t). Subs used: Paul Wood, Mickey Higham, Steve Pickersgill, Ben Harrison.

Harlequins: Jon Wells; Chris Melling (1t), Matt Gafa (1t), David Howell (1t), Will Sharp; Luke Dorn (1t), Danny Orr (1t, 10g); Karl Temata (1t), Chad Randall (1t), Danny Ward (1t), Chad Robinson, Tony Clubb, Joe Mbu. Subs used: Daniel Heckenberg, Jason Golden, Luke Gale (2t), Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook.

Referee: Thierry Alibert

Scoring: Dorn steams past slipping Briers and over, 74secs, Orr converts, 6-0; Vinnie Anderson snatches attempted intercept away from Dorn and races home, 8mins, 6-4; Ward carries Clarke and Hicks over the line from short range, Orr converts, 12-4; Monaghan is held up short and Rauhihi blasts over on next tackle, 21mins, 12-8; Temata ploughs through Briers and Mitchell from close in, 24mins, Orr converts, 18-8; Sharp’s wing dash leads to Orr kick across field for Gafa touch down, 34mins, Orr converts, 24-8; Heckenberg returns initial midfield break pass from Orr for the scrum half to race home, 38mins, Orr converts, 30-8; Dorn kick retrieved by Howell for supporting Chandall to cross, 45mins, Orr converts, 36-8; Orr and Dorn combine in front of hole left by Gleeson for Howell to score, 62mins, Orr converts, 42-8; Gale dummies and dances over from first receiver, 66mins, Orr converts, 48-8; Briers chip kick goes straight to Melling who races 100m unopposed, 73mins, Orr converts, 54-8; Quins keep ball alive and Heckenberg offload sends Gale away, 77mins, Orr converts, 60-8.

Pens: Harlequins 5 Wolves 4

Attendance: 3,206

Warrington Guardian top men: No points awarded.

Interesting note: First time Chris Hicks has failed to score any points while playing for Wolves.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(4)