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Premiership Rugby 20/21 - Grand Final

Atmosphere was amazing for 10k.

Chiefs **** up with the tickets may have been impactful in such a tight game, close to 50/50 in the chiefs end and all Quins in the Quins end. Amazing.

Didn't think this was ever possible, even today I didn't dare to hope.

COYQ. I love this game.
 
That was an amazing game to watch!. Didn't think Quins would be able to keep up the pace for 80 minutes after what they went through last week. I thought Chiefs would suffocate them. Well they certainly didn't. The quality of back-play from Quins was of a quality that you don't often see in the northern hemisphere, it was top-drawer. Just such an incredible game with all the great skills and rapid swings in momentum, the best Premiership final in history. Any one of the Harlequins players could have got MOTM but if I was picking I would have given it to Marcus Smith, he was unreal. He should be in the England team.
 
These english teams need to stop throwing the ball around, its ruining the cartoon. England is supposed to play ten man rugby, get back in character people!

well done to nick evans though, both for the win and for the development of his protege.
 
Well that was fantastic. Worthy winners and worthy runners up. Frankly a great finish to a great season. And with Sarries back next year let's hope it'll be even more competitive and even more great rugby.
 
I think Quins experience shows just what a poor match Gustard was for Quins. Went from being pretty mediocre to winning the whole thing with that winning habit starting literally the game after he left.

As a Bath fan it is incredibly frustrating, every other "major" club has won or been in contention to win the league except Bath with just 1 season where we were.
 
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Rinkadink said:
Almost wanting to wait until Jones has p'd off so he doesn't break or ruin Smith and all other emerging talent. But yes, should be playing for England already.
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Very much so. I can fully imagine a scenario where Smith is told he needs to work on his "defence" and "game management" i.e. "booting it away" before he'll be considered as an England starter. Which would ruin 90% of the stuff that's great about him now. The "it's too soon" brigade can bugger off. Smith is a year older than when Dan Carter debuted for the All Blacks. He's better than Ford and Farrell by a distance now.

That was a tremendous game of rugby from both sides yesterday . I do however believe that the absence of Ewers and Skinner tipped a very fine balance in favour of a Quins teams that really maximised their game. Interesting about the "power game" that Exeter usually apply. Quins are hardly the powder puff side of legend. The scrum was clearly in Quin's favour and in the backs I can't imagine that tackling Esterhuizen for 80 minutes is anything other than thoroughly unpleasant.

Well officiated too by Carley and amazing how players can abide by the rules once the consequences are known. There were very few marginal tackles in the game.
 
Ragey Erasmus said:
I think Quins experience shows just what a poor match Gustard was for Quins. Went from being pretty mediocre to winning the whole thing with that winning habit starting literally the game after he left.

As a Bath fan it is incredibly frustrating, every other "major" club has won or been in contention to win the league except Bath with just 1 season where we were.
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Yep. Gustard did actually help to lay some of the foundations and I don't think that should be completely ignored, but it's a classic example of a coach trying to impose a style that is totally at odds with the skill set of the players.

This set of players were never going to be a defensive, territory-focused side. The coaching group we have now seek to enhance the players' strengths rather than asking them to adopt a gameplan that doesn't fit.
 
BPM said:
Yep. Gustard did actually help to lay some of the foundations and I don't think that should be completely ignored, but it's a classic example of a coach trying to impose a style that is totally at odds with the skill set of the players.

This set of players were never going to be a defensive, territory-focused side. The coaching group we have now seek to enhance the players' strengths rather than asking them to adopt a gameplan that doesn't fit.
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Yep, I don't necessarily think Gustard would be a bad coach but he was trying to impose the Sarries / England style where it just did not fit at all. He needs to either adjust his tactics or choose a club whose philosophy is closer to his.
 
I was always on the fence with him. Some of what he was doing was good and our signings during his tenure were mostly good (although how much of that was him is hard to know?).

On the other hand, I always thought he was a bit of a bluffer. It often felt like a lot of words and not a lot of anything that tangible.

If he wants to be a top coach, he has to look at what this group of players has achieved since he left the club and take a long hard look in the mirror. The personnel is the same he had, but their motivation levels, happiness and freedom to play are what have shone through since he left. He got the tactics so wrong and clearly didn't have the buy-in from the playing group. Maybe if he'd listened a bit more, he'd have won a ***le.
 
To play rugby like that you need a solid foundation. All other things being equal Marler should be on the plane to South Africa, quite probably as a test starter and Louw looks like he's been a fantastic signing. Quins maybe needed his solidity more than Sinckler's looser game.

Shame that Brown couldn't have been on the pitch. Nice that he was there to help pick up the trophy.

Smith and Dombrandt are making massive claims for Eng recognition. If your 8 and 10 are starring chances are your 9's going OK too.....how sensible would it have been to bed them in with Care acting as the old hand between them? Plenty of SH talent coming through that should get some time but I don't think any have been consistently better than Care.
 
I never thought I'd say this, but perhaps Brown's suspension did us a bit of a favour.

Green was such a star for us and I don't know if he'd have had such a prominent role had Brown been fit. He'd have most likely played on the wing, but we might not have seen our back three working in tandem so brilliantly had Brown been at 15.

We'd likely have been a bit tighter defensively with Brown but I wonder whether we'd have seen some of the attacking play we've enjoyed so much over the last 6 games,
 
BPM said:
I never thought I'd say this, but perhaps Brown's suspension did us a bit of a favour.

Green was such a star for us and I don't know if he'd have had such a prominent role had Brown been fit. He'd have most likely played on the wing, but we might not have seen our back three working in tandem so brilliantly had Brown been at 15.

We'd likely have been a bit tighter defensively with Brown but I wonder whether we'd have seen some of the attacking play we've enjoyed so much over the last 6 games,
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I suspect your right, it's the old argument people keep having with Daly nd potentially Malins, they are not brown solid at the back but is what they do offer going forward worth more.
 
Lots of positives about Lynagh, but will he jump to England or have to return back to Oz, in order to get capped.
 
Well here's the thing … it wouldn't be 'back to Oz' because AFAIK, he's never lived there for any extended period of time. He was born in Italy but has spent the significant majority of his life living in England since his dad joined Saracens in 1996.

He's unquestionably a product of the Quins academy and English rugby and has already played all of his age-grade rugby for England, so if anything it would be a 'jump' to Australia rather than vice versa.

I think he's said he 'feels' Australian so it may be that he doesn't want to tie himself to England which is fair enough, but it'll be interesting to see what he does if he's actually given a call up.
 
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BPM said:
I think he's said he 'feels' Australian so it may be that he doesn't want to tie himself to England which is fair enough, but it'll be interesting to see what he does if he's actually given a call up.
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Going by what EJ says (if you believe it) this comment will rule him out of England selection.

How is the hangover?
 
Jimbo said:
I suspect your right, it's the old argument people keep having with Daly nd potentially Malins, they are not brown solid at the back but is what they do offer going forward worth more.
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I don't recall any major defensive lapses from Green whereas with Daly it was only a matter of time and Malins doesn't inspire huge confidence either. There's also how the individual fits into the team pattern - some players are more suited to the Kevin Keegan style of not worrying too much about defence on the grounds we'll score more (which admittedly is kind of the whole point…).

Quins have been fantastic to watch but definitely rode their luck v Bristol and in another year there'd have been the hard nosed Sarries to contend with. I think they also caught Chiefs at a fairly good time as they look in need of a bit of reinvention.

If they want to be in with a shout of retaining their ***le, they will definitely need to tighten their defence without going all Gustardesque about it.

Also likely to see less of Smith and Dombrandt due to international call ups.
 

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