This was one of those games where the phrase “a game of two halves” was never said with such an accurate account of the game.
The Lions won the toss and elected to receive. The sound of the “The Dam Busters” theme could be heard blasting out of the Clubs PA system which was due to the Quins Tour theme being ”WWII Fighter Pilots” The game was evenly balanced at the initial exchanges with the forwards from both sides tussling for supremacy at the breakdowns. The Lions appeared to be winning the battle at the Scrum with the big pack winning both their own ball and a few against the head..

The Quins pack played simple effective rugby with a number of pick and drives before their scrum half released the ball to the backs. Their No 10 was controlling the game well with either his distribution of the ball or his pace in running good lines to find the gaps in the Lion’s defence and put the home side on the back foot.

The Harlequin Amateur vets play in a structured vets league and this showed in them being well drilled with good organisation in both attack and defence. Rugby at this level is all about getting the basics right and playing simple effective rugby and the quins were applying this to great effect. The Lions lost flanker Graham Fletcher early on with a broken hand and with the quins pack being more effective in the scrum were starting to get on top and it was the quins who opened up the scoring. With a converted try. This was going to be the pattern of the first half.

Although the Lions had a number of attacking opportunities on too many occasions the Lions moved the ball out too wide which meant when the attack broke down the home side couldn’t get enough bodies to the breakdown to recycle the ball. This inevitably resulted in either turn over ball or penalties awarded to the opposition for holding on/ going over the top as the Lions made desperate attempts to maintain possession. It was one of this occasions when Mick Beard was shown a yellow card for an infringement at a breakdown. This further compacted the Lions problems. To Quins credit they disputed the sending off but as we know the Referee has the final word. The Quins scored another converted try taken the score to 14-0. To the credit of the Lions they stuck at it. The Lions did get on the score board with a try by fly half Kirk Willliamson. The conversion was missed. The score remained 14-5 at half time.

Not sure what the Lions had in their water bottles but along with the team talk to rally the troops the home side returned to the field for the second half with a new sense of determination. The Lions were playing a better brand of rugby with the forwards creating a higher degree of clean ball at the breakdown and the backs more organised in attack. Both sides were showing frustration in some of the decisions with both sides asking clarity in penalties awarded against them. It was the Lions who put points on the board first with another unconverted try. 14-10. The Lions were continuing to break through the defensive line and put quins on the back foot…. A role reversal of the first half. Some good play between the Forwards winning ball at a ruck and then the backs creating an overlap saw another try scored out wide for the home side. The try was not converted. 15-14 to the Lions.

This score obviously didn’t go down well with the Quins as they came back with a heightened aggression with the forwards wanting to bash up through the centre with a number of pick and drives and it was in fact their hefty No 8 who crashed through. The try was converted to take the score to 21-10.

The quins heads were up and they scored another unconverted try to take the score to 26-10 to the Quins.
As per the Lions ethos “ We will never Surrender” the Lions came back with the same amount of fire in their belly and a will to get back in the game. It was in fact the best period for the Lions with another 3 tries , one of them being converted to take the score to 27- 26
The game was reaching its climax. The Quins were not about to undone and they scored another try. and converted to take the score 33-26 to the Quins. The vocal emotions of some of the quins were no doubt heard on Deal Beach

Had Quins done enough and was this to be the outcome. I think the Quins had this view but the Lions had other ideas. In the last minutes with the Lions slowly making inroads into the Visitors half recycled ball at a breakdown saw the ball passed out into the backs and an inside ball saw Scrum Half Kirk Williamson slip a tackle to go over the line under the posts. The simple conversion was taken for the Lions to take the narrowest of leads 34-33. This was to be the last score of the afternoon with the referee blowing the final whistle to end the game

This game could of gone either way with the lead changing hands on several occasions throughout the match. This was an entertaining game and a prime example of how a Vets game should be played… with great spirit..grit.. and a sense that , in the words of the Quins Vets Mantra, “You don’t stop playing rugby because you are too old; you get old because you stop playing rugby.
Quins enjoyed the hospitality of the Lions late into the night and both clubs look forward to further encounters in the future

Deal and Betteshanger Squad

Beard, Dixon, Sapsford, Castle, White, Fletcher, Thompson, Rose, Williamson, Neary, Friend, O'loughlan, Crews, Hammond, Stevens, Rowarth, Hawkes

Scorers

Dave Rose 2 Tries,
Jason Crews 1 Try,
Gary Dixon 1 Try
Kirk Williamson 2 Tries -2 Conversions, ?????