September 6, 2003, 3:30pm at the Stoop Memorial Ground

In stark contrast to much of the rest of the game the first five minutes was a slightly scrappy affair as both sides turned ball over, unable to keep possession and string constructive phases together. However, this is some what justified in that this was the first competitive fixture of the season.
This slow start was ended abruptly in the sixth minute, when Tom Parker claimed good ball at the lineout to enable the Quins forwards to mount an effective driving maul to enable Quins openside Chris Cracknell, to claim the first try of the afternoon. Which was then converted by Adrian Jarvis.
Following this the dominance of Harlequins grew considerably largely due to the amount of possession the Quins forwards were securing most notably at scrummage where the quins front row had the upper hand over their London Welsh counterparts. Reward for this came in the 11th minute when prop Gareth Rise went over for the second try. This second early score was a considerable psychological blow to the exiles whose confidence dropped notably which resulted in a flurry of Quins tries. The first of which was scored by Adrian Jarvis following a well executed set piece move that created space on the left wing for Neil McGovern which allowed the supporting Jarvis to score. Number 8 Tom Guest then powered his way over the line for Quins' fourth try on 21 minutes. Then immediately from the re-start, a clean take by Tom Parker enabled a quick miss pass to centre and captain Tom Allen who burst through midfield to make almost 40 yards before feeding supporting fullback Tom Williams who finished off the move. With another successful conversion by Jarvis the score was now 31-0 to the young Harlequins after just 22 minutes.
Quins debutant Reg Dejeger continued to scrummage impressively with the rest of the Quins pack which allowed scrum half Max Evans to snipe from the back of the scrum and then release Adrian Jarvis to score his second try of the afternoon.
Then, in what seemed like déjà vu, directly from the restart the ball was once again quickly passed out to centre Tom Allen who once more made a break of some 45 yards before feeding the ever supporting Williams, who this timed passed once more for left wing Neil McGovern to score.
The Quins midfield pairing of Allen and Tosh Masson were proving very effective against the exiles, and on the half hour mark a powerful break through the London Welsh defence by Masson created space enough for the deserving Allen to score.
Shortly after, the Quins scrum once more allowed the ever creative Max Evans time at the base of the scrum to dart blind and feed left winger Neil McGovern to go over for his second try in the corner.
The final try before half time came about once more on the back of strong Quins scrummaging effort when powerful number 8 Tom Guest picked and made good ground to feed Max Evans which created the momentum to allow tireless flanker Chris Cracknell to mark a well rounded performance with a second try, making the half time score 60-0 coming about after some ten tries from Quins.
Shortly after the break the impressive half-back pairing of Evans and Jarvis made way for Rob Oughton and Tom Rees-Williams, however it was the Quins centre's who continued to strike with Masson again breaking tackles then feeding Allen who sprinted in to the corner from well within his own half. This was soon to be out done by what can be viewed as the try of the game when Tosh Masson made yet another break through the defence then to offload to fullback Williams who casually flicked the ball behind his back to the oncoming quins debutant Shaun Crowley to score under the posts who had only just come on for left wing McGovern.
Following this in the 69th minute, a quick tap penalty and some neat handling released winger Chinedu Okolo to score Quins' 13th try.
With less than ten minutes to go an excellent catch and counter attack from a London Welsh clearance by Shaun Crowley created space out wide for Tom Williams to score in the corner which was then converted by Tom Rees-Williams.
A combination of heart and grit from the Welsh exiles and perhaps a lack of concentration by Harlequins allowed Michael Bridge to score to at least get London Welsh on the scoreboard.
In a game in which Quins were so dominant (especially considering the absence of charismatic Welsh lock forward Ben Thomson) in all aspects of play it's difficult to identify particular aspects of the Quins team that were particularly good. However most notable for me was the supremacy shown at scrummage and in midfield best illustrated by Outside Centre Tom Allen and tight head prop Reg Dejeger who was a thorn in the oppositions side in both the tight and loose.
The open and high scoring nature of the game no doubt pleased the sizeable crowd whom were passing time before England's highly boring defeat over France which then followed.

Ben Thomson

NEC Harlequins U-21
1. Gareth Rise 16. Ahmeed (on 24 mins)
2. Cameron Dott 17. Nazer (on 54 mins)
3. Reg Dejeger 18. Creed (on 57 mins)
4. Ross Boshier 19. Oughton (on 46 mins)
5. Tom Parker 20. Rees-Willimams (on 46 mins)
6. Gavin Hart 21. Davenport (on 68 mins)
7. Chris Cracknell 22. Crowley (on 54 mins)
8. Tom Guest
9. Max Evans
10. Adrian Jarvis
11. Neil McGovern
12. Tosh Masson
13. Tom Allen (c)
14. Chinedu Okolo
15. Tom Williams

Tries: Rise, Cracknell 2, Guest, Jarvis 2, McGovern 2, Allen 2, Okolo, Williams 2, Crowley
Conv: Jarvis 5, Rees-Williams 2