The Six Nations may be on hold for a week but there’s a
fantastic day of TV Premiership action with the first Live TV game at Saracens
new stadium with a plastic pitch and the two best clubs in England going head
to head in a top of the table battle, and Harlequins can show just why they’re
Premiership Champions with victory over Leicester at the Stoop today in what is
arguably the biggest game of the season so far. Quins and Leicester are separated
only by points difference, and with Leicester having Saracens next weekend,
this could be called the most important fixture they’ve had this season.
The Tigers have actually won each of their last eight trips
to the Stoop but in accordance with the Londonders recent rise in English
rugby, they’ve won the last two meetings between the sides – last season’s
final and the league meeting at Welford Road between the two sides – and home advantage
could go a long way towards helping them make it three on the bounce. Quins are
one of the form sides in European Rugby – impressing with their romp to the top
of their Heineken Cup pool and a home quarter final while going on a run of 10
wins in all competitions before slipping to a 17-16 home defeat against Wasps
last weekend at the Stoop. That blip owes a lot towards the unusually poor
performance of Nick Evans, who had an intercepted pass and missed a crucial
late penalty that would have won it for the hosts, but he has been faultless on
most occasions this season and if at his best form, could easily turn the game
on it’s head. Conor O’Shea was very quick to point men ‘won’ the large part of
the game (70 minutes) 16-3 after shipping those two early tries and that should
have sharpened Quins’ minds plenty ahead of this week.
The Tigers have actually won each of their last eight trips
to the Stoop but in accordance with the Londonders recent rise in English
rugby, they’ve won the last two meetings between the sides – last season’s
final and the league meeting at Welford Road between the two sides – and home advantage
could go a long way towards helping them make it three on the bounce. Quins are
one of the form sides in European Rugby – impressing with their romp to the top
of their Heineken Cup pool and a home quarter final while going on a run of 10
wins in all competitions before slipping to a 17-16 home defeat against Wasps
last weekend at the Stoop. That blip owes a lot towards the unusually poor
performance of Nick Evans, who had an intercepted pass and missed a crucial
late penalty that would have won it for the hosts, but he has been faultless on
most occasions this season and if at his best form, could easily turn the game
on it’s head. Conor O’Shea was very quick to point men ‘won’ the large part of
the game (70 minutes) 16-3 after shipping those two early tries and that should
have sharpened Quins’ minds plenty ahead of this week.
Leciester pride themselves upon their pack but against
London Irish they gave away plenty of penalties at the beginning of the second half to pull the score back towards
16-12 before the hosts pulled away once again, while they’ve been second best
in all divisions against Quins on the last two meetings between the sides. If
they can stop Nick Evans and Danny Care then they can win the game – the two
defeats at the Stoop for Quins have come as a result of low kicking percentages
from 50% and 57% from Evans himself – but he’s operated without fuss nearly all
season and it might be that Leicester find him too hot to handle once again. Of
Leicester’s 4 failures to win, 3 have come on the road, those being at Saracens,
Wasps, and Gloucester; Quins can consider themselves superior to all three, so
back a win by 1-12 points. As a cover, the Tigers-Quins double result at 8/1
has merit. Tigers have trailed at halftime in 6 of their last 8 matches, while
Quins have led at halftime in the last 5 matches between the pair.
Advice
2 pts Harlequins to win by 1-12 points (13/8 Skybet)
1 pt Quins/Leicester (8/1 general)
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