Harlequins – an old grey dog

View from the Birtles: Sale 21 Harlequins 31 [AP15s]

Posted on 26/02/2023 by an old grey dog

Despite the score, I see continued signs of improvement in the Sale Sharks women’s team. Sale were definitely the better team in the first half and it was only later on, into the second half, that Quins’ greater experience started to show as they took the game away from Sale with some well-worked tries.

Even so, Sale never gave up and their third try with the last play of the game was no consolation prize but a genuine reward for hard work and never giving up.

They deserve the opportunity to continue their progress into next season.

match reports

View from the south stand: Sale 40 Quins 19 [PRC]

Posted on 21/11/202221/11/2022 by an old grey dog

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that someone, somewhere in the bowels of Premiership Rugby, has an inkling of what is happening regarding the league tables and qualification for the semi-finals. I’m pretty sure that nobody else has the faintest clue.

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match reports

View from the south stand: Sale 13 Harlequins 29 [GP]

Posted on 26/10/2022 by an old grey dog

See? I told you. I told you. What did I say last week? “It’s really hard to shake off the feeling that the bubble is going to burst any second, that we’re going to come up against a team that we just can’t handle and that’ll be it, back to scrapping just outside the top four again.”

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match reports

View from the armchair: Harlequins 14 Sale Sharks 36 [GP]

Posted on 08/02/2022 by an old grey dog

Commentator: “Esterhuizen is immense in the centres – a real wrecking ball”.

Manu: “Hi, my name’s Manu. Have we met?”

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match reports

View from the south stand: Sale Sharks 28 Harlequins 22

Posted on 17/10/202117/10/2021 by an old grey dog

There comes a point as a supporter (usually when the cold has consigned your toes to a distant memory) when you find yourself wondering why on earth you actually pay good money for this. But there are also those times (often in the same game) when you say this is why I pay good money to be here.

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match reports

View from the south stand: Sale 45 Harlequins 12

Posted on 07/06/202107/06/2021 by an old grey dog

I call them ‘meringue games’: a big win, looks good, but somewhat unsatisfying. When the opposition isn’t up for it, or has essentially surrendered before the start, it takes the gloss off of what should be a celebration.

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match reports

View from the armchair: Harlequins 24 Sale 12

Posted on 22/02/2021 by an old grey dog

OK, it looks like losing is an option. Two defeats and we’re out of the top four for the first time this season. Will it, ultimately, be worth the experiment?

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match reports

View from the armchair: Sale 27 Harlequins 19

Posted on 22/09/202023/09/2020 by an old grey dog

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the final of any competition in any sport is rarely a showcase for the finer aspects of that sport. Or, to put it another way, finals are usually crap.

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match reports

View from the armchair: Harlequins 16 Sale Sharks 10

Posted on 16/08/2020 by an old grey dog

Getting too excited about something carries its own danger: the thing may not live up to the hype, and the feeling of deflation is even more pronounced than than would otherwise be the case. It wasn’t actually Sale losing that got me down, although I felt this was probably their best chance to do one on Quins at The Stoop in ages. No, what left me feeling flatter than a week-old pint was the sheer, turgid dreadfulness of the whole thing.

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