Coming out of the league’s rest week, Quins sat comfortable in fourth place. After just five rounds however, there were already obvious groups forming in the league.

Haslemere seem to be runaway leaders but behind them there was a cluster of teams vying for the second promotion spot. Going into the game against Southwark, just six points separated our opponents in second place and Cranleigh in fifth.

A home win would elevate Quins towards the top of that chasing pack so as the final whistle was blown on a chastening defeat, the inevitable questions were asked; most pertinently, “What went wrong?”.

The scoreline suggests that Lancers were a much better team than Quins but certainly on the pitch, the feeling was that we at least had parity if not an advantage. This was one of those games where it would be great to see TNT Sport-style match stats because it felt as if Quins were on top of possession and certainly territory for much of the game.

Certainly, Quins had the Southwark scrum on roller skates for most of the game. Plus, the penalty count was pretty low with very few players committing our habitual offences – offside and high tackles.

But where we did let ourselves down was concentration. Despite having some dominance, we’d leave a dogleg in a defensive line, miss a tackle or not react as quickly as our opponents – most egregiously after a penalty given for a late tackle.

Perhaps, a lack of selection consistency may have played a part.

Much as I have extolled this group’s team spirit, in just six games Povey has already been forced to select around 40 players. Six games have also seen six different back three combinations, six different centre partnerships, six different second row pairings, five back rows and four front rows.

Aside from Archie and (usually) George in the halfbacks, every week players are having to adapt to a new teammate. That’s great for squad depth which can only help for the rest of the season but just once it would be to have the same guys in the same positions for a couple of games.

Our next game (before another rest week) again brings top 3 opposition as we travel to Old Glynonians. Tighten up a couple of our mental lapses and a win is very possible.

Finally, a word for Thomas. Having experienced a gentler form of life in front row against London French, following a couple of late drop outs, he stuck his hand up to properly pop his cherry. Over 80 minutes at tighthead, he made sure the Lancers 1 had a horrible afternoon and was part of a truly dominant pack.

Welcome to the Front Row Union, Tommy