In the end, it’s the hope that kills you.

After a good (if costly win) against London French and the 2nd XV’s first outing in a while, Quins came into the second half of the Dalrymple Derby in a positive mood.

The away game had been a tight match but our feeling was that it was our discipline that had handed the result to OEs. Cut out the silly penalties, listen to the ref and we could (perhaps should) have left Raynes Park with the W.

Plus, we were welcoming more of our new Fijian contingent.

This was originally supposed to be a rest week but a previously frozen pitch meant that we were playing a re-scheduled match. Inevitably, various players had been tied into other plans but eight of the match day squad bringing South Pacific flair allowed Quins a degree of confidence.

The flipside is that a raft of new players also means new combinations. A lack of instinctive understanding. Not quite knowing how your teammate plays.

Nevertheless, after a nip and tuck first half, Quins were 10-5 up. A solid defence combined with bullocking runs across the park meant our noses were just in front. Of course there were areas to work on but the mood in the half time huddle was … hopeful.

And then the second half happened.

It would be overly simplistic to highlight one area that lost us this game but in hindsight, a little more experience in the pack would have made a world of difference.

Fair play to Chad and Mosese for stepping into the front row and perhaps even more so to Caleb who moved from wing to #4. They all performed to the absolute best of their abilities in positions that are technical and alien to them.

Perhaps with more experienced replacements for those roles, Quins may have been able to hold out and maintain their lead.

As it is, we can only congratulate OEs on doing the double … and look forward to another potential meeting in the Cup.

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The advantage of being slightly later with this match report is that we can now also see the impact of the following week’s games – or rather the lack of games.

Given it was a Six Nations week, it is perhaps unsurprising that there were some crazy results. The most pertinent for Quins however were the matches involving those teams in similar positions in Surrey 4.

With Old Freemens unable to field a team, we were awarded a walkover and 5 points. The away game had been a hard-fought, 1-point victory for Quins so this game could have gone either way.

OEs’ match against runaway league leaders Haslemere has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch whilst Cranleigh were on the wrong end of a shock defeat to the re-born London French.

Quins are therefore fighting Cranleigh for fourth spot (just one point behind) but have opened a little bit of separation back to OEs.

We go again with an away trip to second-placed Southwark on February 15th.