‘Hollywood’ Quirke plays starring role
ENGLAND scrumhalf Raffi Quirke and his evolving brand of ‘Hollywood brilliance’ helped Sale fend off a Harlequins fightback to stay in the hunt for a play-off place.
The 22-year-old has endured two years of injury turmoil, but he has already proved himself as a matchwinner at Test level and did the same for his club yesterday.
Having led 25-10 just after halftime in a win-or-bust game, Sale saw their lead reduced to a point when Quirke burst off the bench and made his mark.
In 2021, he was in the right place at the right time to score a matchwinning try against South Africa at Twickenham and this time, he was well-placed to capitalise on a telling intervention by fellow replacement Tom O’Flaherty.
After Oscar Beard’s try for Quins had made it 25-24, wing O’Flaherty charged down Andre Esterhuizen’s clearance and Quirke chased through to touch down, before being mobbed.
He continued to make his presence felt on his 50th appearance for Sale, as he faced the man he will seek to replace long-term in the England squad, Quins veteran Danny Care. It was despite box kicks flying short and long in the wind — Quirke reclaiming one himself and seeing O’Flaherty seize another, in the build-up to Arron Reed’s try 16 minutes from time, which proved decisive.
After seeing his side hold on to win and climb to sixth in the table, Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson said: ‘This season, he’s probably not forcing things.
‘He wants to be an all-round, complete scrum-half and not just about the Hollywood brilliance. He’s on better form mentally than I’ve seen since I’ve been here.’
Sale had surged to a 15-point lead in as many minutes at the start of this disjointed contest, with tries by captain Ben Curry and Sam Dugdale.
Those influential flankers had a key role in this crucial win, not least in the way they stopped the visitors’ rampaging England blindside Chandler Cunningham-South from blasting over the gainline, as he did at will in Bordeaux eight days earlier. ‘He was Shark bait this week,’ said Sanderson. ‘ We saw the momentum he gave them last week.’
This being Quins, they did not know when they were beaten and came back strongly in the second half, with enough backs-to-thewall conviction to claim two precious bonus points and consolidate fifth place.
‘We’ve been saying all season that it is going to come down to bonus points, so to get two of them away from home is great,’ said head coach Danny Wilson. ‘But the frustration is that we scored 31 points away from home and still lost.’
Next Sunday, Sale will be on Tyneside to take on bottom-side Newcastle Falcons.
Asked about his side’s play- off prospects, Sanderson added: ‘We’ve got to win all our games. If we keep racking up five points, we will be all right.’