The Sunday Times December 19, 2021 17Last week a brave Cardiff side were
undone by the individual genius of
the Toulouse scrum half Antoine
Dupont. At the Stoop it was the
English fly half, Marcus Smith, whose
innate abilities kept Harlequins in
touch in the wake of some superb
early sequences of play from Cardiff.
The visitors played with the
freedom of a team nobody expected
to beat the English champions. As it
was against Toulouse a week ago, so
too in south west London. Harlequins
were slow off their mark as Cardiff
created two quick tries, combining
powerful forward surges and quick
hands to create space for 18-year-old
full back Cameron Winnett to score.
Makeshift goalkicker Tomos Williams
made it 0-7 inside five minutes.
Despite Josh Adams being in the
sin bin for a reckless tackle on Tyrone
Green, James Botham scored a 16th-
minute pick and drive effort that was
a reward for the intelligent kicking of
fly half Dan Fish, who himself was
producing moments of magic.
Fortunately for the home fans, there
was an intervention from Smith in
between Cardiff ’s two tries. His
delayed inside pass to Jack
Kenningham found the gap for Danny
Care to score the first Harlequin try.
Smith’s acceleration, change of
pace and running line from his own
22 in the 18th minute served to
remind all of his coruscating
qualities. While he ran red hot,
Smith’s brain stayed cool as he linked
up with his giant sidekick, Alex
Dombrandt. The No 8 drew the
defence before passing back to
Smith, who scooted over: 14-12
became 17-12 as the England fly half
converted a penalty.
But Cardiff came back well, with
the soft hands of Seb Davies sending
Theo Cabango hurtling inside the
covering Cadan Murley for a fullydeserved try that made it 17-17 at half
time. It was deserved by Cardiff,
short of players but given an edge by
the return of Ray Lee-Lo.
Seb Davies, playing with a
basketball player’s touch, caused
immediate problems in the second
half but Harlequins’ defence
withstood Cardiff ’s ambition.
The home side were being
stretched from one side of the field to
the other. Adams was inches from
touching down as Dombrandt and
Smith combined to hold him up. For
once it was Harlequins looking to
slow down the game as they were
forced to defend.
Whereas Cardiff ’s second-half
pressure amounted to nothing,
Dombrandt converted Harlequins’
first second-half field position into a
try, turning tryscorer from try saver
with a thunderous close-range
charge. A few minutes later Smith
chipped to the corner for Joe
Marchant to grab their bonus point
try. The fly half converted from the
touchline. The No 8 and No 10 made a
world of difference.
In the 68th minute Harlequins
took advantage of Cardiff ’s stretched
playing resources. A rookie bench
were smashed aside for a close-range
lineout drive. Who else but
Dombrandt to touch down? In just
ten minutes Harlequins scored 19
unanswered points to end the game
as a contest.
A late André Esterhuizen try took
the home side into the 40s. Quins
had their bonus point, Cardiff their
pride and — in a weekend pummelled
by the pandemic — the fans had a fine
game for which we can all be grateful.Star Man Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins).
Scorers: Harlequins: Tries: Care (9min), Smith
(19), Dombrandt 2 (57, 68), Marchant (62),
Esterhuizen (77). Cons: Smith 5. Pen: Smith (28).
Cardiff: Tries: Winnett (4), Botham (16), Cabango
(33). Con: T Williams.
Harlequins T Green; J Marchant, H Jones
(L Northmore 49), A Esterhuizen, C Murley
(L Lynagh 61); M Smith, D Care (L Gjaltema 66);
S Garcia Botta (W Hobson 71), J Walker (J Musk 41),
S Kerrod (M Wilson 74), H Tizard, S Lewies
(M Symons 49), T Lawday (V Taulani 61),
J Kenningham, A Dombrandt.
Cardiff Rugby C Winnett (R Wilkins 64); J Adams
(sin-bin 10-20), R Lee-Lo, W Halaholo (L Evans 71),
T Cabango; D Fish, T Williams (E Lloyd 76);
R Jenkins (N Evans 64), E Yardley (A Rees 52),
W Davies-King (G James 68), A Lawrence
(R Anstey 69), S Davies, E Jenkins (A Mann 50),
J Botham, S Moore (E Jenkins 66).Smith quality proves
too much for Cardiff
Smith scored one try and set up several others in an impressive displayRUGBY UNION
HARLEQUINS
43CARDIFF RUGBY
17Stuart BarnesANDY WATTS
he says, ‘Yeah, but you didn’t hit a
bullseye.’”
Rory attempts the odd throw so he
can show off his Michael van Gerwen
impersonation but tells his mum he is
not old enough to play regularly.
She has had kidney problems,
which have been stabilised, but
“they’ve said if I want any kids in the
future, I’ve got to plan it. I can’t just
randomly go out and get pregnant.”
There are compelling arguments
for and against the notion that darts is
a sport.
“I don’t really know if it’s a sport,”
she says. “I think it is. You’re moving,
you are actually using your legs and
arms, you’re not playing dominoes.
You can’t get an adrenaline rush play-
ing dominoes. Darts makes me
healthy, the amount of walking I do to
and from the oche.”
On the other hand, there is some-
thing rather old-fashioned at how lit-
tle coaching there is and Sherrock has
had none whatsoever.
“I taught myself,” she says. “I prac-
tise with people and that means they
are helping you with match play, the
pressure, the tension.”
No one has ever analysed the way
she stands or how she throws. “I used
to throw completely different and
stand completely different,” she says,
“and over time I got lazy and thought I
just can’t be arsed, so that’s how I’ve
ended up how I am now.”
In other words, the stance and style
of Sherrock you will see tonight when
she faces the veteran Beaton is simply
born out of comfort.
“I won’t analyse how he’s playing
or anything like that,” she says.
“Going into a game I expect them to go
in guns blazing so that’s what I pre-
pare myself for. I won’t be startled
when he hits a nine-darter because I’ll
be expecting it. I’ll expect to be hit
with the kitchen sink and smashed out
the park. Anything less I can deal
with.”
The atmosphere will be electric but
surely disconcerting?
“I don’t think you can prepare for
that,” she says. “You’ve just got to
keep focused, the more focused you
are the less you are going to hear. I’ve
taught myself to be mentally strong. If
I am up for a 180 then I want the crowd
to jump up and that’s probably why I
hit so many of them up on the stage; I
like to make the crowd go. I feel like a
puppetmaster, I can make people go
mental.”
Those present support Sherrock
Sherrock with her
twin sister Felicia,
right. Below, her
partner Menziesbut on social media there has been
sniping and trolling.
“At the darts it’s a joyful night,” she
says. “I don’t read the messages, I’ve
cut everything out. I’m fed up of read-
ing it.”
Has she been accused of letting
down the women’s game by compet-
ing with the men? “I am 100 per cent
sure someone thinks that, but the
majority are really happy because I
am pushing the game forward. Our
money isn’t great at the moment.
Sometimes in the local leagues I’ve
entered the men’s and women’s com-
petitions and they say you’ve got to
pick one or the other and I say I’ll pick
the men then. I don’t care if the men
say they will play against the women
in that case.
“I don’t think it makes a difference
if you’ve got weight on you. I don’t
even think it matters how strong you
are. It’s a matter of how accurate you
are. I physically can’t change myself,
going over 9st will never happen. I will
always be the odd one out — even in
the women’s game, they are all bigger
than me. I used to feel awkward walk-
ing into a venue because they were all
just bigger. Eventually it got to the
point where I didn’t care but you had
people looking at you thinking,
‘What’s she doing here?’”
Sherrock is in scintillating form and
at the recent Grand Slam of Darts
became the first woman to reach the
quarter-final, only to be narrowly
beaten by Peter Wright, among the
favourites to triumph at the Worlds.
“The only time I feel really sorry for
them [male opponents] is when the
crowd is against them and I can see
them folding but I’ve got to do the job,
I can’t feel sorry for them and dip my
game. I say sorry afterwards.”
Fame leads to requests. She had to
turn down Pointless Celebrities this
month in order to hunker down and
prepare for Ally Pally. Timing is the
only reason she would ever reject I’m
a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and if
she was invited on to Mastermind she
would pick Mean Girls as her specialist
subject and “smash it”.
She wears her trademark glasses
for driving, darts and to watch TV.
Maths was her best subject at school
because her parents were counting all
the time in the background.
“They couldn’t have wished for
anything better for me,” she says,
“because they have always wanted
something like this, and they are liv-
ing it through me.”Afternoon session
(from 12.30pm): Maik
Kuivenhoven (Neth) v
Ky Smith (Aus) (R1); Jason
Heaver (Eng) v Gordon
Mathers (Aus) (R1); Alan
Soutar (Scot) v Diogo Portela
(Br) (R1); Stephen Bunting
(Eng) v Ross Smith (Eng) (R2).
Evening session
(from 7pm): Martijn
Kleermaker (Neth) v John
Michael (Gr) (R1); Florian
Hempel (Ger) v Martin
Schindler (Ger) (R1); Steve
Beaton (Eng) v Fallon
Sherrock (Eng) (R1); Jonny
Clayton (Wales) v Keane
Barry (Ire) (R2).TODAY
AT THE
DARTS
2
Victories by
women at
PDC World
Championship
— both by
Sherrock at
the 2020
tournament