Stoop to conquer

Miles Harrison says a team with title hopes, like Gloucester, needs to beat Quins on the road.

The Six Nations takes a break this weekend which means that the best place to catch your live rugby union action is on Sky Sports. We've got plenty of live Super 14 action for you and, as usual, a healthy helping of Guinness Premiership fare too. On Saturday afternoon Harlequins host Gloucester at The Stoop and Miles Harrison will be calling the shots. Here on skysports.com he previews all of the big games and he feels this weekend's match will be a good indication of both sides' credentials to make a challenge for this year's title. Just when we wondered whether Quins were going to drop out of the title race, they win back-to-back against Worcester and Saracens. Last week you said if they won at Saracens they would have to be considered as top four challengers. Having amassed 24 points at home this season and with a win on the road now at Sarries, can we call them genuine title contenders? MILES: We certainly will be if they beat Gloucester this weekend. 'Title contenders' is a bit strong but top four contenders? Yes, their points total suggests that they are. It was very dependent on that win last week and that win will do them the power of good. Whether they will make the top four is still up in the air - there are still big question marks - but if they win this weekend over Gloucester then you can start to say that they are a serious top four contenders again. Considering the run since the end of October, in which they had beaten only Worcester twice in 14 games before Saracens last week, that victory last weekend was very important for Quins. And it wasn't just the win but the manner of the win and that will have been so pleasing for Dean Richards and his coaching team. They are obviously making an effort to change the style and send the players out there to play some very attractive running rugby. In the first-half against Saracens they gave that coaching approach a ringing endorsement; the players lived up to what the coaches want to do. So it might be the style of the victory that will please Quins more than the points. Do you think the return of Adrian Jarvis to the fly-half position has had any bearing on Quins' change of fortunes? MILES: Not just Jarvis but his combination with Danny Care at half-back has been absolutely vital. Danny Care was made man of the match last week and rightly so, he was excellent. He is clearly a player to watch and will get better and better and has a great future in front of him. Jarvis is a little bit older and it seems, from the stands, that at times he doesn't have the total conviction and confidence of Care but what he does have is the desire to play. With every passing week he will get that confidence and conviction but he already wants to bring the best out of his back line and I think that is terrific. If these two can gel as a partnership and we see Jarvis grow and realise that the game that he wants to play is the game the team wants to play and that it will be an attractive, winning game, then that augurs well for him and Quins. I think the combination of Care and Jarvis at half back has been central to what Quins have been achieving in recent matches. Gloucester have picked up a point in every game going all the way back to December 2006 in the Premiership. That's some record isn't and a good indication of what Gloucester are trying to build? MILES: It shows they are a very difficult team to beat and if