Chandler Cunningham-South the man to spearhead Quins' new attitude

Harlequins may have left the Salford Community Stadium on Sunday as losers in their opening match of the Gallagher Premiership season against Sale Sharks, but there were many positives for head coach Danny Wilson to take.

George Ford was able to kick Sale to a narrow 12-11 win in a match that could have gone either way, but there were plenty of signs that Quins’ work in pre-season was bearing fruit.

A 12-11 scoreline is not particularly Quinsesque. The southwest London outfit are known for their attacking rugby and ability to accumulate plenty of points. The other side of that coin is that they have been open to leaking plenty of points in the process.

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Keeping Sale tryless at their home ground is a sign that new defence coach Jason Gilmore’s pre-season work is paying off. The conditions were not exactly conducive to playing expansive rugby, but Alex Sanderson’s side ventured into Quins’ 22 on plenty of occasions but were unable to cross the whitewash.

That performance came after a pre-season where there was a strong emphasis on defence, according to Wilson, who asserted this week that the standard has been set by his side as to how they want to defend this season.

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Gallagher Premiership

Harlequins

28 - 14

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Newcastle

All Stats and Data

“Last week we had no tries against us,” he said.

“That standard has been set now that we don’t want to concede tries.

“We held London Scottish to nil at home, we kept Treviso to a relatively low score, probably conceding a little bit too much in the Montpellier game in pre-season, so our aim will be more like Sale and the latter stages of our pre-season where we held sides out.”

Gainline dominance is paramount for the 2021 Gallagher Premiership champions this season and the return of Chandler Cunningham-South to the starting line-up on Saturday against Newcastle Falcons at the Stoop on Saturday will certainly help with that.

The 21-year-old has already started to establish himself as an uncompromising No 6 in the Test arena, and returns to the club scene this week after starting both Tests against the All Blacks in July.

The 120kg loose forward will wear the No 8 jersey in captain Alex Dombrandt’s absence and can spearhead this new attitude Quins have to their defence, as they look to earn their first win of the season at the Stoop.

“More importantly, it’s the physicality we want to bring to our defence,” said Wilson. “What I saw at the weekend, if you look at the first few minutes of that game, we were really physical defensively, some big hits.

“Gainline dominance is really important in this game, if we can provide that with our defence as well as being well-organised, well-structured, we give ourselves a chance to ignite our very exciting attack.”

While admitting there was a greater emphasis on defence during the off-season, a working week now for the Quins squad is much more balanced, as, after all, they do not want to lose their trademark attacking edge.

Wilson assured that the club will not lose their identity, stressing that they are still a side that want to play an “entertaining brand of rugby”.

Chandler Cunningham-South is a force of nature 🌪️#NZLvENG pic.twitter.com/gE9hKJEjmw

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) July 8, 2024

“We have an identity and style of rugby that we want to play to,” he added. “Last week, early on you saw us attempt to play a bit of rugby in those conditions but it became evident that it was going to be very greasy and difficult to play that way so we had to try and adapt a little bit and play slightly differently, which I think we got ourselves into a position from doing so.

“Where we can, we want to play to our identity. We want to play fast, we’re a club that plays an entertaining brand of rugby. There’s plenty in the Premiership that do that as well I think. It has to be done in a controlled tactical element to beat the opposition we’re playing against. I’m sure we’ll see some good running rugby.”