Harlequins confirm 44-man senior squad after signing two more players
Following today’s signings of loosehead prop Marc Thomas and scrum-half Jack Stafford, Harlequins have confirmed the 44-man senior squad set to compete for the remainder of the current season, backed up by the club’s 14-player Senior Academy.
The squad includes a number of high-quality players arriving at the club over the last few months and the impending arrival of South African trio Wilco Louw, Andre Esterhuizen and Tyrone Green, who are set to provide a mid-campaign boost.
With nine rounds of the regular Gallagher Premiership season and the Premiership Cup final now on the horizon, new Lineout Coach Jerry Flannery has also joined the squad at the Club’s Guildford training base, with the Irishman set to work alongside Scrum Coach Adam Jones. Meanwhile, Nick Evans and Sean Long will continue to work with the backs and further developing the Club’s attacking game.
Fourteen Harlequins Academy players return to full training ahead of rugby’s return under the steer of Academy Manager Chim Gale. Gary Street (Harlequins Academy Coach Development Manager and DPP Coordinator), Jim Evans (Academy Coach and former player) and Charlie Mulchrone (Academy Coach and former player) also continue their roles as rugby returns, with Club legend Jordan Turner-Hall set to take up his new Academy Coach role next month.
Commenting ahead of rugby’s return at The Stoop against Sale Sharks, Harlequins Head of Rugby Paul Gustard said: “I think when we look at our squad we can see some real strength and quality in talent from one to fifteen. We’ve worked hard over the last couple of seasons in giving the Club some real attacking threat within our playing group. The purpose of rugby is to score one point more than the opposition and the Quins DNA is to play attacking rugby.
“We’re delighted to see some of the additions we’ve welcomed into the Club recently, and more so than that we’re delighted to see the return of four or five big players, including Mike Brown, 72 caps for England and a huge figure for the Club, Joe Marchant, Ben Tapuai, Nathan Earle and of course Chris Ashton, who signed just before the lockdown but is yet to play a game for the Club. It will be a full backline available for selection, which is very exciting.
“In terms of the forwards we targeted improving our set-piece, we’ve gone for some real scrummaging prowess with Wilco Louw and Craig Trenier.
“We feel really confident in the group of men we’ve got. We have a group of players who want to achieve and want to move forward.
“Our roles as coaching and support staff is to provide a training environment and opportunity for the players to maximise their potential and abilities, both individually and collectively.”
We’ve revamped how we do our training – partly due to COVID-19 and partly due to feedback, and I think the players have really responded well to the variation and stimulation that we’ve given them, and we can’t wait to start the season again.
“We feel we are building nicely, the energy in the group is good and we are in a good place to get going.”
HARLEQUINS SQUAD
Forwards
Alex Dombrandt
Archie White
Chris Robshaw
Craig Trenier
Dino Lamb
Elia Elia
Glen Young
Jack Clifford
James Chisholm
Joe Gray
Joe Marler
Jordan Els
Maks van Dyk
Marc Thomas
Matt Symons
Santiago Garcia Botta
Scott Baldwin
Simon Kerrod
Stephen Lewies
Tevita Cavubati
Tom Lawday
Wilco Louw
Will Collier
Will Evans
Backs:
Aaron Morris
Andre Esterhuizen
Ben Tapuai
Brett Herron
Caden Murley
Chris Ashton
Danny Care
Jack Stafford
James Lang
Joe Marchant
Luke Northmore
Marcus Smith
Martin Landajo
Michele Campagnaro
Mike Brown
Nathan Earle
Paul Lasike
Ross Chisholm
Scott Steele
Tyrone Green
Senior academy:
Fin Baxter
George Hammond
George Head
Hugh Tizard
Jack Kenningham
Jack Musk
Kieron Sassone
Lennox Anyanwu
Louis Lynagh
Mak Wilson
Matas Jurevicius
Oscar Beard
Sam Riley
Will Trenholm
Comments on RugbyPass
We had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
60 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
60 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
60 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
60 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
60 Go to comments