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
NZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
22 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
22 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
22 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
22 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
22 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
22 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to comments