1
Harlequins could be facing £2.5 million bill - reports
Harlequins are facing a massive bill should they decide to offload a number of coaches after a troubled Aviva Premiership season.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Daily Mail are reporting that the west London club are potentially facing a £2.5 million bill in payouts.
Top of that bill is John Kingston, Director of Rugby, who will be leaving the club at the end of the 2017/18 season by mutual agreement. He is reported to be owed a £750,000 severance deal after his time came to an end just months after his contract with the club as Director of Rugby was extended.
Kingston will complete a 17-year association with Quins at the end of this season and the club has set up a panel to identify the man they want to take over, with New Zealander Scott Robertson of the Crusaders, said to be the prime candidate.
However, it is Kingston’s assistants that could cause the bulk of the payouts, if the incoming the Director of Rugby wants to bring with him his own coaching ticket.
Along with Kingston, Chief Executive, David Ellis extended contracts for Head Coach Mark Mapletoft and Forwards Coach Graham Rowntree, amomg others.
ADVERTISEMENT
Earlier in the month the club released a list of 25 players that are committed to the west London outfit for next season, including five new signings.
They have also listed 12 player departures, which includes 10 players who are leaving the club and two who are retiring.
Continue reading below…
Speaking to RugbyPass earlier this month, secondrow James Horwill put the record straight on Kingston’s impending exit, saying: “JK had not lost the dressing room.
“He is a top bloke who cares deeply about the club and anyone who has spent 17 years at the place has a deep passion for Quins and it is unfortunate what has happened. We need to make sure that we work to fix the issues. We need to be better as a playing group and we need to take ownership of that and JK has not lost the dressing room. I am really sorry it has ended the way it has for him.
ADVERTISEMENT
“As players we need to put our hands up and take responsibility and we had a team meeting to discuss everything as a squad. We have a month of the season left with three Premiership games and the A league side with a semi-final. We haven’t performed and we have an opportunity in this Gloucester game to put in a performance we can be proud of and finish the season on the right note.”
Regardless of Kingston’s standing at the club, severance payouts could take a substantial bite out of their budget for 2018/19 season, and the club’s potential to lure big-name players.
Comments on RugbyPass
While Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
126 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
126 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
126 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
126 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to comments