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How 'one of the most penalised props' is now so dominant for Quins
Scrum coach Adam Jones has hailed the transformation this season at Harlequins by their 30-year-old tighthead Will Collier. The prop has been with the London club since 2009 and was capped twice by Eddie Jones’ England on their 2017 tour to Argentina. However, it is only now with more than 200 appearance on the clock for Quins that he has taken his play onto another level to leave Jones puzzled why he hasn’t been recalled at Test level.
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Springboks front-rower Wilco Louw was the first-choice tighthead last term when Harlequins stormed to Gallagher Premiership glory, but that success has spurred Collier on and he has now taken taken the shirt from the South African – starting in 13 of his 17 league appearances and wearing the No3 jersey in three European outings, something he will do again this Saturday when Montpellier visit The Stoop.
It was February 1 when the Collier flourish was rewarded by “a new long-term deal” at Harlequins and scrum coach Jones, the former Lions and Wales tighthead, was effusive in his appraisal of the player when asked at this week’s club media briefing to describe the transformation that has taken place in the last year.
“With Will, I knew of him when I first came to the club,” explained Jones, who initially joined Harlequins as a player in 2015 and was a teammate of Collier before transitioning into a coaching role. “It was an attraction coming to the club to work with him and the others. With him, this last season has been a standout season for him.
“He is maturing, he is believing in himself more which sometimes can be a massive part. He has gone from a couple of seasons ago probably being one of the most penalised props in the league to I don’t think he has given a penalty away all year and he has won us God knows how many. What he has done is brilliant.
“It has probably been a big challenge for him. We know how Wilco Louw went last year and Will has stepped up to the challenge and more to show he is the most dominant tighthead in the Premiership, certainly scrum-wise. His face doesn’t really fit with England at the moment, which is a funny one for me because he has been so good. He has probably matured a lot. He has always been a good player but what he has done is he has now got a lot of confidence.
“He is backing himself from the strides he made at the end of last term when he was coming off the bench and destroying people to like now where he is doing it for the first sort of 50 minutes. It’s the most competitive I have seen him, which is massive thing him wanting to play every week, wanting to be the starter, keeping ahead of Wilco and he is doing a great job.
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“It’s all down to me – I don’t want to blow too much smoke up his arse, it’s all down to me,” quipped Jones with his tongue planted firmly in cheek. “No, he changed a few bits (in his technique) but without going to far into it, he is just backing himself really and believing he is as good as I certainly know he is and I know he can get even better as well. He has been excellent this year.”
The improvement of Collier has occurred in tandem with the increasing potency of the scrum that Jones has nurtured at Harlequins. Some rugby fans and commentators are fed up with this particular set-piece, branding it a time-wasting eyesore, but the assistant coach is adamant that the scrum is still a treasured part of the sport and is an invaluable weapon for most trophy-winning teams.
“It’s still a massive part of the game and as much as some people don’t like it and I am sure some people want to get rid of it, it is a source of penalties and points for us. We have won the most scrum penalties in the Premiership, we’re certainly in the top two, and we have got best ball winning scrum in the Premiership.
“The fact that you have your Marcus (Smith), your (Joe) Marchant, Danny Care, we have got that double edge sword and we want to use them because they are so good attacking. It’s like the old French saying – no scrum, no win. You look at the teams over the years who have ever done anything and have won stuff, they have always had a good scrum.
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“A few Australians teams in the past didn’t have a great scrum, but you (generally) have to have a great scrum. We work hard on it, we work pretty smart on it. It’s not like the olden days where you do a million scrums on a Tuesday and you have a big scrap. We don’t do that.
“We have got good personnel, we have got boys like Collier, who has been brilliant for us, Joe Marler, these guys, and Jack Walker has been brilliant. He came from Bath, hadn’t played much there, but he fitted in seamlessly. And then Simon Kerrod, who is a tighthead. He had a game at loosehead and was so dominant against Worcester, got four or five penalties at the scrum and we have kept him there.
“What we do say when we train is it is incredibly competitive, we try to train it as hard for matchday and the knock-on effect has been pretty good in games for us. Coming into this business end of the season you need it. As I said you don’t win much without a good scrum.”
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments