'It's starting to heat up': Harlequins give director of rugby search update seven weeks after Paul Gustard's exit
Harlequins general manager Billy Millard has delivered an update on the Gallagher Premiership club’s search for a new director of rugby seven weeks after Paul Gustard surprisingly exited The Stoop and was quickly snapped up by Benetton, the Italian Guinness PRO14 outfit.
Appointed in 2018 in succession to John Kingston, Gustard parted ways with Harlequins on January 20 and Millard, who is currently set to oversee Quins through to the end of the season, suggested eight days later there was scope for Gustard’s yet-to-be-identified successor to perhaps come on board before the 2020/21 campaign reaches its conclusion.
“I have been involved in other environments where people become available and maybe with five games to go they come in respectfully and get a lay of the land so they are not coming in cold pre-season,” he said on January 28.
Six weeks later, Millard has now provided an update as to where exactly Harlequins are in this search for their new man. “The process has started and there are some conversations going on,” he said when asked by RugbyPass at the club’s weekly media conference what the current state of play post-Gustard is.
“Some of that I’m involved in, some I’m not. That is being worked through as we speak and is starting I guess to heat up in the next three weeks. It’s important that we take our time and we make the right decision.”
"It wasn't, 'We have to go and find someone because this is pear-shaped'. Not at all"
– Story of how an ex-solicitor has wound up running the rule over Harlequins incredibly starts with Billy Millard taking his daughters to their playground#GallagherPremhttps://t.co/zve4SR7GJW
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 28, 2021
Millard revealed in January that Owen Eastwood, a performance culture expert, had been working at the club over the winter, conducting a warts-and-all review of Harlequins. It was said at the time this review was more than half done but it still hasn’t been completed. “It’s still ongoing,” said Millard, adding that the review would tie in with the search for Gustard’s successor. “Those discussions are a part of the work we were doing with Owen.”
The outlook at Harlequins is currently much sunnier than it was when Gustard departed. Five of the six Premiership matches played since the exit of their director of rugby have been won, lifting Quins into third place on the table ahead of this Saturday’s trip to second place Exeter, the defending champions.
Millard claims he isn’t in the least bit surprised by the club’s improved fortunes, stating that he had every faith the coaching staff who had worked under Gustard would step up and show their worth. “They are all very experienced rugby eyes and they have been working together for a long time. Good relationships with the players, so no it wasn’t a surprise.
“Everyone has just stepped into power and done their jobs really well, from medical staff to S&C, the coaching group. There was a disruption but they have been so impressive, their work ethic, their smarts, their composure, and to be honest the playing group as well.
“We put a bit more ownership on them, that they naturally have to step up and help the coaches, and it has been impressive to sit back and watch everyone work together from six weeks ago. There is no magic secret, everyone is just doing their job really well and working well together.”
"I'm glad he is with is. I'm glad he isn't with England at the moment"
– Some disappointed Test fans want Marcus Smith playing for England but Harlequins are happy their workaholic is currently firing up the Premiership #PremRugby #SixNationshttps://t.co/ZHOvTl77ob
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 4, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
2 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments