Speak to anyone who holds Harlequins close to their heart and a word that often comes up is “fragility”. Fragile in defence against Gloucester last weekend but mentally fragile too. The scars of recent seasons are deep and the problems entrenched.
A club that is famed for its swagger has, in short, lost its mojo and the more you pull back the curtain, the longer it appears it will take to return. It would be oh so very typical of Harlequins to swashbuckle their way past Sale Sharks on Sunday but in many ways, that feels like part of the problem. During pre-season Harlequins set themselves the target of following in the footsteps of Exeter, who finished ninth two seasons ago before reaching the final last June.
As Marcus Smith pointed out, it was not so long ago that Quins were seventh in January with only two wins and champions five months later. But in the eyes of supporters, these former glories, these roadmaps out of their current malaise are doing little but masking the extent of the problems, offering but false hope. One former player drew a comparison with Tottenham this week.
A club with an identity cemented in derring-do who have bottomed out of late. A club that’s spent big in an attempt to solve the problems – on George Furbank in Harlequins’ case – after years of wayward recruitment but largely overlooked areas that most needed strengthening. There’s a sense that they will turn the corner but a sense too that they are just waiting for it to happen.
A club with an eye on commercial exploits – for Spurs’ shiny stadium, see Harlequins’ Big Game pursuits. Even the comments this week by Harlequins’ head coach, Jason Gilmore, that he expected a difficult start to the campaign echoed those by Thomas Frank last season that, “I promise you one thing … we will lose football matches”, which incensed Tottenham supporters. Put it all together and the round-ball comparison rings true.
Gilmore, in fairness, finds himself in a difficult position. It is not his fault that after Danny Wilson’s abrupt exit, Harlequins promised “an exhaustive global coaching search” and then alighted on an in-house appointment. Gilmore is a popular figure with the squad but he has little previous head coaching experience.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
