Harlequins head coach Jason Gilmore has urged his players to ‘aim up’ as they prepare to face off against Sale at the Stoop this weekend. Both sides will want to forget last weekend’s fixtures quickly and put those results right. Sale were thrashed 85-19 at home against Saracens, and are currently in seventh
“Struggled a bit in that second half”
Harlequins were beaten 48-15 by a strong Bath team, but Gilmore thought they played well. Speaking before the clash this weekend, he said “I thought first off, particularly the first 25 minutes, I thought we competed reasonably strong. Obviously, the got an intercept try early, fought back, put a score on, kicked the pen, had a try disallowed, which was disappointing. Probably gifted them a try off a scrum defensive set. So 21-8 at half-time, I felt we were probably in the game a little bit more than that.
“We were pretty confident at half-time that we wanted to come out in that first 10 minutes to start well. And, again, they got an early score and then we lost Jarr (Jarrod Evans). And, obviously, there was people out of position and that type of thing. Bath are a good football team, so yeah we struggled a bit in that second half.”
Champions Cup Qualification “priority”
Quins have five games left and their main objective now is qualification for the Champions Cup. Quins sit just outside that qualification in ninth so are looking to ‘aim up’ the table. Gilmore said “We’ve got a Champions Cup qualification that we’re in a battle with at the moment. That’s taking priority in terms of a goal for us to aim for. I still feel we’ve got some good performances in us. There’s some things that we want to go after, probably individually with some of the boys as well. We want to see who’s going to aim up in these big games.
“You know, in that second half against Bath, it was a classic, like we’re under the pump, we had boys everywhere. Who’s actually going to aim up? You look at someone like Lucas Friday, who’s 19 and he’s on the wing up against English Internationals on the wing and he never shirked once. What I’m looking for is men that put pride in that shirt each week for the minutes, no matter what.”
Sale “big set-piece team physicality”
Looking ahead to the game at the weekend, Quins faced Sale a couple of weeks ago in the Investec Champions Cup, where Sale beat them 26-17. With Sale being in those Champions Cup qualification places, they are the next target for Quins.
Gilmore said “We only played them a fortnight ago as well. Both teams will know what’s coming. They’ll both have probably similar game plans, I’d imagine. It’d be interesting if they bounce back like that. They’re obviously not going to be happy with the weekend, just like us. But we know that they’ll come out roaring in that first half. So, we’ve just got to make sure that our mindset’s right, our energy’s right and we’re ready to rip in.
“I think they will double down on time. I can’t see them changing away from what Sale traditionally are. Big set-piece team physicality. They’ll come hard at breakdown. I think they’ll just double down even more so and just get back to their DNA.”
Injuries an issue
Gilmore was asked whether injuries have had a big bearing on where Quins sit in the table. He had this to say “I think if you look at the teams that keep their top 30 players fit are the ones that are at the top of the league. It’s no coincidence that your leicesters and your Baths, the last couple of years, barring one or two injuries, they’ve kept their squads healthy.
“And if you look at the teams that have had injuries, like you look at Northampton last year, that had a heck of a run of injury in the PREM, and they dropped from first down to the bottom of the ladder pretty quick, but they’ve bounced back this year. To wim leagues, you need your best players on the field. That’s why you pay them. They take up your salary cap. So you can absorb a few of them because it’s a contact sport. But if you get a crazy amount of injuries, it’s difficult in a tight league to be able to win games each week.”
