British and Irish Lions star to return as Harlequins boss reflects on ‘whirlwind’ new role
British and Irish Lions star to return as Quins boss reflects on 'whirlwind' new role
After a challenging opening couple of weekends in the Prem for Harlequins, changes are on the horizon for the West-London club.
First of all, their talismanic fly-half Marcus Smith is set to return to the match-day squad for the first time this season, after being forced into a compulsory rest period following his British and Irish Lions adventure in Australia. Also, following the exit of head coach Danny Wilson at the start of the season, defensive guru Jason Gilmore recently stepped up to the role of senior coach and is now starting to find his feet.
Speaking to Planet Rugby’s Jack Tunney on Wednesday, Gilmore admitted: “The first week or two was a whirlwind. Obviously, a lot more meetings and getting my head around things off the field in that role, but just setting my own rhythm for my week. I feel a lot more settled this week, but there are still things that will pop up.
“It’ll probably take a month just to get the flow of my weeks right, while still maintaining the defence.
“First and foremost, I’ve got to make sure that the defence is the best as I can get it, and then the extra responsibility of obviously leading the program. Coming out of the last three weeks, my head was spinning a little bit if I’m honest, but I certainly feel a lot more settled.”
The Quins way
Needing to adapt from his previous role, Gilmore now has added responsibility around the club, so we wanted to find out if he’s spotted anything that needs changing within the club.
“Not anything that needed changing straight away,” he said: “I didn’t want to come in and change the world, because it didn’t need to be changed. But one thing I’ve probably got my eye on is just changing the mindset of the playing squad to be able to express themselves on the field, and particularly with the ball.
“I feel we won some really good games last year with grit and determination, but our boys get really excited by being aggressive with our attack. Now that’s not saying to be loose with it either, there’s definitely a balance there if we can unlock that mindset a little bit, as Harlequins is known for that.
“I think our boys feel most confident and most aggressive when those reins are just let loose a little bit for them.”
But the question is, how does Gilmore get his players to do this? Well, it all starts in training, according to the Quins boss. He wants to allow his squad to make mistakes and try again, rather than “dropping their heads”. Freedom of expression, and being able to own that expression, is key to performing those actions in a match.
The return of Marcus Smith
Speaking to the rest of the press, Gilmore confirmed that Smith will be returning to the Quins line-up this weekend.
“He’s a key driver,” said the boss. “When you think Harlequins, you think Marcus Smith, and when Quins are at their best, Smith is in the middle of it.
“We’ve got to be careful not to put everything onto Smithy’s shoulders, particularly in his first week back. He hasn’t played in a while, so it’ll probably take him two or three weeks just to get his own rhythm and get his combination with the boys back again.
“We’ll just let Smithy be himself, but the other boys have to play their role to help him as well.”
For Quins, he’s been the main man for about five seasons now, but internationally, he’s had a tough time of it. For sure, his exploits in an England and a Lions shirt have been nothing short of extraordinary, achieving multiple man of the matches and game-winning moments, but his inclusion has been mixed.
Just when he appears to have secured the number 10 shirt for England, he’s moved on for George Ford or Fin Smith, and has spent much of his recent time in white at full-back or as bench cover to provide that extra bit of spark at the end of the match. The constant change cannot be good for his confidence, so Gilmore and co. have elected to stick him where he knows best, at fly-half.
“He gets bounced position a little bit at 10 and 15, and we even reflected on that at Quins, where we could put Jarrod to 10 and Marcus to 15, whether that was the best option. But we decided at the end of last year, Smith is our 10, we don’t want to be bouncing him. We want to support him as best we can, so he can play well for the club, but also put his best foot forward for England.”
Finally, Gilmore made the interesting comparison between Smith and the Wallabies legend, Quade Cooper.
“I’ve probably coached two boys who are very similar. Quade Cooper, I coached at the Reds,” he said.
“Some people call them Mavericks, but they’ve just got that genuine point of difference. They see the game quicker than others. They’ve got a great skill set, but they’ve also got such a good running game as well. Smithy’s speed across 10 metres is just as quick as our outside backs. So I think in comparing them, I think there are a lot of comparisons between Quade and Marcus.”
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