Premiership: Harlequins just want to prove the doubters wrong

Lawrence Nolan

Energetic number eight Alex Dombrandt insists it is the drive to prove the doubters wrong that is keeping Harlequins’ tilt at the Premiership title on course.

Quins sealed their Premiership semi-final place with a 28-24 win over Gloucester on Sunday, leaving the latter to scrap it out with Northampton for the final spot and a trip to Leicester.

Comeback Kings

They bounced back from 24-7 down at the break, once again showing their powers both of resilience and of breathtaking skill. Only those with the shortest memories will have forgotten their comeback wins in both last season’s semi-final and final.

Harlequins will almost certainly travel to face a resurgent Saracens side in the semi-finals this time, keen to prove a few people wrong themselves after the misery of the past couple of years, but on the artificial turf which might suit their expansive game, Quins will quietly fancy themselves to pull off another extraordinary semi-final win.

“There is a massive desire to do it (win title again),” Quins and England back-row forward Dombrandt said.

“A lot of people said we couldn’t last year, and even though we proved we could, I still think there are a lot of people that don’t think we can do it again. They feel that we are lucky to be in the top four again. That spurs us on.

“We’ve been in that situation probably a few more times than we would like, having to come from behind.

“But we have got the experience of that, and we were pretty calm in the changing room at half-time.

“There were clear messages, and we managed to implement it in the second-half to claw it back.

“We know we can do it. We know what we are capable of doing. It is about going back to the drawing board, keep looking to improve and giving it our best shot.”

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