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Harlequins at 'pointy end' of 16-week search for a Paul Gustard replacement
By Liam Heagney
Harlequins general manager Billy Millard has revealed that a "very thorough, enjoyable" process to find a replacement for Paul Gustard is finally nearing completion with the London club's shortlist down to "one or two" 16 weeks after the exit of their head of rugby.
While Gustard will soon re-emerge as defence coach at Benetton in the restyled Guinness PRO16, Harlequins have taken four months to reach a stage where they soon hope to announce the identity of a new head of rugby. Harlequins are currently in the closing stages of chasing down what they hope will be a second-ever Premiership title win and they expect to be able to reveal the name of their new man before next month's playoffs.
Asked about the current state of play with recruitment, Millard said: "It's not a DoR, it's a head coach and yeah, it has been a very thorough, enjoyable process. As you know we have taken our time and we're at the pointy end now. Definitely, within a couple of weeks, we are hoping we will have the announcement but we are just at the back-end of it now.
"We're expecting a new body in the building from outside the building... we're at the pointy end where (we are down to) one or two. We are just at that pointy end. We are nearly there."
Harlequins have enjoyed a rich vein of form since Gustard departed last January, winning nine of their twelve Premiership games ahead of this Saturday's trip to Challenge Cup finalists Leicester. Millard admitted the vacancy created by their director's snap exit attracted much interest and he is confident the imminent announcement of their new head coach won't distract from their title challenge when it is made public.
"It [the vacancy] was very popular. I'm not sure of the ballpark figure (that applied) but it was a lot. It was more about us trying to find the right fit for what we need the next two to five years and the way we are sort of going at the moment, someone to come in and complement the environment rather than shake it up too much too quickly. That appeals to people. Like, we are going well, it's a club with so much going for it on and off-field so yeah, there was no shortage of interest.
"The person we get will be brilliant. Internally, externally, it will be understood and embraced. Our comms team and Laurie (Dalrymple, CEO) will have a chat about that [an announcement date]. All the players know it's happening. There is no shadows or anything. It will be a really positive thing and the timing of that will be up to the comms department."
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Latest Comments
The England backs can't be that dumb, he has been playing on and off for the last couple of years. If they are too slow to keep up with him that's another matter.
He was the only thing stopping England from getting their arses handed to them in the Aussie game. If you can't fit a player with that skill set into an England team then they are stuffed.
Go to commentsSteve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
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