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Harlequins CEO apologises to fans over Saracens hiding
By Ian Cameron
Harlequins CEO Laurie Dalrymple issued a public apology to fans following the team's overwhelming 52-7 loss to Saracens at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The match - which saw Saracens dominate to secure London bragging rights - left Harlequins searching for answers after a display that saw them outplayed in nearly every facet of the game in front of 60,000 fans.
Saracens' performance was nothing short of spectacular, with the team clicking into gear from the outset. Tries from Alex Lewington, Theo Dan, and a double from Sean Maitland set the tone for the day, giving Saracens a commanding lead by half-time. The onslaught continued in the second half, despite a solitary response from Quins’ Alex Dombrandt, with Argentina's Lucio Cinti and Juan Martin Gonzalez adding to the tally before Alex Goode rounded off the scoring with an eighth try.
The victory was made even more special by the tribute paid to Owen Farrell on his 250th club appearance, a milestone that Saracens were keen to celebrate with a win. Their wish was granted emphatically, propelling them into second place in the standings, just behind leaders Northampton.
Reacting to the loss, Dalrymple took to X (formerly Twitter) to address the Harlequins faithful: "One very poor performance doesn’t define this group, that’s for certain. But the travelling fans deserved much more yesterday, and we expect more of ourselves. We’ll review honestly, and move on. The support, as always, is incredible. Well done @saracens. On and off the pitch."
Former England flyhalf Andy Goode wrote on Twitter: "No going out for the Harlequins boys tonight after taking 50! Saracens were class, Quins got bullied."
It's been a tough fixture for Harlequins of late, having lost their last eight games against their London rivals. With limited time to address their issues, they must prepare for another tough match, this time against title-chasers Bath, who visit The Stoop next Saturday.
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Latest Comments
What’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
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