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Harlequins 'privileged' to be first Premiership club to welcome back fans
By PA
Paul Gustard has told his Harlequins players to embrace the “privilege and responsibility” of hosting the first Gallagher Premiership match in front of fans since the coronavirus lockdown. Harlequins will have 3,500 supporters at The Stoop for Saturday’s league clash with Bath as part of the government’s pilot scheme to return fans to sporting contests across the UK.
Head of rugby Gustard admitted Harlequins must appreciate their fortune in pressing the Premiership’s collective aims to return fans to club matches quickly and safely following a rugby restart in England where The Stoop has also played host to London Irish's games as they await the move to their new stadium.
“It’s a privilege and responsibility to be the first club to have crowds back in the stands,” said Gustard, reflecting on a season restart that has seen Harlequins win their first two home games against Sale and Northampton with no fans allowed in behind closed doors at The Stoop.
“We have to understand that and it’s very exciting for us at the same time. It’s reflective of the progressive nature of the club, and a testament to the work of our staff behind the scenes.”
Rugby officials in England hope the pilot event at Harlequins will pass off safely and accelerate plans to have nearby Twickenham partially re-opened to fans for next month's Premiership final and the glut of scheduled England games.
Former England captain Chris Robshaw will lead a Quins side against Bath that shows three changes from Sunday’s bonus-point win over Northampton. Glen Young replaces Stephan Lewies at lock, Brett Herron replaces Marcus Smith at fly-half and Ben Tapuai slots in for Paul Lasike at centre.
Elliott Stooke and Charlie Ewels will pair up at lock for Bath, with boss Stuart Hooper having made five changes for the Quins trip. Miles Reid returns after long-term knee trouble, with Cameron Redpath, Semesa Rokoduguni and Ruaridh McConnochie all slotting into the backline.
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Latest Comments
GB is England, Scotland, Wales. They are the 3 constituent countries in Great Britain. Ergo playing only those three countries is a tour of GB. The difference between GB and the UK is Northern Ireland. It's not a huge deal to be accurate and call places by their correct name. But please refrain from your idiotic attempts to BS that GB=UK. It doesn't.
Go to commentsThe 2023 draw was only criticized when it became apparent that the top 5 sides in the world were on the same side of the draw. Nowhere did they discuss the decision to backtrack to 2019 rankings which ensured that England and Wales (ranked #12 in 2023) were ranked top4.
The parties who trashed out the schedule were England Rugby, NZ Rugby and ITV. It is bordering on corrupt that a Rugby nation has the power to schedule its opponents to play a major match the week before facing them in a QF.
You won't find commentary by members of the relevant committees because a committee did not make the scheduling decision. I have never heard members of World Rugby speak out on the draw or scheduling issues.
For example in 2015 Japan were hammered by Scotland 4 days after beating SA. The criticism only happens after a cock up.
A fair pool schedule is pretty straightforward: The lowest two tanked teams must play on last pool day but not against each other. That means that TV can focus on promoting big matches with a Tier2 involved for that Friday.
Why does NZ Always get its preferred slot playing the hardest pool match on day 1?
Why do other teams eg France, Ireland, Scotland get so often scheduled to play a hard match the week before the QFs?
If you believe the rules around scheduling are transparent then please point me in the right direction?
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