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Harlequins post emotional goodbye to their beloved prop Mark Lambert
By Josh Raisey
Retiring Harlequins prop Mark Lambert has been showered in praise from his former teammates.
The 35-year-old announced he will be bringing his 17-year professional career to an end on Wednesday, and will not be returning when the Gallagher Premiership resumes in August.
That means his 251st and final appearance for Quins was a 28-15 loss to Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate in March before the season was suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He is a player that may not have received the fanfare on the Test stage that some of his Quins teammates have, or indeed his fellow loosehead Joe Marler has, but typifies what it means to be a one-club man. That has been echoed by many who have played with him throughout his career at the Stoop.
Only Mike Brown, Chris Robshaw, Danny Care and Nick Easter have made more appearances in the league for Quins than the prop, and all five were part of the club’s greatest days in the modern era, chiefly the Premiership final win in 2012 against Leicester Tigers.
Brown labelled his former teammate a “Harlequins legend” while Care said he “has been the heart and soul of the club since the day I joined”.
Former Australia and Harlequins captain James Horwill also said he was a “one club man who is the heartbeat of the club”.
Having represented England at under-19 and under-21 level, Lambert’s career was not necessarily plain sailing, as he suffered a number of troublesome injuries early on in his career, while Harlequins were relegated in his first season as a professional.
Since 2017, Lambert has served as the chairman of the Rugby Players Association, and has been at the centre of attention in recent weeks regarding the potential player strike over the pay-cuts during the pandemic. He plans on continuing to serve as chairman in retirement.
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Latest Comments
No he's just limited in what he can do. Like Scott Robertson. And Eddie Jones.
Sometimes it doesn't work out so you have to go looking for another national coach who supports his country and believes in what he is doing. Like NZ replacing Ian Foster. And South Africa bringing Erasmus back in to over see Neinbar.
This is the real world. Not the fantasy oh you don't need passion for your country for international rugby. Ask a kiwi, or a south african or a frenchman.
Go to commentsDont complain too much or start jumping to conclusions.
Here in NZ commentators have been blabbing that our bottom pathway competition the NPC (provincial teams only like Taranaki, Wellington etc)is not fit for purpose ie supplying players to Super rugby level then they started blabbing that our Super Rugby comp (combined provincial unions making up, Crusaders, Hurricanes, etc) wasn't good enough without the South African teams and for the style SA and the northern powers play at test level.
Here is what I reckon, Our comps are good enough for how WE want to play rugby not how Ireland, SA, England etc play. Our comps are high tempo, more rucks, mauls, running plays, kicks in play, returns, in a game than most YES alot of repetition but that builds attacking skillsets and mindsets. I don't want to see world teams all play the same they all have their own identity and style as do England (we were scared with all this kind of talk when they came here) World powerhouse for a reason, losses this year have been by the tiniest of margins and could have gone either way in alot of games. Built around forward power and blitz defence they have got a great attack Wingers are chosen for their Xfactor now not can they chase up and unders all day. Stick to your guns its not far off
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