There has been a whole lot of Twitter love for Toby Booth joining Harlequins

Harlequins have taken a step towards curtailing their disappointing start to the season by appointing Toby Booth as Paul Gustard’s new assistant coach. 

After leaving Bath at the end of last season after seven years in the coaching team, Booth is to fill the void left by former forwards coach Alex Codling, who parted ways with Quins after only two Gallagher Premiership games this season. 

It is not so much the success that Booth has had with Bath, and before that as head coach of London Irish, which has made him so popular among his peers, but his style of management. 

Fellow coaches, journalists and fans all recognise that it is the relationship that Booth builds with his players that makes him the coach he is and why Harlequins have made an astute addition. 

With only one win from their opening four Gallagher Premiership games, and after losing heavily to Clermont in the opening round of the Champions Cup last weekend, Quins’ season has not started as well as many would have liked. 

A busy summer spending spree saw the club recruit a number of players, but those promising signs have not come to fruition on the pitch yet, although the season is still young. 

Gustard also added England rugby league great Sean Long to his coaching staff this summer to help alongside attacking coach and club legend Nick Evans. The former St Helens stand-off is new to the world of union coaching, and Evans is still quite fresh, but the rugby intellect they showed throughout their playing careers bodes well for their partnership in southwest London. 

With former Wales and British and Irish Lions prop Adam Jones working as Harlequins scrum coach, Booth is joining one of the most star-studded coaching teams in the Premiership. 

The blend of seasoned experience at the top of the domestic game married with some unique and fresh ideas means Quins could turn their fortunes around rapidly. 

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