‘We’re Harlequins – we want to use the football’

Harlequins grabbed a first win of the campaign under new senior coach Jason Gilmore with a slightly untypical reliance of kicking from hand – but he says we should not expect this to become the new style of play.

Quins scored only two tries in defeating London rivals Saracens 20-14 in an often scrappy encounter at the Stoop on Sunday and the game featured more up-and-unders and aerial challenges than we are used to seeing from a team that prides itself on ball-handling.

But if it proved very effective on this occasion, with a returning Marcus Smith at the helm and orchestrating those plays, Gilmore does not think a major shift in the way the team plays is about to take hold.

“He’s a British Lion. That’s his job in our team – to give us that game management and put us in good field positions,” Quins’ Aussie coach said of fly-half Smith.

“We’ve struggled the last two weeks. We’ve led the last two games well against two good opponents but probably been pinned in our back 50 too much in the second half which has cost us. But today, I thought Smith and Ports [scrum-half Will porter] put us in good field positions to accumulate points.

“Unconventional [being unpredictable] doesn’t mean throwing the ball from your tryline. Some games it might mean that, but other games it might be that we play a strong set piece and use our feet in terms of a kicking game. Was it Quins? I’m not sure, but it was certainly a different way to win a game of football.

“I don’t think it [the high ball kicking] will be something that you’ll see in our game. We’re Harlequins. We want to use the football, and I’ve put it to the boys that we want to be scoring four tries in a game, because that’s our DNA.”

Gilmore added: “Last year, we were way too up and down. The consistency of our team wasn’t good enough to win trophies or even compete for trophies. We know our good is good but when we drop, our bad last year was bad.

“For us, it’s telling to have a healthy squad. You saw the difference in the back end of the game. When you have actually got good quality players coming on. We didn’t have that in the first two weeks, but when you’ve got internationals coming off the bench, it makes a difference. “

Meanwhile, Will Porter praised the returning Smith for the impetus he brought back to Quins following his absence.

“It’s obviously massive,” he said. “ Both from a leadership point of view, an experience point of view and game management point of view. Everyone knows what he’s capable of and it’s great to have him back around the park.

“It’s a great relationship we’ve got and it makes it very easy to play along with him. It’s a big deal to have him back.

“We can’t build our whole season on just beating Saracens, but I do think it’s a massive bit of momentum that we needed.

“We need to carry this into next week [at Exeter]. This is definitely a big step in the right direction for us.”