The London side have lost four straight games in the Gallagher PREM, and find themselves 23 points off the play-off places at the halfway stage in the league.
Chris Robshaw has urged Harlequins fans to stick with the team despite the club’s recent struggles, insisting that the players are hurting just as much as the fans.
The London side have lost four straight games in the Gallagher PREM, and find themselves 23 points off the play-off places at the halfway stage in the league.
They now turn their attentions to the Investec Champions Cup, and a clash with the Stormers, who are unbeaten in all competitions this season. The match will be shown live on Premier Sports 1 from 5pm this Sunday.
A club statement following last weekend’s 66-21 defeat to Northampton Saints admitted that recent results are “not considered acceptable by anyone within the club”, with coach Jason Gilmore warning that big decisions will be made over player contracts as the team tries to get out of this losing run.
But Robshaw defended the players, who he believes are just as disappointed as the fans about the downturn in form.
“It’s tough, whenever you see a team in that situation, it’s horrible,” said Robshaw, who will be part of the Premier Sports punditry team providing live coverage of 15 Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup matches this weekend.
“As a player, you know how the players are feeling and no one hurts or feels as bad and as guilty as the players. No one will be trying harder to try to rectify things,”
For Robshaw, the key now is to work out whether the right coaching staff is in place at the club, likening the situation to that of Arsenal when Mikel Arteta took over and struggled initially.
The Spaniard took over the Gunners in 2019 and endured a tough time early on before establishing them as title contenders in more recent seasons.
Robshaw added: “You see it with an Arteta, who struggled in his first season or two but was backed and supported, so now look at how Arsenal are doing.
“I think often we need to support and stick and grow. So the Prem is over, but we can use this opportunity in the Champions Cup to try to achieve something.
“With Harlequins, there is a DNA and whoever comes in does buy into that, but they put their own blueprint onto it. I think for them, recently, whoever the person has been in charge, has not been able to implement it.
“So do you stick and support or do you try and change everything? That’s why the guys at the top are paid the big bucks to make those decisions. There has to be a buy-in from the players.”
One former player who has been mooted as a contender to help Harlequins back to the top is ex-No.8 Nick Easter, who played alongside Robshaw before going onto coach him as the club’s defence coach.
Easter has since spent time with Newcastle, the USA Eagles and at the Sharks in South Africa, while he is currently in charge of Chinnor, who have been exceeding expectations in the Champ, most recently becoming the first team to beat the reformed Worcester Warriors at Sixways.
And while not going as far as endorsing his former colleague for the role, Robshaw has been impressed with how Easter has gone.
He added: “Nick was one of the smartest rugby players out there. Not just from his ability to understand forward play, but rugby.
“People always compared him to Dean Richards, those types of characters, probably not the strongest in the gym but natural strength on the rugby pitch, his ability to read the game.
“With coaching, I think you’ve got to earn your stripes a bit and he’s done his time, he’s been away with the USA Eagles, he’s been in South Africa, he was at Harlequins and he’s now doing this at Chinnor. It takes some time to develop but I think he’s doing really well.
“He’s putting the time in and working and last time I saw him, he said he was really enjoying it.”
Chris Robshaw is part TV team at Premier Sports – the home of Investec Champions Cup across the UK and Ireland with every match live including 21 EPCR Challenge Cup games and all the knock-out stages and finals. Tune into Premier Sports 1 from 12.45pm on Sunday for coverage of Harlequins’ Champions Cup clash with DHL Stormers live from The Stoop in Twickenham. Big Games. Bigger Moments – visit www. premiersports.com to join in from just £11.99 a month @ PremSports.tv