Top-to-bottom Quins issues ‘not a quick fix’ – Care

Harlequins legend Danny Care has said his old club needs “looking at from top to bottom” and they must get their next coaching appointment right.

The Twickenham-based club have won just two Prem games this season since a pre-season coaching shake-up as director of rugby Billy Millard and head coach Danny Wilson left and were replaced by senior coach Jason Gilmore.

Wilson departed to join the coaching set-up for the Wales national team with just two weeks to go until the start of the Prem campaign.

Since Conor O’Shea’s exit in 2016, John Kingston, Paul Gustard, Tabai Matson, Millard, Wilson and Gilmore have all led the team.

Former scrum-half Care, who spent his entire club career at Harlequins and retired last year, has said there is no quick fix for the club after years of coaching changes.

“There’s been so many changes at the top of the coaching seats that then everything changes from that, and there hasn’t been a clear alignment all the way through, which I think the club are very aware of,” Care told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast.

“What they have to do [with] this next appointment, which we’ve kind of said for a long time as players there who care about the club, they have to get this next one right.”

Quins sit eighth in the Prem table with 10 points from nine matches and are without a win in the league since beating bottom club Newcastle Red Bulls on 25 October.

Since then, they have conceded at least 40 points in three consecutive defeats, adding to their 38-0 loss at Exeter Chiefs earlier in October.

Gilmore’s side have fared better in the European Champions Cup, qualifying for a home tie in the last 16 and being drawn against Sale Sharks.

Care, who earned 101 England Test caps and made 395 appearances for Quins, still believes top coaches would be interested in taking over at Twickenham Stoop.

“I think very good coaches are sending CVs over. I’ve not idea which way Quins are going to go with it,” he said.

“I think the whole things needs looking at from top to bottom.”

Care also believes Harlequins need to get back to promoting strong talent from the academy into the first team, referencing the success of Northampton Saints and London rivals Saracens, and ensuring the pathway is in place to help them develop.

“You build your team round them and you bring in a bit of sparkle dust every now and then when it’s needed from elsewhere,” he said.

“I think the foundations of every Premiership club has to be through their academy, has to be through their roots. You’ve got to have people in there who love the club and have supported the club.

“The whole ethos has to run all the way through the squad, from top to bottom, from owners, to CEO, to board – all the way down throughout the coaches. I don’t think it’s a quick fix.”

Harlequins CEO Laurie Dalrymple said despite all the changes in the coaching department, he had been “100% confident in the quality of the staff and the players we have”, but those at the club had expected performances to be better.

In an interview with BBC Radio London, Dalrymple defended the club for not being better prepared for Wilson’s exit in September, when he had worked with them in the summer.

“I think a lot of people are obviously saying ‘well, how did you not know?’ and look, there was every potential that that could happen but you don’t know it’s going to happen until it happens,” Dalrymple said.

“And the union that we were potentially going to be talking to wasn’t making any contact with it.”

Dalrymple added “we’re making a lot of decisions and we’re doing a lot of work around what does that long-term structure look like for the club”.

Harlequins host Leicester Tigers at The Stoop on Saturday.