Two Boks get first starts as Quins aim to give Chris Robshaw win in final game at The Stoop
Harlequins will be bidding to give their former England captain Chris Robshaw a winning send-off at The Stoop against Wasps on Monday. Robshaw, who skippered England in 43 of his 66 international appearances, announced in February that he would be ending his 16-year spell with Harlequins at the end of the Gallagher Premiership season.
The 34-year-old has since signed a two-year deal with the USA’s Major League Rugby side San Diego Legion.
Quins lost out to Sale in the Premiership Rugby Cup final this week and face Wasps in their final home league game before closing the season at Leicester next Sunday.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t do it for him on Monday,” Robshaw’s back-row team-mate James Chisholm told Quins’ official website. “It would have been a nice way to leave the club.
“He’s been a massive part of this club and part of my career. He’s been great to have around as a mentor for me, he’s a fantastic leader.
“We’ll hopefully give him a send off he deserves back at The Stoop. It’s a shame the fans aren’t there to wish him well.
“But he’s the kind of guy who’ll just get on with it and do his bit and I’m looking forward to sending him off, hopefully on a positive note.”
While Quins can finish no higher than sixth in the table, Wasps are bidding for a top-four finish to extend their season.
Lee Blackett’s side have had a two-week break after winning six of their seven Premiership games since the season resumed in the middle of last month.
“It’s never been more vital the way everyone’s winning at the moment so this Quins game, there’s no point going beyond that,” said Blackett, whose side will move up to second behind leaders Exeter with a bonus-point win.
“It’s two monster games and let’s take each game, game-by game.
“Obviously we’re really pleased that we’re in this position definitely, but now we’ve got ourselves here then we’re going to have to again, do what we’ve been doing, what we’ve been doing beforehand, focus on each game and take each game as it comes.”
HARLEQUINS:
1. Santiago Garcia Botta (22)
2. Scott Baldwin (18)
3. Wilco Louw (2)
4. Dino Lamb (32)
5. Glen Young (18)
6. Chris Robshaw (298) – Captain
7. Will Evans (19)
8. James Chisholm (96)
9. Scott Steele (6)
10. Marcus Smith (85)
11. Aaron Morris (51)
12. Andre Esterhuizen (4)
13. Joe Marchant (91)
14. Chris Ashton (5)
15. Mike Brown (333)
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Elia Elia (53)
17. Jordan Els (0)
18 .Simon Kerrod (26)
19. Tevita Cavubati (19)
20. Alex Dombrandt (50)
21. Danny Care (281)
22. Brett Herron (14)
23. James Lang (66)
Unavailable for selection:
Tyrone Green
Unavailable due to injury:
Stephan Lewies, Craig Trenier, Joe Marler, Joe Gray, Michele Campagnaro, Cadan Murley, Paul Lasike, Matt Symons, Will Collier
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments