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'About Christmas time I sent out a survey to about 20 people at the club'

By PA
Harlequins v Castres Olympique – Heineken Champions Cup – Pool B – Twickenham Stoop

Tabai Matson says Harlequins have plenty of motivation to go deep in the Heineken Champions Cup this season and revealed his fascination at results of a survey he sent to members of the squad in December.

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Four consecutive victories have put the Gallagher Premiership winners in with a strong chance of securing a top-four finish domestically but they turn their attention to a different target for the next fortnight.

Harlequins have traditionally struggled in Europe’s elite competition, failing to make the knockout stages in nine years before this season and never going beyond the quarter-finals.

Matson, who joined as head coach last summer, will take his side to Top14 leaders Montpellier on Sunday for the first of a two-legged tie to decide who reaches the last eight with the London outfit aiming to get to that stage for only the fifth time.

“The Premiership win last year has changed the expectations of the squad, they feel they can be more consistent and can challenge at a higher level,” he said.

“Going through to the quarter-finals of Europe was definitely something they wanted to do, so it is an interesting one.

“About Christmas time I sent out a survey to about 20 people at the club, all different players. I asked, ‘Would you rather win back-to-back Premiership titles or win in Europe, you can only choose one?’ and it was really fascinating the difference in individual opinions around that in showing our different desires.

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“One of the key things around leading a team is what does everybody want to do, not what do I want to do. It was really interesting and I was surprised by the variation and what I thought all of the club would want to do.”

While Matson would not divulge the results, there appears little chance of Harlequins resting players at all across this round of 16 tie even with April lined up to be a gruelling month.

After taking on Montpellier, described as a team who “kicks the hell out of the ball”, twice, the English champions face current leaders Leicester and play-off chasing Northampton in consecutive weeks before the calendar rolls into May.

Matson added: “Europe is special isn’t it and one for the club because we haven’t been here very often.

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“To be playing Montpellier, the current best team in France is a fantastic challenge and to be away from home in the first leg is going to be really interesting.

“We spoke about it last week how we would shut the door on the Premiership for now and really focus on Europe so it is here and we’re off to play one of the best teams in Europe.”

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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