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Paul Gustard has left Harlequins with immediate effect

(Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images)

Paul Gustard has been ousted with immediate effect at struggling Harlequins, the club releasing an early Wednesday afternoon statement bringing to an end the ex-England assistant coach’s stint at The Stoop where he succeeded John Kingston in 2018. 

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Harlequins are currently sixth in the Gallagher Premiership and their last outing under Gustard saw them throw away a handsome lead at home to London Irish in the sort of disappointing performance that had become a regular feature under the coach. 

The Harlequins statement read: “Harlequins confirms that head of rugby Paul Gustard will leave the club. Having reached this decision it has been mutually agreed between Paul and the club that he will leave with immediate effect to enable him to pursue other opportunities.

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“Paul, who joined the club in the summer of 2018, has overseen a major transformation of the playing squad and departs with Harlequins competing for the second consecutive year in the Heineken Champions Cup. Having narrowly missed out on qualification for the playoffs of the Gallagher Premiership in his first season, Harlequins has continued to develop over the last two years. 

“The club finished sixth in the interrupted 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership campaign and it reached the Premiership Cup final, narrowly losing to Sale Sharks in the Covid-19 delayed match. The club thanks Paul for his tireless energy and commitment over the last two-and-a-half years. His passion and drive to succeed have been evident throughout his time at the club. Everyone at Harlequins wishes Paul and his family all the very best for the future.

“For the remainder of the current season, Billy Millard, general manager of rugby, will oversee the existing experienced coaching team of Jerry Flannery, Nick Evans and Adam Jones. Billy has overseen the management of the coaching team and all of our rugby operations since joining Harlequins in 2018.

“He is hugely experienced having coached the Australian 7s team for four years, been a head coach and director of rugby for Sydney University, head coach for Melbourne Rebels, attack and backs Coach at Cardiff Blues and Connacht, and backs coach with the USA. The club will determine the optimum future structure for its coaching team and will confirm any further changes and appointments in due course.”

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J
JW 18 minutes 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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