Jason Gilmore press conference | Harlequins v Sale Sharks

Head Coach Jason Gilmore sat down with the media to cover a range of topics ahead of Saturday's Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 tie against Sale Sharks. 

The discussion included: 

• Prospect of new signing Sampie Swiegers
• All to play for in Europe 
• Fight on display against Bristol Bears
• Backing up performances
• Physical test versus Sale Sharks

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Tell us about this sign in. Very exciting prop forward, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 0:04

Yeah, he's a project for us. Good age profile. Probably moving into his peak years as a as a tight head. Probably starts the puzzle of us getting that tight five in terms of how we're wanting that to look across the next 12 months. So certainly getting him in and James Dunyan on that tight head side of our Ford pack is positive.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

He kind of burst upon the scene a couple of years ago, didn't he? And kind of was called up for the spring box where nobody'd really heard of him.

SPEAKER_04 0:39

Yeah, yeah. Potentially, but we know we've uh got some hard work and he knows he's got to put a lot of hard work in to get to where we want him to get to. But um look, we're we're really excited by getting him in, he's a big body, um, loves contact, loves the set piece, so uh um that bodes well for us.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Typical South African in many ways, and if he likes a lot of contact, um he's quite big.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Yeah, but is that what pushed you down towards signing a South African?

SPEAKER_04 1:14

Was the yeah, was the physicality and I I don't necessarily think it was a nationality point of view. Um you know, whether English or Georgian or French or Australian or whatever, they've just got to be good players that we want to come into our building. So probably helps being a tight head that he is South African, loves all those elements, no doubt. But um, like I said, we're we're excited to get him in the building.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

And he's gonna learn from some good players that you've got playing on both sides of your front row.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

Yeah, exactly. We're we've got um some experience there. We've got Adam Jones, um Matt Ferguson in the building is coaching as well, so we're really confident he'll receive uh quality coaching.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Uh can I just uh uh yeah, can I just ask you about your attack coach for next season? Because because you announced a lot of positions last year, but Nick Evans wasn't one of them. Are you expecting him to stay next season?

SPEAKER_04 2:12

Yeah, we're we're we're reviewing all positions at the moment. We obviously did the three last week, um, so that was kind of been our priority at the moment. So, you know, like like any year in any club, we'll we'll have a look across the program. Um, performance, medical, logistics, coaching. Um, so we'll we'll have a look at that across the next period of time.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Coming on to Europe, uh, you've got sale, haven't you, this weekend? So you've got a bit of a point to prove, I think, haven't you, after the game against them earlier in the season?

SPEAKER_04 2:45

Yeah, well, obviously very disappointed. We went into the half-time break leading that game, which we'd fought really hard for. Um pieces of our defence weren't good enough. Um, I think we turned over six line outs in the last 20 minutes where we just couldn't apply any pressure and and they squeezed us. So um look, this is a game we're looking forward to. We're back at home. Um knockout rugby that the boys get up for. So um, yeah, we're gonna keep our head down this week and work hard to produce a good performance.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Didn't you? Give it's always good to get one on the board.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Uh what have you taken from that that you're carrying on into this week?

SPEAKER_04 3:25

I I think it's just confidence with the boys that have been working really hard. We've had a good Prem Cup block. That's as I said, we've highlighted a few things that we're starting to see into our game now. So look, win, lose, or draw. Um, if we can keep improving as a rugby team each game in this block, then that's what we're chasing. If we can do that, then we know um, you know, we'll we've got some good results still left in us.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

Yeah, but it must be good to go into this on the back of a victory because as you said, you know it gives the boys a bit of a boost, it reminds them what winning is, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_04 3:56

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Uh what's it been about Europe this season? You've had some absolutely fantastic results, haven't you? You crushed Bayonne and the Stormers, you won in La Rochelle. What is it about Europe that's that you've that you've grabbed hold of this season?

SPEAKER_04 4:14

Oh, I I don't think it's necessarily this season. I I know coming in last year, you you noticed a different vibe in the in the boys as soon as Europe rolled around. It's a competition that they love playing in. Um you know, they've had some massive victories in the last period of time. Um, you know, two years ago the what the one in Bordeaux obviously sticks out, but I think in general, Neil the boys just love playing knockout rugby. Um so that this week will be no different. We've put ourselves into a good place with uh with a home playoff, so we've just got to uh take as um take advantage of that as well as what we can.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

It's unusual, isn't it, knockout rugby? Give it something to get excited about, your fans, players, everyone.

SPEAKER_04 4:52

Yeah, well it's jeopardy, isn't it? Like you're you're you're either in or out now at this stage of the league, so there's always good interest.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah, but does that jeopardy will that bring something out in your players, do you think?

SPEAKER_04 5:03

Uh I think it'll bring it out in all players, in all teams. Um, you know, there's no second chances anymore, so the boys are aware of what they're playing for. Um we feel we've put ourselves into a good position. Um, but uh look, Sale aren't gonna roll over. They're they're a really physical team. George Ford back at 10. Um we know what we're up against.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Yeah, we'll mate. I will let the others jump in.

SPEAKER_04 5:26

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Hi, Jason.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

Hey Algon, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Very good, how are you?

SPEAKER_04 5:31

Good.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Um how much this week, in terms of maybe tactics or just mentality, will you look back to that that Lara Shell game two months ago? Because it was a real statement performance against double European champions.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Yeah, I I think that's probably in that order. I thought our mindset in approaching that game was was excellent right from the first whistle. Um, I thought the execution of the game planned tactically by the boys was great. So probably what we're most proud of was we we got in and amongst it, rolled the sleeves up, but we also played well. Um, and it's going to be no different this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Even though there's a two-month gap in between the matches, and obviously plenty goes on in between those rounds. Are you able to harness the feeling of a competition, even though so much has gone on in between the games?

SPEAKER_04 6:13

Yeah, we we had a good chat yesterday just about framing the week and just remembering our journey to get to where we are at the moment because it has been a while since we've we've played in Europe. Um, you know, we've had some great results. Um Bayonne, I think, was a club record in terms of the score. Um, Storm was a good game at home. Um La Rochelle, probably no one really gave us a chance over there, and and the boys um probably tipped our pull on its head a little bit with that result. Um yeah, so we've got a lot to be proud of in it, um, but we feel we've still got some good football left in it as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Does the fact it's an English team rather than a French or an Irish team kind of tweak the mindset, or is it just based off the fact it is a different competition, it still does feel different?

SPEAKER_04 6:52

Yeah, probably a bit of both. Like you definitely have that European feel because as soon as it hits the weekend, all the games are going to be on, you know. So there's some some great clashes that we'll see. Um, definitely playing an English team is probably a little bit different, like you know, this time last year we're heading to Dublin to play Leinster. Um, so when you're in your own backyard, I think that's a positive for us with the crowd. Um, and it'll be interesting for sale because we've got them not so long after in the league as well, so it's almost a double hit out against them.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

At the moment, there's often a lot of talk about Europe, whether you know what sort of the best way to frame the competition is. And since that Lara Shell round, there have been reports that you know, Prem, rugby would be looking to maybe have their say in changing the format of the competition. I just wondered from your experience of the competition, if you had any thoughts on how it should look or how you'd like it to look.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

Yeah, look, I I've had a lot of chats with Nick Evans and Adam Jones about it because they obviously played in it as well, like the home and away format um back in the day seemed to really get the crowds involved. Um I think me being in it this only my second year, the only thing that I'd be conscious of is you probably don't want the travelling teams not to bring their best teams as well. That would be the only thing that's probably caught my eye a little bit. Um, I I get it, I understand it because obviously there's big games in each other's respective leagues that we've got to make sure that we're managing the squads for both. But look, I I think being Europe, it's meant to be the best competition in the world. We want to see the best players go at it in every game. So that that would be the only thing that I'd say in my experience, you know, can we get the best against the best every week?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

And lastly, for me for now, I just wonder what um how how Marcus Smith's doing and what sort of his stay just at the moment.

SPEAKER_04 8:32

Yeah, he's great. He uh obviously jumped straight back in the saddle against Gloucester, he's just had a week off, so um he came back in on Sunday. Um plenty of energy, he's ready to roll.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Great. Thanks, Jason.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Hi, um Jason, it's Martin Gillingham. You said it should be the best competition in the world. In your view, is it?

SPEAKER_04 8:54

I I think it is. Um, you know, obviously the provincial competitions, the top 14, you know, the the Prem are probably the ones that are leading the way at the moment um at that level. But Europe's the best of the best, isn't it? Um so it it's knock at rugby's a little bit different from the grind of of our competitions, um, but it's a special competition, it's got such great history about it. Um it'd be such a shame. Not that it's you know eroding away, I'm not saying that at all, but um, you know, around the world people will watch back in the day the old Heineken Cup or now the Champions Cup. So I I think it's a competition that we've got to protect.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

And do you also feel that that given um there are other clubs in the Prem who perhaps have other um priorities in terms of getting to the playoffs in the Prem, your position in the Prem with no relegation means that you can to a degree prioritize this competition? I mean, do you feel that this gives you an opportunity to not only have a good finished your season but also jump ahead of one or two English clubs who maybe uh are ahead of you in the league? I mean, does this mean that because of where you are in the Prem at the moment, it gives this competition that much more importance?

SPEAKER_04 10:17

Yeah, I definitely agree with that, Martin. Um you know, we've we've looked pretty closely at Northampton last year. Um, they were almost the same. They obviously dropped out of the league a little bit last year, um, but made a great run in Europe, um, which probably springboarded them into their pre-season into this year, and obviously they're back on top at the moment, which is great. So, you know, that's probably um a bit of a recipe for us. Um in terms of the league itself, like it's pretty obvious we're not happy where we are, but there's still you know six games left there that we want to make sure that we're climbing up the ladder as high as we can. We're not being silly with it. We we know where we can and can't finish, but that there's still plenty left to play for um with our club. So Europe is the big one. We're still shooting hard in that one, which we're going to go hard after, um, and we're still wanting to get um some good results in the Prem before we break.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Yeah, and and and given where you have been through the season, we've already identified one or two fantastic fruit results that you've had, but that win last weekend, which you had to work incredibly hard for. Um, I mean, how significant was that given the timing going into um a couple of potentially back-to-back weeks in Europe?

SPEAKER_04 11:29

Yeah, huge. And and I mentioned it last week in the media. You we're not gonna roll into sale this week and prepare Weller for coming off a bad loss last weekend. Um, so it was really important that um we can kind of accelerate into this week. We've got good feel yesterday and today in the building, which is great. Obviously, the boys are proud of that effort. Um, you know, it was a hell of a game by our boys. Um, you know, I look at Joe Jones six weeks ago, he's playing championship rugby. Um, you know, and with the injury toll that we've had, we've had to call in a few boys like that. So I was just really proud that the 23 players, it was a full, full 23 effort, but you know, they they really showed what the club means to them, which was excellent.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, and what else impressed you about it? Because let's face it, it was sort of teed up, you know, taking a game to the Principality, Bristol, you all know that they play some fantastic rugby. It was almost sort of set up for them to uh put on a display and put you away, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_04 12:22

Yeah, yeah. And you know, the roof was closed, so it was great conditions to play in, wasn't it? Um probably a couple of aspects that really impressed me. I thought um, I thought defensively we put in a great shift. Um I thought our scramble D really saved some important tries. Um, you know, line out mall time, we've probably struggled a little bit, particularly with personnel in the last month. But Bristol are, you know, probably the leading team in in mall this year at the moment. Um and for them to not get a mall try and not really dent us too hard through that area of the game. That they're kind of the areas for me that show the heart and the grit um that the boys have got. So, you know, we we iced a couple of nice moments in attack, but I was more proud of the fact that we ride our sleeves up in the tough areas of the game and and we, you know, we we've fought through the 80 minutes and dictated, which was good.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yeah, and very finely from me, um, given I'm uh desperately trying to figure out who's gonna be playing for you at the weekend, and I don't expect you to give away too many secrets. Um long unavailability list from last week. Are there any names you could pick out there who uh are in the mix to be playing this weekend?

SPEAKER_04 13:31

Uh all will be revealed Thursday or Friday Martin.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

That's uh that's a non-answer.

SPEAKER_04 13:40

Anyway, hey, I'll live with it.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Good luck.

SPEAKER_04 13:44

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 13:46

Hiya Jason, you're alright.

SPEAKER_04 13:48

Yeah, I'm well, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

So yeah, I'm good, thank you. Um just on the sort of recent resort against Bristol, why why do you think everything sort of clicked in that game? And I guess why hasn't it necessarily clicked for portions of the season of all while?

SPEAKER_04 14:05

Yeah, I I think um what it reflects is we've had a really good two months, like coming into the Six Nations period. We we've highlighted a couple of really key areas in our game that we want to improve or get back to what they were last year, and fair credit to the boys and the staff. They've just knuckled down and we've been really clear on what we want, and I think we're starting to see that on the pitch now, which is great. Um, I think our leadership, I think the boys are starting to use each other as a team really nicely. They're a young leadership group, it's only their second season in it, and I think Alex and Caden in particular are just getting a really nice groove of what standards look like, um, what they expect, how they demonstrate it, which is cool. Um and probably just getting a little bit of consistency with the team. We also haven't been able to pick our best team for a while now, and the team chops and changes a little bit because of the injury, but we feel this group of players has been together for this little two-month period, um, and that cohesiveness probably shone through a little bit on the weekend, which was good.

SPEAKER_03 15:05

Yeah, and I mean on a separate note, what do you make of sales season as well? Because they've sort of hailed off a bit in the league, but they have been quite close in a number of games that they've sort of narrowly lost.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

Yeah, they're they're probably like us, they'll obviously be disappointed with where they are at the moment. But you know, uh an Alex Sanderson, Coach 10, they're going to be tenacious. Um, they're gonna come heavy out of set piece, and with the physical battle, we know what's coming, we know what to expect. Um, it's not gonna be an easy game, but um look, I think there'll be some intensity about it.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

How about we put final feel because it's two teams with everything to play for in Europe and you know, not so much in the league necessarily.

SPEAKER_04 15:44

Yeah, definitely. I mean, this is what this is what we've worked hard for. Um, you know, we've won three out of four games in the pools, we've put in some really good performances, had a great win away at La Rochelle. Um, I feel we've earned uh a home knockout that we want to take advantage of. Um yeah, so whether it's Sale or or another team, um, we we know this is do or die now, so this is what we've worked hard for.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

Does that change your role as head coach, man? Do you sort of have to keep a lid on things with the players to stop them getting like over excited and stuff?

SPEAKER_04 16:14

I I think with us, I probably pushed it the other way a little bit yesterday. Like you only get a certain amount of chances to win trophies at this level, and I just wanted to remind the boys of what we've actually worked hard for is we've put ourselves into a position in a difficult competition, and it's not gonna be easy, don't get me wrong, and sales the first hurdle. Um, but you've got to dream big, right? Um sport's a funny thing, you never know what can happen in it, and you know it's not too I don't think it's a bad thing to let our minds wander a little bit yesterday, but we're back on the tools today, so we're certainly excited by it.