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#Post#: 72053--------------------------------------------------
Harlequins Documentary
DIR By: Bass Films
Date: July 13, 2021, 11:56 am
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Hello everyone!
I am doing a documentary on harlequins and their run to be the
champs of the 2020/2021 season and I need your help!
It will be a 3 part series about 20-30 minutes each. Episode 1
will be all about the end of the 2019/2020 season and looking at
the 2020/2021 season. Episode 2 will be the middle of the
2020/2021 season and episode 3 will be the end of the 2020/2021
season and looking at the future for Harlequins.
I will be interviewing a few players along with getting
different clips throughout the season.
So my questions for all of you is: What key points would you
like me to focus on throughout the season? What would you like
to hear the players talk about and their thoughts? Who would you
like me to interview?
I want this documentary to be for the fans so please send your
questions over to me!
#Post#: 72057--------------------------------------------------
Re: Harlequins Documentary
DIR By: DOK
Date: July 13, 2021, 12:46 pm
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You're sure to cover it, but it's the Paul Gustard situation.
I'd like more detail along the lines of what did the
coaches/players think of him when he arrived, then when we were
on that losing streak, was he well regarded as he left? I
realise that'll be difficult because there's a sort of code of
omerta when someone leaves regarding criticism. And then of
course the great recovery - where did that steely core of belief
come from where previously we only saw marsh mallow?
I'd love it if you could get an interview with Owen Eastwood.
I'd like to hear what benefits he has brought to the team and
why he seems to have succeeded where a number of sports
psychologists have failed in the past.
#Post#: 72058--------------------------------------------------
Re: Harlequins Documentary
DIR By: poorfour
Date: July 13, 2021, 1:07 pm
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Some thoughts off the top of my head. I think the things we most
want to understand are:
- The general context - what was it like to finish the season,
and go through preseason into the new one in lockdown?
- How was the squad feeling at the start of the season? How did
that change after the tough early results? (As a structural
point, we played Bristol and Exeter three times each over the
season, with three different pairs of results: a bad loss to
each in the early part of the season, two narrow losses in the
middle period, and two stunning but close victories to win the
title - in a way they sum up the season so they might be a way
to structure your three parts)
- What was Owen Eastwood's involvement? How did it lead to Paul
Gustard leaving? How did the squad react?
- The immediate post-Gustard period. The players have described
it in terms of realising that they needed to take responsibility
for their own performances, and the impact was immediate and
stunning: the squad seemed to grow in confidence and ambition.
- ...but at the same time, it was clearly challenging for the
coaches. We had a group of young coaches who had to take on a
lot more responsibility, and Billy Millard had to drop a lot of
his responsibilities to take more of a day to day role.
- And at the same time the search for a new DoR would have begun
in parallel - it would be great to understand how that was run,
how soon they started talking to candidates, when Tabai Matson
became the front runner, who was involved, and to get the views
of Matson and others
- The run-in. Quins were in good form, but in short order we
lost three key players to injury (Will Evans) and bans (Andre
Esterhuizen and Mike Brown). Losing Mike was particularly tough
as it was such an atypical incident - his first red card in 350
games resulted in a ban that ended his season. What that meant
for Mike and the team is one story, culminating in the leavers'
ceremony at the Newcastle game and his being part of the
celebrations at the final, but there's also the story of several
players thrust into the shirts, at different points in their
careers. Tyrone Green was fairly new to the club and had to
replace a legend. Ben Tapuai was leaving but ultimately became
the lynchpin of the midfield - various options were tried but
everything worked better when he was involved (and there were
some lovely moments such as when he got to take a
conversion...). Jack Kenningham began the season in the Academy
and ended it as a Premiership winner having played in the Final
and with a call up to the England senior squad.
- Joe Marler. Joe deserves a documentary all of his own, but
there's so much to cover about him this season. His decision to
withdraw from England (and was he asked if he would be available
for the Lions [on current evidence, they need him]) rather than
spend two months in lockdown away from his family, his
documentary about mental health, his role in the turnaround, the
arrival of his fourth child, his helicopter trip, his epic
performances in both the semi-final and the final - and "I love
lamp".
- Marcus Smith. He began the season as one of several young
flyhalves fighting for Eddie Jones's attention. He ended it with
a nerveless conversion, a winner's medal, two caps and a call up
to the Lions.
- The miracle of Bristanbul (now Quinstantinople). THAT game.
What was it like to go through it? A shout out here to the 500
fans who travelled, and made their presence very much felt,
outnumbered 12 to 1 but by far the louder portion of the crowd
- The final. The guard of honour, the early try, the lead
changing hands five times, building and losing leads - and the
determination to hold out after Hogg's try. The celebrations.
- Behind the scenes. The tech (GPS enabled mouthguards). The
physios. The strength and conditioning work. How do they train?
How did that change after Gustard left?
- What next? The leavers. The joiners. Matson arriving. How do
we plan to defend the title?
Reflecting back on that, one way to tackle it might be to
structure the episodes around those distinct phases of the
season, with the Bristol and Exeter games as focal points, and
follow the coaches (plus Laurie Dalrymple, Matson and - if
possible - Gustard) and some of the key players through it (my
list would be a mix of the lynchpins - Marler, Lewies, Care,
Smith, Marchant, the leavers - Tapuai, Brown, Baldwin, the
unfortunates - Evans, Esterhuizen, and the rising stars - Green,
Kenningham, Lynagh) and as much as possible have them tell the
story in their own words.
Sorry - very long answer. Hope it helps.
#Post#: 72059--------------------------------------------------
Re: Harlequins Documentary
DIR By: Aha!
Date: July 13, 2021, 2:24 pm
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This extract from The Telegraph might feed your 3rd section. How
do Quins persuade Danny Care to let his son play rugby if he’s
‘scared’ of the safety aspect? Do the younger players share his
safety concerns?
Kate Rowan, Daily Telegraph, June 16 ‘21
Care says: “As you get a bit older you need to look after
yourself more. I warm up a lot more than I did when I was
younger. For me, taking out a lot of contact during the week has
made me available for pretty much every game this year.”
As Mike Lancaster, Harlequins' head of medical services,
explains, the introduction of reduced contact training is one of
two major shifts at the club after the departure of former head
of rugby Paul Gustard in January.
“What we are doing now, in terms of how we changed the amount of
contact, is the second biggest change this season. We have more
players available and fit. It has been a major factor for how we
have performed.”
Care continues: “Mike, the medical team and the strength and
conditioners and coaches have been great at listening to the
advice, monitoring us, reducing the load and then we are getting
more of our best players playing at the weekend. It isn’t rocket
science. It is sensible, it is people’s lives, it is not just
their rugby careers. The players are human beings who need their
brains when they finish.”
Before speaking to Care, Lancaster suggests the 84-cap England
international should be asked where thinks the technology could
be used in the future. Again Care returns close to home, this
time citing his experiences as the father of a rugby-playing
child. His son Blake is six-and-a-half and his proud dad
believes he “has something about him” and “could make a decent
rugby player” - but, like many parents, he has concerns about
the safety of the sport.
“The safety of rugby does scare me with him. If somebody said to
me ‘would you rather your son play rugby or football?’ I would
say football because I feel football is safer. But with Protecht
coming into the game I genuinely think it is a game-changer.
“If even people like me are worried about their child playing,
then maybe there is an issue. Hopefully, this is the start of
something huge. I would love to be able to have this available
for kids and to be able to speak to other parents.”
Good luck!
#Post#: 72064--------------------------------------------------
Re: Harlequins Documentary
DIR By: T-Bone
Date: July 13, 2021, 4:50 pm
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I doubt you'd get a straight answer and we'll have to wait for
the biographies, but I'd love to know what really happened with
gustard. Player revolt? Did he see the writing on the wall? Bit
of both?
Looking forward to watching in due course
#Post#: 72067--------------------------------------------------
Re: Harlequins Documentary
DIR By: Brown Bottle
Date: July 13, 2021, 5:15 pm
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Why are the pies so expensive?
#Post#: 72068--------------------------------------------------
Re: Harlequins Documentary
DIR By: quins4life
Date: July 13, 2021, 5:16 pm
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I’d love to know the moments when different players and coaches
actually believed that they could win the premiership. There’s
the clip going around suggest Lewies believed it was possible in
the very first meeting but realistically another top 6 finish
would have been seen as a good season amongst most Quins fans,
top 4 an amazing one.
It would be fascinating to hear the future plans for the club
and how we can create a dynasty at the top of the league like
Sarries and Exeter have done. It would be devastating to fall
away again back into mid table mediocrity…
#Post#: 72069--------------------------------------------------
Re: Harlequins Documentary
DIR By: Quanks
Date: July 13, 2021, 5:19 pm
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To echo what others have said, for any documentary to be taken
seriously it has to have some honest reaction to the Gustard
appointment & dismissal.
This was a much-lauded appointment of a highly regarded England
coach. He's then ousted and the team change their playing style
and go on to win the whole thing. In the meantime Gustard takes
a very pointed jab at the club on LinkedIn.
I think Gustard should be interviewed personally for the
documentary. What is his side of events and how does he feel
watching the team that gave him the boot win the Premiership?
Why couldn't or wouldn't the team attack like this under his
leadership? How does this affect his stock as a Head Coach - is
anyone hiring the guy that evidently held back a championship
winning team?
From the club's perspective - why didn't it work? We hired
someone widely regarded as an excellent defensive coach. Our
defense was still poor and the rugby as a whole was terrible. Is
the club player-led? Is that a problem? Is that different to
other clubs in the league? Andy Goode was certainly quite clear
that the DoR not setting the culture was unusual in his opinion.
The usual platitudes and non-answers clearly don't cover this.
RugbyPass asked an excellent question about how the Gustard era
is going to be looked back on -
HTML https://www.rugbypass.com/news/how-harlequins-think-history-will-treat-their-paul-gustard-era/.<br
/>The answer totally avoided the question of course.
If this documentary is actually going to take a serious look at
the win then an at-times difficult look at the whole situation
needs to be included. I don't know how you're going to get it
though, and wish you good luck!
#Post#: 72071--------------------------------------------------
Re: Harlequins Documentary
DIR By: Ignoramus
Date: July 13, 2021, 5:52 pm
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You'll never get Gustard in an interview on that sort of
question. I'll eat a pair of my son's socks if you do.
One interesting character might be Jerry Flannery. On several
occasions during the latter part of the season he seemed
surprised that the team was achieving so much with so little
defence. I think the Quins team surprised him. Do you remember
him continuing to say, "well we certainly won't win the next one
letting in so many points", but then we would. I think it's been
a fascinating experience for him. He must have been in many
strategic planning meetings with other coaches over the years
asking questions like "well how do you beat these top teams like
Exeter and Saracens?" The answer I suspect turned out to be
from an unexpected direction.
There is a also a wider question on the tail of Quin's
achievements since Gustard left. It's bigger than Gustard. One
question, after years of nationwide Saracens-emulation is - are
Quins and probably Bristol the flagship teams bringing in
another style that helps make running-rugby interesting and
successful again? By getting rid of Gustard, we also
symbolically ejected a style. We moved on from Saracens style
and did it our way. There is a bigger question of what rugby is
all about as a game, as entertainment...as if emphasis on
defence is merely a lifestyle choice after all.
#Post#: 72072--------------------------------------------------
Re: Harlequins Documentary
DIR By: Quanks
Date: July 13, 2021, 6:02 pm
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--- Quote from: Ignoramus link ---
>
> You'll never get Gustard in an interview on that sort of
question. I'll eat a pair of my son's socks if you do.
>
--- End Quote ---
Oh absolutely, but I think Gustard needs to be interviewed and
see how far you can get him to answer. I think every answer will
be about how well we were training in the week, but there's
always the chance he might say something interesting.
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