England manager Gareth Southgate spends the day with Harlequins as Premiership holders prepare for their Champions Cup showdown with Montpellier, aiming to overturn first-leg deficit
- The England manager watched Harlequins training and joined team meetings
- Gareth Southgate played regional rugby growing up before opting for football
- Harlequins are looking to turn around a 40-26 first-leg defeat at the Stoop
Gareth Southgate spent the day with Harlequins to help them prepare for Saturday’s European Champions Cup showdown with Montpellier.
The England football manager watched training and joined team meetings as Quins look to overturn a 40-26 first-leg defeat at the Stoop.
‘There is clear belief they can turn it round and a clear understanding of how they go about that happening,’ said Southgate, who played regional rugby growing up.
England manager Gareth Southgate spent the day with Premiership rugby side Harlequins
‘You’ve got a week to live with the last result and emotionally you need to move on from that. The 14 points might be more at one point, but the aim is for it to be less.
‘There’s a comfort being at home. There’s a familiarity of the build-up, the feel of your own support, the negativity the away team feel because of the reverse of those things, and it can be a huge advantage if the crowd are really behind the team.’
Four late tries helped Quins fight back from a mountainous 34-point deficit in the first leg.
The Harlequins squad gave Gareth Southgate a signed, personalised shirt during his visit
Scrum-half Danny Care explained: ‘At half-time we said, “We’ve got to make this competitive and give ourselves a chance to get back to the Stoop”.
‘The thing we’re most proud of is that we have a chance. Fourteen points down at home, we back ourselves to turn that round and get through to a quarter-final.
‘Not many of us have been there before — it’s very rare and special, so it’s a huge opportunity to try to do that.’
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