We’ll follow Saracens’ tips for top
Robshaw’s Harlequins finished 10th in the Premiership and the campaign finished with John Kingston, the longstanding director of rugby, stepping down.
Former England defence coach Paul Gustard is now in the hot seat at the Stoop after a two-and-a-half-year spell working with Eddie Jones, which ended in a worst Six Nations finish plus a 2-1 Test series defeat in South Africa. They won only the dead-rubber Cape Town match.
Robshaw, 32, was virtually ever-present during those eight England games, missing just the 23-12 second Test loss in Bloemfontein, when Brad Shields was preferred at No6 before falling ill ahead of the final match. Premiership champions Saracens had nine players in England’s most recent training group in Teddington, with Billy Vunipola and George Kruis to come, and Robshaw wants a Gustard-inspired Quins to add to the national cause ahead of next year’s World Cup.
“You look at Saracens and the influence their players have on the England side,” said Robshaw. “They go back and bring their success to Saracens as well. If we can emulate what they have been doing, we won’t be doing too badly.
“Everyone knows the World Cup is next year so you want to make sure you are playing well and, when you get back into the international set-up, you want to build momentum. You want to go in confident, make sure you have everything ironed out.
“I believe as an England side we have come through that – yes, we had a rocky season last year, like with Quins, and things went against us. We couldn’t quite get ourselves out of trouble but winning that last game in South Africa turned a real corner. In the first two games
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our backs looked incredibly sharp – probably the sharpest I have seen them. As a team in that third game we found a way to win, which was important.
“Unfortunately in the first two and the latter games of the Six Nations we couldn’t do that.”
Gustard’s quirky methods, which involved bringing wolves, magicians and snakes into training when he was at Saracens and whilst part of the England set-up, have already been introduced at Harlequins’ training ground in Guildford.
Gustard has installed a 6ft 3in model bear in the team room to remind them of the importance of aggression in the game, and Robshaw is hoping it can put a smile on Quins faces after their desperate efforts last term.
“It hurts, there is no denying it,” said Robshaw. “The embarrassment, hurt, the shame, whatever it is. We feel as a squad we could be better but unfortunately the league doesn’t lie and that is what we earned.
“We earned 10th place and that is the harsh truth of it. It is no good looking around and pointing fingers. We all have to take ownership, take that responsibility and wear that now and it’s about what we do.
“From my experience working with ‘Gussie’, he’s the best person I have met and worked with who has that ability to get messages across.”