BATH SCARE CAN BE OUR LAUNCH PAD
Joe wants focus for Friday’s key Euro tie
JOE LAUNCHBURY has urged Harlequins to ditch their ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ tag – or face a European exit on Friday.
The second row was part of a Quins side who nearly threw away a 40-3 lead against Bath on Saturday before scraping home 40-36.
The Londoners remain in the play-off hunt but this weekend they switch focus to the Champions Cup and a last-16 tie against Glasgow Warriors at the Twickenham Stoop.
Franco Smith’s Glasgow are second in the URC and packed with Scotland stars, such as centre Huw Jones and back-rows Jack Dempsey and Rory Darge.
They limbered up for Friday’s clash with a 45-3 hammering of Scarlets in Wales.
Lock Launchbury (below) had been replaced in Saturday’s match by the time the horror show unfolded, and warned a repeat will get punished.
The former Wasp said: “When we get things right we can compete with anyone. But we have learned the hard way that if we are a little bit off we can fall short.
“It makes the next few weeks really important. We have worked extremely hard to get ourselves into a knockout game in Europe, which we are going to take really seriously.
“We talked a lot about how close as a squad we can be and we started that game in the right way – some of the stuff in the first half was as good as we can be.
“We were really clinical, not just in terms of scoring tries, but getting out of our half extremely efficiently.
“The second half was probably just a great advert for Premiership rugby. It is a crazy thing momentum and we just about got across the line.” Beat Glasgow on Friday and Quins would face Saracens or Bordeaux Begles in the quarterfinals the following week before the Premiership slog resumes. A trip to Sale, hosting Northampton at Twickenham, and clashes with Exeter and Bristol are next up as Quins seek to emulate the class of 2021 and claim the league title. After Launchbury’s Wasps folded in 2022 he signed a short-term deal to play in Japan before returning to Quins, a club who rejected him as a youngster.
He has been involved in every Premiership and European game this campaign, barring one, and added: “Every time we play there is a full house, which is part of the reason I wanted to come here.
“It is a well-supported club and plays a great style of rugby.”
J LEICESTER have settled a fine of almost £50,000 after exceeding the salary cap in the 2019-20 season. Tigers went over the wages limit by £47,136.91 and have paid a fine which equates to a pound for every one overspent.