STEPHEN LEWIES
Quins captain banking on big home support in title defence
HARLEQUINS captain Stephan Lewies has urged fans to harness the Spirit of Ashton Gate when the champions kick off their title defence.
Quins’ extra-time semifinal 43-36 defeat of Bristol last season is the stuff of Premiership legend now after the Londoners hauled themselves into the final after being 28-0 down.
A crowd of 6,006 was dominated by a group of 500 away supporters in the ground’s Lansdown Stand as they roared their team to the most unlikely of wins.
Harlequins are hoping to sell out The Stoop this campaign and have plans to get 80,000-plus fans into Twickenham if they can resurrect the Big Game around Christmas time.
One-cap Springbok Lewies, 29, said: “For the Bristol semi-final there were 6,000 fans and we had 500 in the corner who out sang the Bristol fans, that was one of my best memories. Five hundred fans being that loud for 100 minutes was amazing.
“This season having fans back at a full Stoop is something to really look forward to.
“Hopefully there will be another Big Game. I have tried to explain the Big Game to my mates, 80,000 people at a club game is almost unheard of.
“That is what makes the Premiership special over here, fans getting behind their teams for 80 minutes, it is something you don’t get all over the world and we definitely don’t get it in Super Rugby. It is a game in the calendar everyone looks forward to.
“It was terrible playing with no crowd. Because it is professional sport you have a job to do so you rock up at the stadium. As soon as the crowd started, it was ‘jeepers, how much did we miss this’. It was amazing to have crowds back even when they were reduced.”
Lock Lewies got married in South Africa to Ashley this summer and was forced to do his ten days quarantine in a hotel near Gatwick. He kept tabs on the Boks against the Lions tour from Cape Town and was not put off by the style of rugby.
He added: “I loved it, there was a bit of everything. For South Africans, bragging about the Lions series for the next 12 years, I don’t care how boring it is.
“I don’t find it boring, there were probably passages when it was boring but understanding the South African way and what we were trying to achieve, it is not boring at all.
“I saw a stat that on the previous Lions tour New Zealand scored 66 points in total and the Boks scored 63. Yes, the play for some people might not be great but that is what makes the game special, you can choose the way you play and if it is successful then good for you.
“There was a bit of everything, on-field drama, off-field drama – I enjoyed it. It gets a bit of a bad rep but the series without fans is never going to be same. In hindsight it might have been good if it had been played in the UK with fans.”
Quins fans will be relieved to hear their side will not be ditching their free-flowing game for a Springbok style.
“I don’t think we will change a lot, we probably look to what we have done in the past and improve on that a bit,” said Lewies. “We are a squad with massive ambition but the biggest message is to stay hungry.”