Quins must sharpen up to avoid Sharks bloodbath
Flannery has warned his players to sort out their discipline or risk getting “pumped” by Sale.
The straight-talking Quins coach is concerned about the 19 penalties the team gave up when they lost 28-22 at the AJ Bell back in October, as well as the 16 more they had in the surprise loss to bottom placed Bath last weekend.
Their last five domestic European games have been decided by no more than four points, and the team have relied on their usual late flourish to get them out of jail.
Former Ireland hooker Flannery said: “When you look at the pack Sale have, they play a real confrontational brand of rugby. We don’t expect anything to change this weekend.
“We conceded 19 penalties at their place earlier in the season…which is weird because our disciJERRY pline is generally the best in the league. You don’t normally have 19 bad calls from the referee!
“So we clearly have to sharpen up our discipline because it wasn’t great again last weekend where we conceded 16 penalties. We’ve got to be better than that because Sale transfer pressure onto you with their kicking game and go after teams in the set-piece.
“If we play as we did against Bath we will get pumped, but we are confiand dent as the players came back and said these are the areas we need to work at, and the coaches agreed.”
Flannery refuses to use the Six Nations call-ups of key players, including Marcus Smith and Alex Dombrandt, as an excuse for the poor performance.
He said: “Last season we were not missing anyone. This season, because of how well they performed, they got on the Test radar and we started to lose players.
“We just have to adapt. You take Marcus Smith out you bring in Tommy Allan who is a brilliant ten. You take Joe Marchant out, Huw Jones or Oscar Beard can step up, and Luke Northmore’s been released back. There is depth there, the players just have to show up on the pitch.”
Versatile Beard, 20, is on the bench aiming to use the absence of others to further his claims.
He said: “I’d always dreamed about being a professional player here, so to do that this season was surreal.
“I’m absolutely loving it with the opportunities I’m getting, I’ve been learning everything I can. Being flexible in terms of where I play is huge. I am more of a centre than a wing – at school I played ten and 12. At the start of last year I wasn’t physically ready to be a centre but I feel playing on the wing and learning from the other guys will make me a better centre.”