"My main drive for why I'm here" – England lock Joe Launchbury sets sights on winning Premiership title with Harlequins
08/28/2024 06:34 AM
By Jon Page
After a rollercoaster first Premiership Rugby season at Harlequins following the demise of Wasps and a brief run in Japan, Joe Launchbury reflects on a heartbreaking end to the season, as he enters his 15th campaign in English rugby's top flight.
In the final two rounds of the 2023/24 Premiership Rugby season, the stage was set for a blockbuster finish, with six teams still mathematically able to qualify for the Premiership semi-finals, and Harlequins were one of them.
One week prior, Harlequins had lost in their first ever Champions Cup semi-final to eventual European winners Toulouse, in a match that was ultimately lost in a first half onslaught by the Frenchmen, led by now Olympic gold medallist Antoine Dupont. Despite then beating eventual champions Northampton Saints in the third to last game of the Premiership season, comprehensive defeats to Exeter Chiefs and Bristol Bears led to a sixth-place league finish for the men from Twickenham.
'It was a really hard end to the season. The excuse is we did extremely well in Europe, but to me that's just an excuse. We had opportunities in those games to win some of them and I think we lost 4 out of our last 6 games which is the opposite to what you want at that time of year.
“You want to get to March/April time and be peaking form wise, we weren't really. We had back-to-back big games, getting up for big games in Europe which were unbelievable experiences and experiences we wouldn't want to change because they're the sort of games you remember when it's all done.
“At the same time, for a lot of us the focus is the Premiership, really. For me personally it's pretty much my main drive for why I'm here, why I'm back in England playing, even potentially playing full stop is to try and win that trophy, and it's an extremely hard trophy to win. As you said, a lot of clubs will be fighting for it right up to the last day.
“'Quins' downfall a long time before I came here is obviously the defence. It's a clear work on, a clear fix. I think when you're a side that want to attack like we do and have a real clear intent to want to attack like that, I think it can be great in so many ways and that is the DNA and that's what we as a club want to be.”
“We also understand that we're not going to compete or win trophies by having that attitude of being so one sided towards our attack. We tried to correct it last year and we felt we were making strides towards correcting it and at times during last year we probably were.
Whilst Harlequins have enjoyed their title as the Premiership’s resident entertainers, the court jesters recognised the need to tighten up their defences to turn the Stoop back into a fortress. The approach of ‘out-scoring’ the opposition could soon become a method of the past, as Launchbury expressed how the Harlequins defence is now equally as important to the men in the famous quarters.
“We realised it wasn't a quick fix and it's something that's probably needed a preseason. we've obviously had a bit of a change of personnel in terms of staff which has been great, some fresh ideas, fresh voices. And a lot of it, the bit now, is up to us really as a club. do we want to have that attitude towards defending?
“Do we want to get as excited about defending as what clearly this club do about attacking? So yeah, that's the clear change that we need to do, the other side of the ball.'
“We felt we need to be more consistent throughout the year and probably coupled with some of that defensive stuff we need to be more consistent in that area to be more consistent in terms of results and not come down to the last game before the playoffs are decided.'
Following the loss of former defence coach Jerry Flannery to South Africa, Harlequins announced his replacement as Jason Gilmore in June, who has experience working with Australia A, Australia U20, the Barbarians, the Waratahs and the Queensland Reds.
“He's come with some fresh ideas which I think again is massively important. He's obviously got a few different tiny ideas around different ways to defend which maybe I've not seen before, a lot of guys haven't seen before, and I think that's so important. Whether you 100% agree with that style of defending or not, the change is what we need as club.'
Harlequins scrum half Will Porter has also lauded the positive influence Gilmore has had on the club so far, through his enthusiastic coaching style. “He himself you can tell he gets excited about it when he talks, which is exactly what you need from a coach. He's out there showing us how to do it, hitting pads himself.”
Having played in a Wasps side that balanced big, brutal forwards such as himself, Nathan Hughes, Ashley Johnson and Will Rowlands, whilst fielding a backline filled with exciting, creative talent such as Danny Cipriani, Charles Piutau and Christian Wade, Joe Launchbury has an appreciation for different playing styles in rugby.
“As a pack we've made big strides, we want to be a pack who can win in different ways, when it's wet in December we can scrum teams, we can maul teams. I definitely think we had signs of that last year, I think Glasgow here we won in a pretty ugly way and that's really important for the growth of this team, to win in different ways. The barrier to some of it has clearly been you can do some great work and undo it pretty quickly with some poor decision making in defence.
“These French teams, you're not always going to be able to contain them, they're going to score some tries and it's about taking a few risks, a few calculated risks. I think we've got the players who can do that, if you look at our halfbacks especially, a ton of experience there, I trust those guys to make the right decision. I don't think you'll not see us playing from deep, but I think at the same time I really think there'll be a sort of time and a place for it.”
In March, the news broke that World Cup and Premiership winning centre Andre Esterhuizen would be leaving for South Africa due to family reasons. With a wealth of skill and experience, as well as weighing in at 113 kilograms and standing at 1.93 metres, ‘Andre the Giant’ leaves a sizeable hole in the Harlequins' midfield.
“Obviously I only played with Andre for a year, but in terms of the outlet he gave you as a team, the pressure he took off you for us as a forward pack, it was like having another forward really, the way how physical and abrasive he was. He'll be a huge loss, but the cliché to that is it's an amazing opportunity, it genuinely is such a big opportunity, I wouldn't want to be the coaches having to decide.
“In some ways it's a huge shirt to fill but there's so many guys who could play in that, there's a lot of young guys competing hard for that shirt and that's I guess the exciting side of it. We've definitely got some really talented centres; will Andre be a loss? Of course he will, but hopefully in six months' time we'll say a great opportunity has been given to some of these guys coming and playing and they've really taken their chance.”
Despite the financial issues plaguing rugby, particularly after the demise of Wasps, Worcester Warriors and London Irish, Launchbury is still positive about Premiership Rugby as a product, due to the on-pitch action and the closeness of the table, highlighted by the final rounds in the 2023/24 Premiership.
“I think it's always been a great product. It probably went through a patch maybe 5/6/7 years ago we probably went massive on size over quality, and the game slowed down a bit, got a bit drudgy. The team I played in we did try and go against that, and we were almost outliers in that, trying to score tries.
“I think now you look at the successful teams, Sarries (Saracens) get a lot chucked at them but even them, their attack and stuff is so much better than it was. There's definitely a real excitement about our league, and for all its negatives in terms of the financial side of it, what that does do is create such an equal pool where you look across the teams now and you wouldn't want to be a betting man deciding who's going to win this year, that's great for the neutrals.
“The French leagues got the razzmatazz, and it's got the big crowds and the evening games, and those sorts of exciting parts and they've obviously got some great players but for me, the closeness of this league is still what makes it so special.”
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