HARLEQUINS WOMEN
ROBUST COMMUNICATION is a vital tool for any elite team. And for Harlequins Women, it’s a focus that extends far beyond the regular battle between wing Jess Breach and strength & conditioning coach Merrick Steward to control the tunes in the gym.
“It’s about suffocating teams, getting in their faces,” says prop Shaunagh Brown (pointing, left) when asked if there’s anything specifically ‘Quins’ in their play.
“Sometimes you get to a stage where you don’t have to make a tackle, because it’s so loud and vocal coming at you. You want people intimidated just by our presence… Sometimes they drop the ball even before you get there, they just don’t want it. It’s literally the volume of our defence in the first place, and then just getting up into people’s faces.
“I’d say it’s an 80-minute thing and we’re very much working on the communication from the outside, getting messages along so we’re shouting and encouraging other people to shout, because that’s an issue in itself in women’s rugby, actually. People don’t really want to
