“… and I’m after your club shirt,” warns Luke Wallace

Luke Wallace has promised to repay Stuart Lancaster‘s faith in him – by ousting England captain Chris Robshaw from the Harlequins No.7 shirt.
Despite missing out on the tour to Argentina, it is clear that the England head coach is a big fan of the long-haired tearaway and has mentioned the possibility of promoting him from the Saxons squad.
That, however, is on the condition that Wallace, 22, nails down a regular starting berth.
He said: “Stuart phoned me the night before the Argentina squad was announced and explained everything to me.
“I went to the Saxons camp a couple of weeks ago but they have told me the main priority is just to get game-time.
“They selected me in anticipation of playing well so I have to prove them right by nailing down a shirt.”
In the past two seasons, Wallace has started 17 matches but has found himself playing second fiddle when Robshaw has been available.
But Wallace said: “We have different skillsets and bring different things to the table – so I think we can play together at six and seven.
“Neither of our games have changed, we would just do exactly what we do but we can complement each other. They have had a look at us there, we played against Racing Metro and it worked well.
“It’s healthy competition with Chris, we push each other in training but then do extras together after each session.”
Given his goal of regular rugby, Wallace knew exactly how important this pre-season was and has put it to good use.
A conditioning programme has made him faster and stronger without adding undue bulk while Laurie Fisher – the breakdown coach to George Smith and David Pocock at the Brumbies – has also put him through his paces.
Wallace added: “Captaining the team in the LV= Cup was a good experience but I now need to play more Premiership and Heineken Cup.
“That’s the next step for me, holding down a starting spot for a long period, even when everyone is fit and available.
“The coaches know I want to play and I know there’s always little things to improve on in my game.
“I want to keep getting involved in attack a bit more and improve my tackle effectiveness. To look for more big hits this season but to carry on working on my strengths – my ruck clearance, competing for the ball and keeping on doing what I’m doing. The whole squad has put a big focus on speed and I think everyone is quicker than they were.
“I’m stronger – I’m benching more weight – but I didn’t want to put too much weight on because one of my strengths is speed and footwork that I didn’t want to lose.
“The key thing is as long to be big enough not to be pushed off the ball when I’m competing at the breakdown.
“Laurie Fisher brought a different viewpoint so that was really beneficial – they were small technical things that can make a big difference.
“It was mainly on ruck clearance, quite a few of us had quite a narrow base so if we made good contact we’d clear really well but if we were slightly off then it would not be an effective clear.
“So I’ve made a lot of little adjustments to my game and, hopefully, I’ll see the benefit when the season starts.”
DANIEL SCHOFIELD