Luke Wallace’s out to prove he can play the Mr Nasty role

Harlequins flanker Luke Wallace is eager to bring more explosive aggression to his work around the breakdown in a bid to break into Eddie Jones‘s thinking.
England boss Jones appears to have taken an aversion to genuine opensides such as Wallace and Matt Kvesic during his first 10 months in charge, preferring instead the ‘mongrel’ qualities of James Haskell and Teimana Harrison.
Wallace has taken the message on board, however, telling The Rugby Paper: “To be honest, Matt and I were good at different points last year, but we had weaknesses in our game as well.
“Aggressive tackling would be something we both have to work on and that’s what I’ve been doing over the summer. I’m hoping if I put in some good performances this year and show what I’ve got, I’ll be on Eddie’s radar again.
“You look at the people being picked and they’re abrasive guys, so that’s what we’ve got to aspire to be being as well. I’m very fit now so I’ve been focusing on explosiveness and making that last half-metre before contact count.
“I’m aiming to win more collisions there and if I can lock down that Harlequins No.7 jersey, I’ll give myself the best possible chance of giving England something to think about because I’m very ambitious to be involved.”
Quins will ditch their gung-ho style in favour of a slightly more pragmatic approach this season under new rugby director John Kingston.
Wallace explained: “We’ve had a lot more ‘contact’ this summer than in previous years, which is showing as we approach the new season.
“Our skills around the contact area are much better and there’s a lot of focus on getting more balance to our game in terms of when to kick and when to play.
“Previously, we’ve had a lot of focus on the way we’ve wanted to play – offloading, running rugby – but we realise where we need to improve.
“We’ve probably been guilty of overplaying and putting pressure on ourselves in recent years, so we’ll be looking to play in the right areas now.”
Discipline will be another key focus for Harlequins, with Wallace hailing the influence of former England forwards coach Graham Rowntree.
He said: “Graham’s really keen on us being the most disciplined pack of forwards in the league in terms of scrum, maul and breakdown. He’s been drilling contact skills, ball presentation and ruck clearance from one to 15 because we want to create space for our half-backs.
“If anything last season, we were guilty of not getting Jamie Roberts into the game as much as we could. If we can get him involved, we’ve got pace all over our back three, and with Joe Marchant at 13, he’s going to cause damage.”
Last season’s seventh place Premiership finish still grates with Wallace, 26, who added: “We let far too many games go we should have won. Northampton at home, Newcastle away and Worcester at home were three – we’ve got to be far better at closing games out.
“We’ve got to be better against the best teams as well and if we can be proud in our defence, we can get back into that top four.”
NEALE HARVEY