“We need a big reaction up front against Bath,” Harlequins’ Luke Wallace

Last week, Harlequins needed a last minute try from Kiwi Ben Botica to clinch a 31-30 win at Northampton in the opening round of the LV Cup.
They struggled in the set piece against a strong and experienced Saints’ pack and captain Luke Wallace revealed to The Rugby Paper, this was top of their priority at training this week before facing Bath tonight.
He said: “Going forward has been our main focus this week. If we do that we’ll be able to put our running and offloading game in place.
“Our set piece struggled last weekend which made it harder to play on the front foot.
“This is vital for us to have a reaction against Bath. This is the platform our game is resting on.”
This is the second time the Premiership champions relied on a last-gasp try to get the goods after their dramatic win at London Irish three weeks ago.
If it shows good strength of character, Wallace laments the fact they haven’t been able to perform consistently for the 79 minutes before that to give themselves an easier task.
He added: “We haven’t been performing consistently for the full 80 minutes in recent weeks and that’s probably the reason we have to push until the last minute to get the win.
“If we’d have put our game on for the full 80, we wouldn’t have been in these situations.
“But a win’s a win and the belief showed by all the boys to keep working right until the last minute is a real credit to the spirit of this group.”
NICK VERDIER