Q: Last season we always struggled when we came up against a team with a big pack, so far this season we have been winning, but what will we do when we come up against big packs when the weather turns bad?

DR: That’s when we change our game plan slightly and that’s when Mr Mehrten’s boot will then start to come in. When you go down to Exeter or Plymouth or you go up to Sedgeley Park and it’s tipping it down with rain you can’t play the rugby we’ve been playing so far, you have to be a lot more pragmatic and you play accordingly – to the weather, the opposition the referee – these are the situations you take into account each game. You are right that Worcester last year did cause Harlequins a problem but I’d also say that Worcester last year caused every Premiership side problems as well. I wouldn’t say they have got the best pack in the Premiership but it is very close to being the best pack there.

We’ve got equally good a pack in the first division and I think we’ll have certain problems because of certain things – up at Otley we just had a referee who didn’t have a clue what was going on in the scrum, he penalised us four times and wrongly on each account. You have to accept all that, you have to live with that and you have to play through that which we eventually did and we came out as winners. 

The other factor that people don’t understand is that Bedford played up at Otley the week before us and the grass was six inches long and Geoff Irvine turned round to the groundsman up at Otley and said ‘the grass is long’ and he said ‘if you think this is long wait until a week’s time when Harlequins come up here [laughs].

I can envisage, in the depths of winter, someone like Exeter getting the hose pipes out the day before the game and just watering the pitch to make it a quagmire. It will happen throughout the year, people will do things like that to try to bring us back down to Earth and we’ve got to live with that, be bigger than that and make sure our game plan is right. If it means just playing by putting it in the corners then that’s what we’ll do.

Q: Last time Mark wouldn’t comment on individual players so I am going to ask you, Simon Keogh, is he wasted playing on the wing?

DR: Where would you suggest we play him?

Q: That’s what I was going to ask you. [laughs] The other thing is I’ve seen him kick in warm up and he’s got a phenomenal boot on him, is he a possibility for long range kicking?

DR: We now have a kicking clinic each week that he comes along to which is taken by Andrew Mehrtens and Andy Friend. It’s quite amazing you sit down there and watch the boys kicking and, it’s not just the punts, it’s not just the drop kick, it’s every different style of kick you can imagine, the grubers through, the worms. If you sit there and watch Mehrtens kicking everything just comes so naturally to him, it’s amazing. 

Simon is one of many players who have great footballing ability and as much as you say he has this footballing ability there’s other players too – Browny; AJ (even though he missed six out of seven or whatever it was the other night) he’s actually a very, very good footballer and I’ve got a lot of time for him. We do it for one reason, we want people to be able to pop up in the right position and put in a touchfinder in or a grubber in or an up and under up or in some occasions if Mehrtens and AJ are injured to put the kicks through the posts too. So yes, if needs must we would consider using him, we have a number of guys at a similar standard too, Ian Vass is a great footballer as well.

In terms of his position Simon can play scrum half or wing equally as well. 

Q: Why do you only play him on the wing, his pace would make him a good scrum half?

DR: He came as a scrum half, a few weeks ago we had him as the reserve scrum half.

Q: And I thought he played exceptionally well so why not play him there more often?

DR: I think at this moment in time I’m quite happy with him playing wing, but it’s always there in the back of my mind, and the back of his mind too – we have spoken to him about the possibilities of him playing scrum half as well. At this moment in time needs must and he’s on the wing. 

Q: He’s better than Ceri Jones then? 

ME: [laughs] Simon plays on the right and I’ve always preferred playing Ceri on the left.

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