Sloan keen to bounce back from 7s loss
Harlequins centre Harry Sloan is eager to forget the disappointment of the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7s Series Finals by immediately bouncing back at Twickenham.
Quins travelled to the Rec in Bath as group winners and one of the Series Finals favourites, but a nail-biting defeat to Leicester in their opening clash on Friday night was enough to send them packing.
But, as the 2012 Aviva Premiership champions, Harlequins were invited to take part in the inaugural World Club 7s this weekend, where they have been drawn in a group with Auckland, ACT Brumbies and Russian side Kuban Krasnodar.
And Sloan, who started all five games as England won the IRB Junior World Championship title in June, is eager to do battle with players from across the world at the home of rugby.
“We’ve got the World Club 7s next, which I’m really excited about,” he said.
“It’s a big stage at Twickenham against New Zealand sides and a great opportunity for us to show what we can do.
“Everyone is going to be firing for that tournament. Twickenham is where everyone wants to play and hopefully we won’t have that slow start that we had in the Series Finals against Leicester.
“We will come out for the first game and hit the ground running. We need to keep that going in all aspects of our game. We showed what we can do but every team got to the Series Final and got there for a reason.
“As soon as you switch off, that’s it. We went home disappointed but we are going to look ahead.”
Quins looked to have secured victory against Leicester but a late yellow card for Joe Trayfoot was followed by two quick-fire tries to give the Tigers a 19-17 win.
They bounced back to beat Worcester convincingly in their only other game but it was too late and, with Gloucester overall winners, Sloan admits Quins were caught cold.
“We were very disappointed. The thing about 7s is as soon as you switch off it is going to be hard,” he said. “For that full 14 minutes you are working hard.
“And in the second half we left a few gaps and, down to six men, it got that little bit harder. We didn’t do it and to be fair to Leicester they handed it to us.
“We should have come out all guns blazing, but we didn’t and that’s why they came out on top in the end – fair play to Leicester.”
“To be fair we had nothing to play for but came out and beat Worcester, so we’re happy with that. There are ups and downs and you just have to deal with it.”
For all the news from the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7s Series see www.jpmorgan7s.com
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