Harlequins head coach Jason Gilmore switches focus to next season after heavy defeat at Sale Sharks - 'PREM's gone for us'

React to this story

Sale Sharks secured a 43-17 win over Harlequins, condemning the visitors to yet another heavy defeat, leading Quins head coach Jason Gilmore to already set his sights on next season. The Australian admitted that the Gallagher PREM is "gone" for Quins and the 48-year-old believes he needs to sign "people that want to fight" for the club, who sit eighth in the table with just two wins out of eight.

'We need people that want to fight' - Gilmore already looking ahead to next season after heavy loss

Video credit: TNT Sports

Harlequins head coach Jason Gilmore admitted that the PREM is "gone" for the club this season, and they are already looking ahead to the 2026/27 campaign.

Quins suffered another big defeat in back-to-back weeks, losing 43-17 to Sale Sharks six days after a chastening 40-14 loss against Bristol Bears at their annual Big Game at Allianz Stadium.

There were bright moments against Sale for Quins, who led 17-12 at the half-time break thanks to tries from Marcus Smith and Jack Walker.

PREM

'I’ve had to find my love for the game’ - Smith reflects on ‘tough’ season after PREM triumph

20/06/2026 at 18:53

But the visitors fell away in the second half and Sale swiftly reclaimed control of the contest and never relinquished it.

Quins failed to score a single point after the break as the hosts ran in five tries for a total tally of seven over the evening.

"There's no silver bullet at the moment. It's probably more medium to long-term with what we need to look at with our squad," Gilmore told TNT Sports.

Highlights: Sale bounce back with huge win as heavy defeat worsens Quins debacle

Video credit: TNT Sports

"Tonight you saw the best and worst. I thought the first 40 minutes we applied good pressure. Second half we just capitulated, couldn't win any ball. Once we got on the back foot, we just disintegrated."

The loss leaves Quins eighth in the table, 16 points off fourth spot, while Sale are a place and eight points ahead.

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson is still hoping for big performances and a play-off push in the PREM, but Gilmore was emphatic in his summation of Quins' domestic hopes, and was surprisingly open in talking about recruitment and retainment for next season.

"In terms of what we've got with the squad, we need to look at that. Obviously the PREM's gone for us. How we frame it for the rest of the year so we make sure we're getting something out of it to set us up for the PREM, and Europe, we're in with a shot still so we'll go heavy there."

A defensive problem, aside from the issue of simply conceding too many tries and points, was that many of the tries scored against Quins were soft and easily avoided.

England international Smith will be keen to forget Friday night, and his second-half blunder summed up his side's night and season so far.

Sale scrum-half Raffi Quirke kicked deep into Harlequins' 22 from his own half and seemed to have little chance of reaching the ball with Smith surely in control of the situation as it bounced towards the try line.

But Smith fumbled the ball and it bounced away from him, allowing Quirke to touch down and score. It was Sale's sixth try and, even with over 15 minutes still left on the clock, the hosts had the win wrapped up.

"I think it's a little bit of both [technique and mindset], particularly coming out of the maul," Gilmore said when asked about his side conceding soft tries.

"But there's desire in that right, and that's what we need to look at within the squad. We've got some choices to make across the next six months in terms of recruitment and retainment. I've spoken to the squad about that. We need people that want to fight."

'Now we have to back it up against Bristol' - Sanderson urges Sharks to build on huge Quins win

Video credit: TNT Sports

'That's all I wanted for Christmas' - Sanderson

It was a huge potential return to form for Sale, who won their first league game since October.

The side suffered a 47-21 loss to Northampton Saints last time out, but Sanderson's side bounced back and inflicted a heavy defeat of their own on Quins at the CorpAcq Stadium.

"That's all I wanted for Christmas. Not just the result, but how the lads went about it," Sanderson said.

"How physical they were, how hard they worked, how much they enjoyed it. It felt like we lifted some shackles off today, talked about throwing some punches, metaphorically obviously, on Boxing Day. And they did. That try after half-time was one of the better ones we've scored all year. A lot of things we can celebrate after being teetotal yesterday.

'A moment he'll be keen to erase!' - Huge Smith blunder gifts Sale their seventh try

Video credit: TNT Sports

"It doesn't get any easier, but I love that part of it. You have to find parts you enjoy in the losing to get back on top. And what we've got to do now is back it up. To be the team we want to be, we've got to back it up away from home against a very good Bristol team. But we'll celebrate that first, and then we'll get on to Bristol.

"If we've got ambitions, we've got to go down there and, not do a job, but be really competitive and give ourselves a chance of winning that game, come away with some points at least. They've won their last four or five games and they were phenomenal against Quins last week. You've got to find a way to shut them down defensively speaking, and then attack them."

Watch and stream the Gallagher PREM and Premiership Women's Rugby on TNT Sports and discovery+

PREM