The club might be considering a move to the sports hub at Lansdowne Park along with Central rugby club. However, not everyone is in favor of this move. There are committee members of Harlequins club who do not want the clubroom to be sold.

Hence, the current situation sees the two clubs going over the pros and cons of selling the club rooms and the consequences of the same. The council has asked Central and Harlequins to sell their club rooms in Lansdowne Park. This is accordance with the plans that the council has for the sports hub.

It is rumored that the sales proceeds would then be put back into the hub. There would be more space created for other sports teams and the clubs would be able to lease new space for their club room in the same premises.

The plans are being made by Marlborough District Council. While Central club is ready to comply with the plans, Harlequins is still mulling over the details and consequences of the move. There is a lot of history that is associated with the clubrooms for which reason many committee and life members are against the selling of the old club rooms.

Some are of the opinion that councils are formed every few years and there is always need for additional revenue and for new development.

Hence, there might not be any surety that the new establishment would not be up for sale again. The Harlequins club rooms were formed when the Redwood, Old Boys and Opawa were united in the year 1994.
Many feel that the club rooms are assets for the boys who will be part of the club in the future and hence it is important that the legacies are retained. However, it is often that old need to make way for the new.

Coaching roles in Harlequins will see two new names, Nick Evans and Nick Easter. It is a pure coincidence that both have common first names. With the next season starting off, many look forward to a change in career. Indeed, RPA plays a vital role in the matter, helping players find career choices for the years ahead as active roles on the playing field can be sustained only for a few years.

It seems that Nick Easter has been able to find his next career choice – a coaching role with Harlequins. This role will be taken up by him in the next season. Rob Andrew was the director of rugby as well as played outside half for Newcastle in the year 1996. Francois Pienaar was a player coach in the late nineties as well.

Hence, it should come as no surprise that Nick Easter would be assuming a dual role for the next season. The changes are being brought about due to certain requirements. Conor O’Shea pointed out that, it is crucial that Evans and Easter move into coaching roles as that is crucial at this stage for the club.

Easter was a good choice as he has been capped about 54 times and that too for playing for England. Being 37 years of age, it is also time for him to look out for greener pastures as his roles on the field should limit by now. He has juggled an international as well as a career in Premiership very well.

He even coached an amateur team in Wimbledon for a time span of two years recently. He has been instrumental in getting Evans over who is from All Blacks team. Hence, it was a matter of time that these senior players would be earmarked for coaching positions. There is a new structure being put in place at Harlequins.

Former England skipper Nick Easter has joined a growing number of rugby players in voicing his concern about the gym monkey culture that has become prevalent in the youth academies amid fears that a number of careers will be cut short due to collisions on the field and has called for the RFU to take drastic action.

The 36 year old, who plays as a No 8 for Harlequins FC in the Aviva Premiership only became a full professional at 25 years of age and never had to go through the rigours of academy training and he believes that the growing size of the youngsters coming out of the academies are a cause of concern for all parties concerned.

A report recently indicated that the England Under-18 squad which toured Wales last season was heavier, man for man, that the England senior squad under Will Carling that reached the Rugby World Cup final in 1991.

Nick Easter said that if he had been playing at a regular basis in the Premiership and on the international stage at 20 or 21 years of age, he is not sure that he would have been able to keep his body in shape like now and he believes that it is the main concern for these youngsters.

These players have two to three stones on their counterparts from yesteryears and are still doing all the heavy running and maybe even more.

According to Nick Easter, it is a good thing that they are looking after their bodies, developing their muscles with gym work and protein shakes but other parts of the body must also be looked at and while these are not fully developed, are still getting hit, leading to many careers being cut short tragically at an age where one would have peaked.

Erstwhile All Black Ranger (Rene) would be reportedly getting back to Blues the upcoming season & would be available for playing in ITM Cup for the North Harbour, this year.

Rene has received early discharge from his deal with the French squad Montpellier post a couple of seasons. The 28-year-old scored twenty-five tries in Super Rugby 65 caps for Blues, relishing 6 caps for All Blacks. Ranger is one of the biggest fan favorites in Montpellier, where he secured 6 tries in 1st fifteen games which helped his team with a mighty season this year in Euro Club Championships.

He said that his retreat to NZ is mostly for the family reasons.

“To me, it’s always the family that comes first & that’s a huge motivator for my return. I am looking forward to help mom more”, said Ranger who is surely a doted son.
Once he came up with the decision, it wasn’t hard to find out Blues.

“I initiated my career at Super with them & they’ve always been really close. JK has been a huge support always & motivated me big to come up with my best performance everytime.”

He is quite thrilled with this great prospect of getting back to the squad which he feels is improving fast.

“They’re quite a credible side yet it’s the execution which is a cause of concern here. I am hopeful to play a good role here as backs fet really amazed with the very front foot-ball Blues have been getting. I’ll return home as a better player. I’m pretty stronger mentally & I have learnt huge which I am hopeful to utilize here in Blues environ.”
“It is a wonderful news that Ranger has been selected to resume career in NZ”, stated Steve Tew, the CEO of NZ Rugby.

England international Nick Easter has said that the team needs to create a destructive force in the team by creating a pair involving Steffon Armitage and skipper Chris Robshaw as they get ready for another assault on the Rugby World Cup this summer on home soil.

Easter, who has been recalled to the training squad for England ahead of the Six Nations Championship, said that he believes that England head coach Stuart Lancaster will need to go down that road and end the long test exile for the France based Armitage and boost whatever hopes the team has of securing glory.

England have been overlooking the Toulon for the last four years, sticking to their rule of not selecting foreign based players in the national team. It is understood that the Rugby Football Union is ready to revoke that ruling in order to open the gates for a return to the national team set-up ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

And according to Nick Easter, if the back rower can operate alongside his Harlequins FC teammate Robshaw, it will make a mouth watering combination. He added that it would be a real destructive force to have not only one, but two of those types of players in back row.

He went on to add that he believes the English team must go down that route because England has that opportunity now. Easter also mentioned that many people might frown upon it, but even South Africa abolished a similar rule and that didn’t harm their rugby at all.

However, Nick Easter says that it doesn’t need to be a permanent solution, and it can be a one-off move just for the Rugby World Cup.

Armitage has been ruled out of Six Nations Championship contention but Lancaster has promised he will consider him for the Rugby World Cup.

Chris Robshaw, who is the captain of England National Rugby Union Team has said that Nick Easter who plays for the Harlequins team, is performing better with age. Nick Easter who is now 36 years old became the man of the match in the European Rugby Championship Cup match, Harlequins versus Leinster that took place on Sunday 7th December. Harlequins defeated Leinster 24-18.

Robshaw confirmed that he considers Nick Easter to be one of the best players in England to play in the Number Eight Position. Robshaw said that Easter is an excellent player and it is very much advantageous to play alongside him. Conor O’Shea, the director of Rugby of Harlequins team has said that he thinks that Easter’s fitness will let him continue playing internationally. He said that though his career is coming to an end he will be able to continue playing for some more years.

Nick Easter participated in a premiership match for the first time at the age of 26. Joe Marler, the captain of Harlequins thinks that Easter is a natural rugby player. His father used to be one of the top Squash players. Easter said that his rugby qualities might be inherent. Easter said that the reason behind the fact that he is still able to play rugby at the age of 36 might be due to the fact that before he started playing rugby professionally, he led a normal life. Easter said that from the age of 19 to 21 his body wasn’t harmed as much as it would’ve been if he played rugby professionally at the time. Easter also said that though there are some young and big players playing the game, their body is getting damaged especially if they’re playing in at the centre or in the front. He also thinks that for a rugby player, brawn is as important as brain if not more.