Now now Poorfour, you know not to feed the trolls!
I think what we achieved in both title winning years was nothing short of magnificent. Right place, right time and right coaching strategies. It was a shame we didn't kick on after 2012 but it feels so different this time.
I'm not sure it does. Our start to the 2012-13 season was astonishing - I think it was 10 wins in a row, only derailed by Sarries over Christmas. However, from that point on we gradually fell behind the leaders. We still made the semis but got easily beaten by Tigers that year, and despite a bright start ultimately overwhelmed by Sarries the following year.
Reflecting on what went wrong, I think there were probably two factors. Firstly, we started to lose some of the key players (as I've listed above) and didn't have the quality of recruitment or academy pipeline coming through.
I know someone whose son was in the Academy for a while. His view was that the first generation of academy graduates - the core of the 2011-12 side - were the real fluke, and then it took 1-2 more generations before they got the processes and training right to prepare kids to be pro players. And then we were unlucky with a swathe of really promising players who got career ending injuries - Clifford, Buchanan, Sam Stuart, even the Chisholms to some degree - before the pipeline really started producing again.
At the same time, it also took until last year for our external recruitment to start working properly. I don't think anyone would deny that Wilco, Stephan and Andre are the best new players we've brought in from outside since Big Mo.
The second factor is about how we play. I thought for a long time that the idea that Quins play in a swashbuckling style was a lazy generalisation, but both Prem wins came from them embracing that style of play and playing with a tempo and fitness that others couldn't match. I remember the moment I thought we could win the 2012 Final, and it was on reading an article that contrasted Leicester training at their usual ground in their usual way with the fancy Dans from Quins jaunting off to Abu Dhabi for a jolly, and playing continuous, non-stop games for extended periods.
Then I checked the weather forecast for the final, and it was predicted that the temperature on the pitch would get up to 32 degrees celsius. Going to Abu Dhabi wasn't a jolly, it was preparing for the conditions - and it paid off. It's the same in 2021 - the white vests and Protecht mouthguards created a prop who could put in as thundering a tackle in minute 100 as in minute 1, even if he could barely waddle off the pitch afterwards.
JK and Gustard tried to add a bit of pragmatism and defensive grit to the side and it made for joyless rugby and uncommitted players. But it seems that our players play best when they're allowed to play, and that buckling the swash really is part of the Quins culture.
Can we sustain it? Hard to say. In the pro era, only Wasps, Leicester and (cough, cough) Saracens have won the title back to back. Making the playoffs again would be a good achievement; doing it in away that gives confidence that we can keep doing it would be even better.
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