Harlequins will want to bounce back after last season's disappointment (©GettyImages). Conor O'Shea recently made a difficult decision by dropping Chris Robshaw as Harlequins captain due to the World Cup next year, but after being criticised by former player Lawrence Dallaglio O'Shea has described the Englishman's words as "rubbish".
Harlequins had a painful end to a long campaign last season having been demolished by Saracens 31-17 in the semi-finals of the Aviva Premiership finals, after finishing fourth in the league.
But as a new season approaches O'Shea came to the conclusion of replacing Chris Robshaw as captain, giving the lead role to fellow England player Joe Marler as the prop recently admitted his joy of receiving this honour.
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Load of rubbish
However former England player Lawrence Dallaglio caused controversy stating that this was a "strange" decision to make from O'Shea considering this is a year when Quins could be challenging for the title.
In a recent interview with Yahoo! Sports, Quins' director of rugby brushed aside his statement commenting that the 2003 World Cup winner was looking for attention by speaking his opinion.
"I take these things with a pinch of salt," O'Shea said.
"You put a microphone under someone's mouth and they say something people want to hear and it becomes a headline.
"If you dig a little deeper, then it's a load of rubbish."
The Irishman failed to sugar-coat his response coming out with a strong opinion, but O'Shea should respect Dallaglio's comments to a degree.
Meanwhile at the same time Dallaglio doesn't have a say in what O'Shea decides behind the scenes.
Chris Robshaw
There is a factor with the Robshaw captaincy considering the next year will be massive for England and their captain, mainly because England will be hosting the 2015 World Cup.
O'Shea has realised that the 28-year-old needs to put his country first and can't be balancing that with leading Harlequins to an Aviva Premiership title.
He has realised that this is an important time for any player, especially for the England captain, as O'Shea continued in his interview to state they spoke on what the future holds and believed it was the best decision for both parties.
"Chris has been incredible for us and has been captain of England and Quins for the last three years and with that comes pressure.
"I want what's best for Quins and for England. This decision was made to help Chris be the best he can be for England and Quins.
"Captaincy is second nature to him and he will still be a leader."
Harlequins
The only problem to look at is whether Joe Marler can fill the boots of Chris Robshaw, and if he can play a vital role on improving last seasons final position.
Harlequins need a fix because they haven't won a piece of silverware since 2013, which was the LV=Cup, and a team of their calibre needs 2015 to be a memorable campaign.
At the moment O'Shea is focusing on the youth aspects at the club having brought in a few academy players and England youngster Marland Yarde from London Irish.
Their first game will take place at Twickenham against London Irish in the double header on September 5th, and this match will be the first step in the marathon of what is O'Shea's telling season.
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