One of Harlequins’ most exciting attacking players, back-three flyer Nick David has been a pivotal part of the Londoners’ rise to second in the Premiership table. With seven tries in all competitions, David grabbed a brace against Ulster in last weekend’s Champions Cup match, to help ensure his side a home match in the tournament’s last 16.
Alongside the exciting Harlequins wings and fullbacks, David is one of the top names across Billy Millard’s back-three. The likes of Tyrone Green, Louis Lynagh, Cadan Murley and recent England call-up Oscar Beard all pose positional threats, yet David’s versatility boosts his selection chances across the 11, 14 or 15 jersey. Speaking in the mid-week Harlequins media session, David spoke about how he takes pride in his adaptability.
“There’s great depth across the back-three. I mean, what I pride myself on is my versatility. I can play both wing and fullback, I’d probably personally say I’m a fullback that can play on the wing. But like I say, it’s been thoroughly enjoyable thus far, and I’m just so happy to be involved.”
“The fact that we have the license and freedom to express ourselves, that’s what initially enticed me to join this club. This is my third season now. So a couple years ago, so, that’s what I love so much about Harlequins.”
David arrived at the Stoop in 2021, after making his name in the Premiership with Worcester Warriors. The 25-year-old left the club a season prior to Warriors’ financial collapse, yet he recognises the strengths shown by the players who have overcome such difficult times. One such talent is Chandler Cunningham-South, who arrived at Harlequins following London Irish’s liquidation, at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.
David has been impressed by the back-rower’s progression, with Cunningham-South now earning himself a first-time spot in Steve Borthwick’s England squad for the 2024 Six Nations. He has been joined by David’s back-three teammate Oscar Beard, and despite an injury set-back in the form of a failed HIA, Beard has travelled to England’s training camp in Girona, Italy, ahead of their opening match against the Azzurri. Speaking on Cunningham-South and Beard, David said;
“I’ll start on Chandler, as you can see how he’s always hungry. Whether that’s in defense or an attack, he’s always hungry to carry and be aggressive. Steve’s obviously recognised that and selected him. And with Oscar Beard, he came up through the academy, yes he’s progress, I’ve seen him progress all the way from when I first joined up until now, he’s always asking questions on the field, off the field, and seeing him progress has been really nice.”
Harlequins head coach added on Cunningham-South and Oscar Beard’s progression into the England set-up: “I think they’ve done it the right way. They concentrated on their league form. With Harlequins, their club matches with harlequins they’ve played really well, trained really well, got great attitudes towards improving and those two young lads Chandler and Oscar have got an opportunity to go in and kind of put a marker down.
“Which is great recognition for them, great recognition for us, and I think, really pleased that we’ve got six boys in there. Obviously the challenge on the other side is dealing without them, while you don’t have them, but I think we’re really proud of, of what they’ve done so far. And we’ll look forward to seeing him in the Six Nations campaign.”
Harlequins have provided six players for the England camp, with Cunningham-South and Beard set to join up with established test match names, in Marcus Smith, Joe Marler, Danny Care and Alex Dombrandt. Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson discussed an overlooked England hopeful, as despite weekly stand-out performances back-row Will Evans has narrowly missed out on an opportunity for a test match debut.
“You therefore control what you can control. And then the selection part is someone else’s call. I mean, there’s several players isn’t there. Let’s take, Will Evans, I think Will Evans has been absolutely fantastic recently, but look at the crop of sevens in England to choose from. You know, he’s been superb. But there’s several other sevens in other clubs, so that’s out of their hands, they can just keep playing well for us and see what happens.”
Nick David missed out on the call-up this time around, with his focus now turned to this Friday night’s battle with Leicester Tigers. The closing Premiership weekend before a lengthy break from league action, David was delighted with his side’s Champions Cup triumph over Ulster, and looked ahead to the run-in with Leicester.
“We were ecstatic with the result. But the performance we put out there on Saturday, you know, we owed the fans a good performance. I mean, our last home game was against Toulouse (47-19 loss), So yeah, the fans we’re demanding a performance, and we certainly gave them that.”
“It’s a huge challenge, this Friday. We’re aware of that sort of set-piece threat, not only the scrum, but with the maul as well. So the forwards definitely have their work out for them. But yeah, it’s a challenge, we’re all certainly relishing it. So yeah, we’re looking forward to it.”
Leicester will run out under the Friday night lights with a near full-strength squad, as the Tigers have not been too heavily dented by the Six Nations call-ups. Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson certainly recognises this, with his side gearing up to take on the likes of Rugby World Cup winning Springbok Handre Pollard, Argentina captain Julien Montoya and retired England scrum-half Ben Youngs. Wilson discussed how it will be a challenge with six absentees from the Quins camp, but he is excited to see his players rise to the opportunity tomorrow night.
“Yeah, look, it is a big challenge on several fronts. First of all, is this a very good Leicester Tigers team, who are improving and playing well, at the moment, no doubt about that. Second of all, it’s slightly different in terms of this fixture clashing with England camp. For us we’ve had a fair few selected for that camp. So that’s a different challenge, as well Then flicking from one competition to another, and a very different opposition to the ones we played recently is that third challenge.”
“This will be the ultimate test, because it’s not one or two (players in England camp) it’s six boys unavailable for this game, and it’s a huge game. But that opens the door and gives an opportunity to other players who’ve been training really well, playing well when they’ve had their opportunity, and now they get that opportunity on the ultimate stage. Leicester Tigers, Friday night, packed here, massive game. So we’ll see how that pans out with with some new combinations.”
Following this Friday, Harlequins, and the rest of the Premiership teams, will have to wait until after the 2024 Six Nations for their next competitive fixture. Harlequins take on Saracens on March 23rd, in the annual ‘Showdown’ event at the state of the art Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. However, to keep the Quins fresh, the West London club will be in action against Munster in a mid-season friendly, which Nick David eyes as a good opportunity to freshen up ahead of the hotly anticipated derby against Sarries.
“It’s been it’s been a long, long stint because of the World Cup, from the very first Premiership game up until now. I think it’s been what 16, or 17 games on the bounce. So this break in that respect, it’s come at a really good time for a lot of guys.”
“I think it’s going to be long period. So I think playing that Munster game, it’s going to be massive. So although there aren’t going to be games at the end of each week, we have to make sure that we don’t slack and we’re getting everything we need out of each training session.”