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Leading contender Mallett could be man for Harlequins
LONDON (Reuters) -- Former South Africa coach Nick Mallett has emerged as an early candidate to replace Zinzan Brooke as coach of troubled London club Harlequins. New Zealander Brooke, who had been publicly critical of the attitude of some of his players, quit as coach on New Year's Day. Harlequins, 11th out of 12 teams in the first division, meet Leicester on Saturday in an English Cup semifinal. One possible replacement is Mallett, who was forced to resign as national coach last September despite taking the Springboks to a world record-equalling 17 tests wins in succession. Mallett told the Daily Mail he was open to offers but stressed there had been no approach from Harlequins. "He is a quality coach with a proven track record," said Harlequins' chief executive Mark Evans. "If he is available at the right price he would be a strong candidate." The search for a successor began this week with Evans confirming he would not combine his role as chief executive with a coaching job. Brooke, 35, one of the great All Black loose forwards, told Radio 5 he realized his time was up after Harlequins lost 26-18 to Saracens last month. "One of the questions was 'what are you going to do now?'," Brooke said. "I didn't know how to answer the question." The former New Zealand number eight stood by his criticism of some of his players. "If you want to be a championship side you have got to make sure you do that little bit extra work," he said. "You'd like to think that some of the players would take personal responsibility for themselves. "If you want to be the best, you've got to train like the best. I felt that a couple of guys wanted to be the best but they weren't prepared to put in the hard work."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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