RUGBY UNION: HARLEQUINS can still challenge for silverware next season without any big name signings, reckons chief executive Mark Evans.
Quins, who last season reached both the Heineken Cup and Guinness Premiership play-off semi-finals, last week announced a whole clutch of signings.
Most were unfamiliar names, and many from clubs outside the top flight, like Bedford Blues and Exeter Chiefs.
Evans admitted there will be no more arrivals, but insists Quins will not suffer for the want of any stellar signings.
He said: "We have shown in the past we have a good record in the department of bringing in unknown players and developing them into big names.
"We have taken the likes of David Strettle, Nick Easter and Mike Ross from relative obscurity in recent years and made them into internationals.
"There is no reason why we cannot do the same with this next crop. We're looking to be a home-grown and development-based club.
"That's not to say we won't make big name signings when we feel it's necessary. Nick Evans and Gary Botha were both huge names when we signed them, and we knew Danny Care wasn't far off being one.
"I am confident, with the new faces complementing the ones we already have, that we can match the successes of last season."
Evans was taking a well-earned rest this week after completing a 150-mile walk around the London loop last week.
Passing through Hounslow Heath and following the River Crane through Hounslow along the way, Evans raised money for the children's charity Friends United.
He added: "The idea was put to me by the charity and I loved it. I was joined by various people for different stages of the walk, but was the only one to do the whole lot.
"I've not really done anything like this before. I've done a few marathons, but this was much harder. It was tough to get up and carry on each morning after walking more than 20 miles the previous day."I didn't do a lot of training, just some running and walking, but the weather was kind to me.
"I'm not sure I'd be in a hurry to do it again though."
Having finished on Saturday, Evans was back at The Twickenham Stoop the following day for more charity work as Quins hosted a world record attempt at the largest gathering of men wearing just their pants.
Done in association with Cosmopolitan magazine, 146 men took part, breaking the previous record by 30, while raising awareness of testicular and prostate cancer.
