Dragging oneself to the start-line …
As my regular followers will know, I am now freed from the tyranny of season ticket holding and any obligation to actually roll up at the Stoop to watch the boys playing rugby – and what a relief that has been!
Furthermore – and this would have applied anyway – in no way have I been moved by sentiment or interest to change my decade-long refusal to attend the London Double Header at Twickenham Stadium, which annual ritual remains, quite frankly, the most awful Premiership gimmick ever devised, played at the most soulless rugby venue in the world bar none.
In consequence I am pleased to announce that I am free and able to comment as I deem fit upon the prospects for 2017/2018 Harlequins FC season which opens tomorrow with a match at ‘HQ’ against our traditional ‘auld derby enemy’ London Irish, newly promoted from the Championship, to where they had been deservedly relegated at the end of the 2015/2016.
By habit – and possibly also convention – Quins do not normally announce their match day 23 until about 11.00am on the day before a Premiership match, which means that in this post I cannot comment upon the composition of tomorrow’s team or indeed predict how it might try to play.
There is plenty of media chat about in the rugby world at the moment on the subjects of player burnout, attrition, niggling injuries, newly-developed saliva/urine tests that may help those conducting the pitch-side head injury assessments to identify symptoms of concussion, not forgetting the issues of mental health and the long-term general physical health of former players.
Here follows a list of some of the many examples of rugby union players who have been forced permanently from the field of play recently:
Mouritz Botha (lock, Newcastle Falcons and England – concussion);
Luke Fitzgerald (wing threequarter, Leinster and Ireland – neck);
Harry Robinson (wing three quarter, Scarlets and Wales, aged only 23 – neck);
Ian Evans (lock, Bristol and Wales – knee);
Will Fraser (flanker, Saracens and England Saxons – England second team … often tipped for full England honours, though endlessly blighted by injuries and eventually forced to retire aged only 27 – neck).
Sadly, Quins have recently had to add a loyal and popular player to this group.
George Lowe, 27, an average-sized centre (5 feet 10 and 14 stone) as tough as teak and as hard as nails, has had to retire due to unspecified injury problems only this week. He was as committed and fearless a centre threequarter as I’ve ever seen, resolute in defence, fast, direct and capable of flashes of great invention and flair. Over the past four seasons he had become more and more susceptible to injuries and suffered a really bad neck injury about eighteen months ago from which he has taken ages to recover. I’d hazard a guess that his failure to make it back to full fitness – and his retirement – were the culmination of the inevitable.
George was one of those ‘golden generation’ of Quins players who joined the club from 2003/2004 onwards – many of them as academy players who then trained on successfully to greater things – that eventually formed the backbone of our Premiership-winning squad of 2011/2012.
A salute to you, George – and thanks for all you did for Quins on the field!
It brings me no joy whatsoever to continue by referring to the serious pre-season injuries that have befallen two Quins players of whom much might have been expected this term.
Flanker Luke Wallace, 26, a pocket battleship at 6 feet 1 and 16 stone, has been an ever-present first team squad member since that epic 2011/2012 season. A top class Premiership player, he nearly broke through into contention for the England squad in 2014 but has never quite made it in a position for which there are many contenders, including (of course) Chris Robshaw – also of Quins. Wallace has been unlucky – in another era he might have been an England regular.
He was also very unlucky in mid-August when he dislocated his right hip playing in a pre-season friendly against London Irish. He’s undergone surgery that has most probably put him out for the entire season.
Another to lose a season before it had even started has been academy member Jonas Mikalcius, 23 – a giant wing threequarter of much promise and Ukrainian origin – who was injured in a summer 7-a-side tournament and has been forced to have a multi-ligament reconstruction of his right knee.
Tough luck, lads – and may you get back, fitter and stronger than ever, sooner than anyone is predicting.
As for the coming season, I have absolutely zero expectations of Quins. With imperious fly half Nick Evans now retired and on the coaching staff, plus a few inward signings of varying quality, their fortunes during what this term is bound to be a close-fought Premiership all the way are completely ‘up in the air’. Survival and a lower mid-table end position (say 8th place out of 12) would be my best (honest) hoped-for outcome.
Fingers crossed …
[Although I shall be watching the Quins v London Irish match live on BT Sport mid-afternoon tomorrow (second match on, kick off 4.45pm), I will not be bothering Rust readers with a report upon its outcome.]
