Quins dig deep for victory but pay price with Easter injury

Worcester 22 Harlequins 26

Wyn Griffiths
Sunday 25 October 2009 21:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Harlequins secured a second Premiership win of the season at Sixways on Saturday but their success came at a price as they lost their influential No 8 Nick Easter after little more than half an hour with a calf injury.

It was an impressive win for the visiting side but the question of Easter's fitness dominated the post-match talk.

When asked about the extent of the injury, Quins coach John Kingston said: ''It looks like he has a calf muscle injury. He is on crutches and it is impossible to say how many weeks he will be off but there is obviously a question mark as to whether he will be available for England's autumn internationals.''

Reflecting on the positives of his side's victory, Kingston said: ''It was a very physical game and all credit to the guys, they dug deep and its never easy to win here. We are getting back on track but realistically we are not going to progress further in the Heineken Cup and our aim it to qualify for that competition next season.''

Worcester coach Mike Ruddock said: ''We are very disappointed we didn't perform the way we wanted to and they deserved the victory. We huffed and puffed but we weren't the better team. We showed fortitude to get a bonus point but were not clinical enough. We hoped to make Sixways a fortress but we didn't.''

Worcester's front-row injury problems were accentuated by the loss of Tevita Taumoepeau after 19 minutes which placed both Worcester's scrum and lineout under pressure.

"Tevita has dislocated two fingers and the medical team will have to assess his injury in readiness for next week," added Ruddock. "In all probability we will have to out looking for a prop but we will have difficulty finding one good enough."

Worcester: Try Black; Conversion Walker; Penalties Walker 4; Drop goal Walker.

Harlequins: Tries Care, Brown; Conversion Evans, Clegg; Penalties Evans 2, Clegg 2.

Worcester: Latham; Gear, Grove, Tuitupou, Benjamin; Walker, Powell (Arr, 70; A Black (Gilding, 59), Lutui (Fortey, 63), Taumoepeau (C Black, 19), Rawlinson, Gillies (Bowley, 63), Wood, Sanderson, Talei (Collins, 73).

Harlequins: M Brown; Strettle (Drauniniu, 75), Lowe, Mordt, Monye; N Evans (Clegg, 58), Care; Jones, Fuga (Brooker, 61), Andress (Johnston, 61), Percival (Stevenson, 78), Robson, Robshaw, McMillan, Easter (Guest, 31).

Referee: T Wigglesworth.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in