Joe Marler will miss the start of the Premiership season, and faces a race against time to be fit for England’s autumn internationals, after sustaining a broken foot during the summer tour of New Zealand.
Marler was seen wearing a protective boot on the sidelines of Harlequins’ open training session on Wednesday. The Harlequins head coach, Danny Wilson, revealed the veteran prop had broken his foot. Wilson is waiting on an update from his medical staff, but confirmed Marler’s lay-off is likely to run until at least mid-October.
Indeed, with Wilson revealing the 34-year-old could be on the sidelines for 14 weeks from 6 July – when he sustained the injury in the first Test defeat by the All Blacks – he may not play again before Steve Borthwick, the England head coach, names his squad for the autumn fixtures against New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Japan.
In his absence Marler’s clubmate Fin Baxter made his first England start in the second Test against New Zealand. Baxter could find himself holding on to the No 1 jersey in the autumn, while Ellis Genge is also fit again after missing the summer tour through injury.
“It’s going to be a 12-14 week injury, it’s not a 12-weeker where he can come back in nine,” said Wilson, who has recruited the Wales and Lions prop Wyn Jones as a result of Marler’s injury. “It’s an injury that will take that amount of time. That at the moment hasn’t changed but I need to get to the bottom of that from today’s assessment.”
On signing Jones, who left Scarlets at the end of last season, Wilson said: “We looked at our squad and knew that we were going into three pre-season matches and the first few league matches without Joe, therefore our cupboard was a little bit bare in that position.”
Baxter challenges clubs over RFU deal
Rob Baxter says Gallagher Premiership clubs are at “the end stage” of knowing how a new eight-year partnership with the Rugby Football Union will work.
Details of the professional game partnership are expected to be unveiled in September. It is worth more than £260m to England’s top clubs across that eight-year period. The deal includes hybrid contracts for up to 25 leading international players and a more aligned approach to key areas such as strength and conditioning.
“It is up to us to get on with it now as clubs and make the relationship work,” Baxter, the Exeter rugby director, said. “It is obviously going to be slightly different, but we need to make sure we have a thriving product in the Premiership and a thriving English product across the board because ultimately, we need the game to grow.
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“I actually said to Conor O’Shea [the RFU’s executive director of performance rugby] the other day, that the proof of the pudding will be in a few years’ time, if the England internationals are available for most of the Premiership clubs’ big games and also playing for England.
“That ticks a lot of boxes. It means we are dealing with their conditioning and welfare very well. If the flip of it is not like that, then we will see.”
Baxter said that he was planning to talk to Borthwick on Wednesday afternoon.
“I’ve got a phone call lined up with Steve this afternoon. I have got the [Exeter] players’ individual development plans, and we will have a good discussion over any areas of debate. There aren’t going to be big areas of us disagreeing.”