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Big knock rules Raffi Quirke out again in latest injury set back
Raffi Quirke, the England international scrum half, faces a possible six week recovery period after breaking his jaw in the latest significant injury of his young career.
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Quirke, 22, broke into the England squad under Eddie Jones, the former head coach, and made his debut as a replacement for Ben Youngs against Australia in 2021 becoming the youngest scrum half since Nick Duncombe to wear the England No9 jersey.
He came off the bench again in the match with South Africa, showing his pace with the winning try in a 27-26 victory at Twickenham.
However, injury set backs ruined his hopes of pushing for a place in the England squad for the Rugby World Cup in France and he now faces another battle to get back to the form that took him into the international squad.
Quirke was injured in the 20-15 win over Northampton on October 15 and Alex Sanderson, the Sale director of rugby, said: “Raffi has elastic bands on the back of his jaw and it is a fracture but a non displaced fracture. It is a four to six week period out and he is in a good place despite his concurrent injuries and this was another one out of his control. We will start to build him up again.”
Quirke was sidelined for six months after requiring an operation on a hamstring he pulled off the bone, making it back onto the pitch in October 2022. He then suffered a wrist injury which forced him to sit out yet more rugby.
Sanderson would not name the three World Cup players who have returned to training but that is likely to have included England’s Tom Curry and Argentina’s Agustin Creevy.
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Hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie is “close” to playing after having a further check up on his neck injury while Ben Curry has been fully training this week.
Sale, who were beaten 43-0 by Exeter last weekend, take on Gloucester at the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday night, will be without wing Tom O’Flaherty who has a groin injury.
“I had to take ownership about what I could have done differently,” added Sanderson. “I got the reflections from the players and then you start to get it right.
“I don’t choose to use shame and embarrassment as tools. The hairdryer treatment is not sustainable after a poor performance and training this week has been energised.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
What a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
2 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
2 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
3 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
86 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
228 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to comments