Harlequins boss Jason Gilmore shares timeline on Fin Baxter's return

Harlequins boss Jason Gilmore says he is holding England loosehead Fin Baxter back for another week, with the Gallagher Prem London derby against Saracens on Sunday, 25 October pencilled in as his comeback date.

Baxter, 24, hasn’t played since scoring in the Champions Cup win over Bayonne on 14 December, 2025, after suffering a foot injury, which has required a couple of operations.

He was expected to play in Quins’ Challenge Cup opener against French side Vannes, who are propping up the Top 14 table after losing all six games this season, but Gilmore feels he will benefit more from another week of training.

Providing an update on some of his other injured players, Gilmore said that Samoan tighthead Titi Lamositele should be back for the trip to Exeter Chiefs at the end of the month, and that Harry Williams and Ben Waghorn are also nearing a return to action.

“We were looking at Fin this week, but we’re just going to punch another week of training into him, and then he will be available for Sarries,” comfirmed Gilmore.

“Titi is kind of borderline maybe for the Exeter game. If not, he’ll be ready to go for the start of block two.”

Gilmore is glad to finally see some light at the end of what has been a very long tunnel on the injury front; the Australian can’t remember when he last had it this good.

“I don’t know if I can rack my brain back that far. But the positive is we’re almost there, and you can get a feel for that.

“I’m really comfortable with the way the squad’s sitting at the moment. We’ve got a lot to choose from.

“Fin’s training really strongly; Harry Williams is just around the corner; Ben Waghorn should be back on the field next week.

“We don’t want to be handing jerseys out left, right, and centre, you’ve got to earn them. When you’ve got that, you’ve got training competitiveness and standards, and performance can be driven into gameplay, and then the boys know they’ve got to actually earn their shirt.”