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'He's keen to go': Harlequins issue update on Joe Marler broken foot
Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson has said that England loosehead Joe Marler is making “good progress” as he recovers from a broken foot.
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Quins have been without their prop for the entirety of their pre-season after he broke his left foot in the opening 20 minutes of England’s first Test against the All Blacks in Dunedin in July.
Marler himself has since given a less-than-positive update, disclosing that his recovery has been “slower than expected”, but his boss has allayed any fears that he will be out any longer than the original 14-week prognosis.
Indeed, Wilson even added that the 34-year-old is “keen to go” ahead of his 16th season of professional rugby, but they may need to curb his enthusiasm slightly and stick to the original recovery timeframe.
A 14-week recovery period would mean that the 95-cap England prop would be expected to return for round four of the Gallagher Premiership against Saracens at the Stoop after missing the opening three fixtures against Sale Sharks, Newcastle Falcons and champions Northampton Saints.
This timeframe will please England boss Steve Borthwick, who should have his prop available for the Autumn Nations Series.
“He’s on the same track and making good progress on the timeframe we originally spoke about,” Wilson said.
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“I don’t know what that is now counting the weeks down, but it was a 14-week injury from when it happened. He’s making some good progress, he’s in really good spirits at the moment.
“He’s been in the environment today and obviously doing his own training as well as doing bits and pieces with the squad. He looks great at the moment and he’s keen to go, but we obviously need to tick all the boxes before we get him on the field.”
Quins travel to Manchester on Sunday to take on Sale in a tough opening match of the season. Despite a few absentees, Wilson is buoyant about the health of his squad heading into the match.
“Nothing came out of the Treviso game of any worry. Nothing new. The same players are on their graded return.
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“Joe Marler and a couple others are returning from injury but on the whole our squad is in a pretty decent place right now.
“That will get tested- six Premiership games on the bounce and then into a different competition, so it will get tested but right at this minute now we start at a reasonably good place.”
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Genge and Baxter should be 1 and 17 for England.
Opoku-Fordjour has to be in the squad, and for the time being I'd have him down as a loosehead. If there are injuries to any of those three, or if Opoku-Fordjour is confirmed as a tighthead, then Rodd and Obano make much more long-term sense as squad players than Marler does.