Injured Quins captain Alex Dombrandt faces race to make England squad

Harlequins captain Alex Dombrandt faces four weeks on the sidelines after breaking his hand against Sale Sharks on Sunday in their opening match of the Gallagher Premiership.

The 17-cap England No.8 received treatment to his left hand early in the second half of Quins’ 12-11 loss at the Salford Community Stadium. Though he was able to pack down at a scrum moments after getting his hand strapped, he was unable to bind in the scrum with his injured hand and was immediately replaced by Dino Lamb on 51 minutes.

Quins head coach Danny Wilson has now confirmed that his captain suffered a “small break in his hand” and will be sidelined for about four weeks.

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The outing at Sale was the 27-year-old’s first match at the helm in the Premiership after officially being named Quins captain over the summer.

“He has a small break in his hand,” Wilson said this week. “So he’ll probably be looking at a four-weeker in terms of the injury.”

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Though he will likely return before England’s first fixture of the autumn against the All Blacks on November 2, he may not be fit by the time Steve Borthwick names his squad in mid-October.

After being a member of England’s squad for the summer tour of Japan and New Zealand, but getting no game time, the question is whether Borthwick will take a risk on a player whose fitness he is not 100 per cent certain about when naming his squad.

For now, a four-week absence will mean Dombrandt misses Quins’ fixtures against Newcastle Falcons, champions Northampton Saints, former champions Saracens and last season’s runners-up Bath.

Though it is a huge blow for Quins to lose their captain and an international, Wilson is comfortable with the amount of depth he has at No.8 and the leaders he has at his disposal to step up and skipper the side. The situation may provide Dombrandt’s England and Harlequins teammate Chandler Cunningham-South the opportunity to show what he can do at the back of the scrum.

“Chandler Cunningham-South can play No.8, [James] Chisholm can play No.8, Kenners [Jack Kenningham] went to No.8 for that period of time, and Tom Lawday can play No.8,” Wilson added.

“We have other players that can play in that position, it will just depend on getting the right make-up of the back row.

“We’ve got a few good leaders in there that have been around a long time.”