Injury crisis at Harlequins forces club to sign two scrumhalves
Harlequins have confirmed the signing of two scrumhalves to cover a burgeoning injury crisis at nine.
Danny Care sustained an ankle injury during pre-season training, with a projected eight-week recovery time.
The 32-year-old, who has made over 260 appearances for the club, underwent surgery but isn’t expect to be back until October.
To add to their difficulties, back-up scrumhalf Niall Saunders was injured on the weekend against Bristol.
The club today signed Dylan Munro and Lloyd Wheeldon, one to the academy and one on a short-term contract.
Munro signed a two-year deal with the Harlequins Academy earlier this month, joining from Stellenbosch University where the 19-year-old was a key player for the Stellenbosch Rugby side in his home nation of South Africa.
Expressing his delight, Munro said: “Harlequins is a Club known across the globe, so to be joining is a dream come true for me. I have already learnt so much and being around such a talented group has helped me grow as a player. I can’t wait to get out there in the famous Quarters and represent this team.”
Also joining the club after a successful trial is fellow scrumhalf Lloyd Wheeldon. He has been offered a short-term contract to provide cover at Number 9 with current injuries to “The Talisman” Danny Care and young hotshot Niall Saunders, who will unfortunately be out for around three weeks with an oblique injury, following his explosive start against Bristol Bears in the Premiership Rugby Cup.
A serving Lance Corporal in 3 Para, Wheeldon joins Harlequins following a successful spell with the Army Rugby Union. The 23-year-old has already represented Harlequins at the recent Premiership Rugby 7s tournament, scoring against Bristol in the quarter-final.
#Harlequins very good interview on @RugbyPass with Ackerman, Gussy and Kidney, well worth a read @RugbyGlos @RugbyQuins @RugbyLI https://t.co/NeJm6QLSL5
— Friends Of The Stoop #COYQ ? (@QuinsFOTS) September 15, 2019
Wheeldon commented: “Having previously represented the Army at Twickenham, I’ve had a taste of what it feels like to play on the biggest stage and the opportunity to join a Club like Harlequins is an incredible next step in my rugby journey.”
Harlequins Head of Rugby Paul Gustard added: “We’ve been impressed by the attitude, character and effort shown by both Dylan and Lloyd in training and are delighted to offer them more formal opportunities with the Club.
“Dylan was recommended to me by my good friends Ernst Joubert and Neil de Kock in South Africa and, whilst on my holiday/recruitment break, we managed to organise for him to come over on a trial basis. We have limited options at scrum-half in terms of our pathway, which has been a concern, so I have been looking for someone for a while to give us depth and who also has the core skillset and physical attributes required. I believe Dylan will prove to be a successful addition to our squad – he has raw ability and genuine pace, which is in keeping with how we want to play.
“First and foremost, Lloyd is a great kid, and he has worked incredibly hard since arriving at the Club on a training contract in June. His attitude and aptitude to make a swift comeback following a hamstring injury in pre-season is testament to his mental fortitude and desire to play professional rugby.
“We are pleased that we can formally announce him on an initial short-term contract following Niall’s injury to allow him to compete and follow his ambition. I am equally grateful to the cooperation of the Army and the excellent work of our superb Player Development Manager, Andy Sanger, who is quite simply, one of the greats.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments