Johann van Graan's worst fears confirmed over Sam Underhill injury

Johann van Graan has revealed that England flanker Sam Underhill suffered a torn bicep in last Friday’s 33-17 win at Harlequins and will undergo an operation on Thursday.

Underhill was replaced after 48 minutes at the Twickenham Stoop and a concerned van Graan rushed down to the tunnel to check on the luckless player, later admitting that the injury looked “potentially serious.”

Now his worst fears have been confirmed, with Underhill’s latest setback likely to cost him three months of rugby, including England’s Nations Championship campaign in November.

“There’s a few type of injuries where I just want to know straight away because I know the impact that it has longer term, and I always feel for the players, so that’s why I went straight down (to the tunnel),” he said during this week’s media session.

“At the time it was very much, ‘look, we need to wait for the scan, but this could be a bicep rupture’. And the scan turned out to be exactly that, so he will get operated on, on Thursday.

“That’s obviously a few months out of the game, so not ideal from Sam’s point of view. But as with every player who gets injured at this club, we’ll do our best to get him back as soon as possible.”

Van Graan added: “It is always disappointing for every player when you get injured in round one, because you have just come through a big pre-season and you are just kind of getting started. But injuries are part and parcel of this game and Sam had had a few big ones, and I am sure he will be back as soon as possible, and we are looking forward to welcoming him back, whenever that is, whether it is December or January.”

Meanwhile, van Graan has confirmed that veteran hooker Tom Dunn is available for selection, while a decision will be taken later in the week on winger Henry Arundell.

The England international missed the Harlequins match with a back complaint. “Henry was part of training today,” van Graan confirmed.

“He is struggling a bit with his back so will make a decision later in the week whether he will play on Friday night.

“If you go 7-1 or 6-2, you want to make sure your backs can stay on the field for 80 minutes and, ultimately, we don’t want to put a player on the field who is not 100% right. So we’ll see how he gets through the week.

“Obviously he is a very important player for us, but if isn’t 100%, we are going to back our squad as we have done before.”

One piece of good news is that captain and first-choice scrum-half Ben Spencer is back in training and will be available for selection in mid-October.”