Lynagh ready for comeback after injury nightmare

Harlequins boss Tabai Matson has revealed rising star Louis Lynagh, son of Wallaby great Michael, is set to return to action after undergoing two knee operations that have side-lined him all season.

Lynagh, who was a key try scorer when Quins won the Premiership, will miss Friday’s important Premiership clash at Gloucester but Matson is confident the talented 22-year-old will be ready to compete for a place against Exeter at Twickenham on March 5. Two years ago Lynagh scored two late tries as Quins defeated defending champions Exeter 40-38 in the Premiership final at Twickenham to win their first title for nine years.

Former England head coach Eddie Jones included Lynagh in the national squad without capping the wing which means he remains eligible for Australia, Italy and England. His brother Tom started at outside half for Queensland Reds in their narrow loss to the Waratahs at the weekend in the build up to the Super Rugby season Down Under.

Matson, who has taken over the backs coaching while Nick Evans is with England, said: “Louis is training fully and will be available next week and the best thing for him is to concentrate on coming back and playing well for us. Louis had a cartilage repair and it didn’t go as well as hoped and so they went back in again so he has had a double lay off which is not a bad thing for someone of his age. The silver lining is he has been able to do some university studying in commerce.

“For someone like Louis who was being fast tracked, his career was going really, a set back like this means they can consolidate and keep working. The rule of thumb is that you get a serious injury every four years( in rugby) and so he is going to have to do this another two or three times in his career.

“We have players involved in internationals now on the back of playing well for the club in big games. He wants to play in the big games for us at the end of the season – if we get that far.

“We have be conservative with him because of his injury and his age and we do know that when he comes back he will be healthy and ready to go rather than rushing him back. He will have his work to break into our current back three and that is his immediate focus.”