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Quins lose starlet Cassius Cleaves to injury after stunning first start
By Josh Raisey
Harlequins winger Cassius Cleaves has been ruled out “medium-term” with a hamstring injury sustained in his barnstorming Gallagher Premiership starting debut on Saturday.
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The 21-year-old only managed 50 minutes against Newcastle Falcons at the Stoop before being forced off with the injury, but it was not before he caught the eye of many viewers by showing what he is capable of.
Cleaves is not the only member of the Quins casualty list from the victory, with centre Luke Northmore and full-back Leigh Halfpenny also picking up injuries.
After only managing three minutes from the bench last week in his Premiership debut against Sale Sharks, the former England U20s wing looked to be making a compelling case to make Quins’ starting XV, exhibiting his searing pace and balance to set up a try for Halfpenny and once again being instrumental in Will Porter’s try after half-time.
While Cleaves is expected to have an extended stint on the sidelines, Quins head coach Danny Wilson has downplayed the severity of the injuries to Northmore and Halfpenny ahead of their clash with Premiership champions Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday.
“He’s still going through some treatment right now, short-term injury,” Wilson said when addressing the injury to Northmore, who left the field after 21 minutes.
“I can’t give you much more weeks-wise at the moment but based on how it settles and scan results and so on. But he’s not looking too bad at the moment.”
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Regarding Cleaves’ injury, Wilson said: “A medium-term hamstring injury, probably a little bit longer which is a shame because I thought he was playing really well, first game, first opportunity.
“So it’s a real shame for him because we would have liked to have kept that project going and shown his real out-and-out pace. He’s going to be a little bit longer than Luke.
“Leigh Halfpenny got a shoulder bang. It’s just a case of how quickly can that settle. Other than that a few knocks, but nothing major.”
Though Quins have a mounting injury list in their back three, Wilson did not want to reveal whether fly-half Marcus Smith will now be an option in the No 15 jersey.
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“Certainly we feel we’ve got some strong options in the back three regardless of injuries,” he added. “Obviously we’ve got Cadan Murley, Tyrone Green, a question mark over Leigh, Cassius now, so we’ve got a number of injuries there, but we’ve also got some quality rugby players, who can go into the squad and into the team and do a job.”
Elsewhere in the squad, Wilson provided an update on England loosehead Joe Marler, who continues his recovery from a broken foot.
He said: “So far he’s making all the right steps forward in terms of his recovery and he’s on track to be available for us. But there’s a few more tests that we need to do.”