Quins' win comes at a cost
October 03 2008
England wing David Strettle suffered his third foot injury in little more than a year, to cast a shadow over Harlequins' 30-23 Guinness Premiership victory against Worcester at Sixways.
Strettle went off at half-time after Harlequins scored tries through Ugo Monye (2), Gonzalo Tiesi and Mike Brown.
He missed last year's World Cup after breaking down in training, then lasted less than 15 minutes of England's Six Nations campaign last term when he was hurt during the Twickenham opener against Wales.
"David has hurt his foot. He will have a scan on Friday," said Harlequins boss Dean Richards.
"He came off as a precautionary measure, and we will have to wait and see what the results of the medical checks are."
Harlequins moved into second in the Premiership, after a remarkable blitz of three tries in five minutes helped them secure a bonus-point triumph.
"To come here and take five points is a big 'ask'," added Richards.
"I don't think there are many sides who have done that.
"I am a little bit disappointed we didn't capitalise on our first-half performance, but we got the result we wanted."
Worcester, despite beating Premiership champions Wasps 18 days ago, have lost four of their first five league games.
They also suffered a double injury blow, loose forward Kai Horstmann and centre Dale Rasmussen, both suffering potentially serious knee injuries.
Fly-half Matthew Jones contributed 18 points, including a try, while wing Miles Benjamin also touched down - but Harlequins were not to be denied.
"We are nearly there, but it is not happening for us at the moment," said Worcester coach Clive Griffiths.
"We lost the ball four times in broken-field situations, but we salvaged something out of the wreckage and we 'won' the second-half.
"It was not what we wanted, and we will look back on that game as an opportunity lost.
"There was no panic at half-time. We were 14 points down, not 40, and in the modern game you can score very quickly. I was delighted with some of our back play.
"We want to stick to our principles of how to play the game, but sometimes the rules nullify how you want to play."
Worcester now head into a six-week break from the Premiership just four points above bottom club Bristol.