England's Strettle puts his foot in it
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:52
Harlequins' England wing David Strettle has been ruled out of the November internationals after his club revealed that he will be sidelined for between five and seven weeks with a foot injury.
It is the third time in the past year that he will miss a major series - with the same foot injury having ruled him out of last year's World Cup in France, the Six Nations this year and now the year-end internationals, not to mention the Heineken Cup competition.
Strettle came off the pitch in the 37th minute of last Thursday's Guinness Premiership match against Worcester Warriors.
"After being examined by a specialist, it has been confirmed that the injury is a re-occurrence of the injury David picked up when playing for England, during last season," a Harlequins statement said.
"The advice which has been given is to rest, with no surgical intervention being required.
"However, because it is a repeat of the previous injury, there will be further investigative work done to try and help prevent the likelihood of any further re-occurrence of this particular injury.
"David [Strettle] will be expected to be out of action for the next five to seven weeks."
That means the Quins flyer wont be available till mid-November, earliest, and even then he will be required to prove his fitness in club competitions first.
England play the Pacific Islanders (the first of their Tests, on November 8), Australia, South Africa and New Zealand on consecutive Saturdays and it is unlikely he will be back to feature in any of those games.
Harlequins open their Heineken Cup campaign against the Scarlets this Saturday and face Ulster the following week.
At a push he could be available for the Round Three encounter with Stade Francais in the first week of December.
