James Horwill suffers gruesome finger injury during Harlequins defeat, insists he wants to play on

The Australian's finger was left hanging at a 45 degrees angle 

Samuel Lovett
Monday 21 November 2016 09:39 GMT
Comments
James Horwill in action for Quins
James Horwill in action for Quins (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Harlequins captain James Horwill attempted to play on despite suffering a gruesome dislocated finger during his side’s 25-6 defeat by Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on Sunday.

The Australian suffered the injury with 10 minutes left on the clock, which left his finger skewed at a horrendous right angle with the bone clearly exposed.

As with most forwards, Horwill asked the Harlequins physios to simply pop his finger back in place and tape it up in order to allow him to return to the pitch.

The 31-year-old did have the finger repositioned but the nature of the injury was ultimately too severe and the Quins management was forced to replace Horwill with Charlie Mulchrone in the 70th minute.

Harlequins ended the game in defeat as Leicester moved to fourth in the Premiership.

Former England international Andy Goode took to Twitter in the wake of the game to praise the Australian’s commitment and resilience.

“Fair play to @JHowrill playing for the @Harlequins,” he wrote. “Hard as nails asking the physio to tape this up and play on.”

“Fair to say my days as a hand model may be over!,” joked Horwill in response.

The story ended in smiles though, with Horwill tweeting a picture of himself from hospital with his finger and hand all bandaged up and in the right position.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in