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The Nic Dolly injury update that will enthuse Leicester and England
By Liam Heagney
Leicester boss Richard Wigglesworth has reported that Nic Dolly is on the verge of a playing comeback just 11 months following the England hooker’s serious injury at Newcastle in the Gallagher Premiership. It was mid-May last year when the front-rower was stretchered off at Kingston Park with a serious knee injury inflicted by a yellow-carded crocodile roll at Kingston Park.
His left knee buckled when tackled by Newcastle’s Adam Brocklebank and the injury not only wrecked Dolly’s hopes of making the England summer tour to his native Australia but was also set to rule him out of the entire 2022/23 season if there were any setbacks along the way.
The 23-year-old, though, has resiliently fought through his rehabilitation and he did the pre-match warmups with Leicester before their recent games, a development that greatly pleased Wigglesworth.
“Nic is now available for selection. He has been travelling with us the last couple of weeks as 24th man so if there was an injury, he would be available to come in,” explained the interim head coach. “He has been incredibly impressive from the minute it happened to get back on the training field to now helping the team prepare.
“He has been exceptional in how hard he has worked. Not many people have had that injury and probably come back in the timescale he has, but also with the enthusiasm and the optimism that he has for the rest of his long career.”
It was November 2021 when Dolly was fast-tracked onto the England bench for a Test debut against South Africa just months after he landed at Coventry for the delayed start to the 2020/21 Championship season that March. He had joined the Butts Park Arena club after Sale Sharks, who recruited him from youths level rugby in New South Wales in 2017, offloaded him following loan spells with Sale FC, Rotherham Titans and Jersey Reds.
An emergency call soon arrived from Leicester, as they were short at hooker due to injury, and that ignited the sprint that catapulted Dolly onto the England Test bench. He made 21 appearances last term for Leicester before injury struck at Newcastle but his imminent return will now surely pique the interest of new England boss Steve Borthwick, the coach who originally signed him for Tigers.
England have been lacking in competition at hooker. Jamie George started all matches in the recent Guinness Six Nations, even playing the full 80 minutes on a number of occasions with the bench cover provided by rookie Jack Walker in the absence of the injured Luke Cowan-Dickie.
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Latest Comments
John, McKenzie was 10 years ago and he only lasted 15 months until the disgustingly unfair affair that brought him down. I thought that if he didn't get another gig over Eddie V2 then he was done. I read that he had been approached but declined to put his name in the ring.
There are no potential Wallaby coaches outside of McKellar unless you have some inside info?
Go to commentsThe way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.
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