Dan ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and was operated on yesterday, repairing the injury by way of a hamstring tendon graft. The operation went well and Dan will remain in hospital until the weekend.

Clearly this is bad news for NEC Harlequins as well as Dan himself. Dan has been very unlucky with injuries over recent years and everyone at Quins wishes him a speedy and successful recovery. For the club, in our current battle to avoid relegation and with three crucial games to go, Dan will be missed. Since the Bristol match at the end of March he has played very well, although we are lucky to have players of the calibre of Rob Jewell and Matt Moore to come in to the team.

However, after the disappointment of the injury, we should ask the question as to whether or not it is a good idea for England and British and Irish Lions wingers to be involved in such tournaments? England are using the World Sevens events as preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, but have now lost a world class player until February 2003. Yes, players can get injured in any circumstances, but Dan had already played 25 games this season for club and country. At a time when we are told that international players are playing too much, did he really need to go to a Sevens tournament in Singapore?

Dan played for us against London Irish on the Sunday. The following day he flies halfway around the world to Singapore and then, jet lagged and tired, trains and plays in an international sevens competition in 90% humidity, as Dan himself described it: "like playing rugby in a sauna." While I am sure the squad were given every opportunity to acclimatise to these conditions, they were alien to all the players and the fatigue factor caused by the travel and humidity may have contributed to the injury. It is no coincidence that the injuries sustained by both David Wilson, last May, and Keith Wood, in December, occurred during extra time in those games.

Tomorrow evening we face London Wasps in yet another crucial game in our battle at the bottom of the Premiership. London Wasps have had some tremendous results over recent weeks, beating Leicester, Gloucester and Saracens, so if we are not aware already, we can be sure that we will face a very difficult challenge against a very strong team.

We will not be announcing our team until 6pm on Friday evening. This is to allow players the maximum time to be sure they are fit to play, although everyone has taken some part in training this week. The players are refreshed having had last week away from the training ground, and I know that they are looking forward to the challenge of the Wasps game.

We will all look forward to hearing the Quins supporters at Loftus Road on Friday night; hopefully we can give you all something to cheer about.

See you at Loftus Road.