Harlequins’ bid to reach the European Challenge Cup final has been boosted by the return of Joe Marler and Nick Evans for the semi-final against Grenoble at the Stoop on Friday.
Marler has served his two-game suspension following the “Gypsy boy” comment he directed at Wales’s Samson Lee during the Six Nations while Evans is fit to return to the bench for the first time since February.
Evans, who alongside Nick Easter is being linked with a player-coach role at Quins next season, had been expected to be out for 12 weeks after breaking a leg against Gloucester. The Kiwi fly-half is joined in the match-day squad by Marler, James Horwill, Adam Jones, George Lowe and Luke Wallace, all of whom missed last Saturday’s 22-12 defeat to Saracens at Wembley.
Conor O’Shea has named Ben Botica as his starting fly-half but hopes Evans’s presence will improve his side’s chances of victory. “Nick has fought back fit a couple of weeks ahead of schedule but that’s only what we’ve come to expect of him,” the Quins director of rugby said.
“It’s a great boost to have him back and something that will give everyone a natural lift. We feel it’s a strong line-up … hopefully we can go out there and bring that to bear against what is clearly a powerful Grenoble side.”
Quins are keen to win something this year as a leaving present for O’Shea, who is heading to Italy at the end of the season to coach the national side. They won this tournament in 2011 and, should they repeat that success, will be guaranteed a place in next season’s Champions’ Cup regardless of their Premiership finishing position.
The former Scotland captain Mike Blair has retired from playing with immediate effect and will take a coaching role with Glasgow next season. Blair, who turned 35 on Wednesday, is Scotland’s most-capped scrum-half having made 85 Test appearances. He also represented the Lions in South Africa in 2009 and played for Edinburgh, Brive and Newcastle before joining Glasgow.
Gregor Townsend described Blair as “one of Scotland’s best ever rugby players” and paid tribute to his scrum-half skills. “He always looked to put others into space but also had a very good running game,” the Glasgow coach said.
“He became more creative throughout his career in terms of manipulating defences and he was one of the best nines in the game at playing at a high tempo.”
Blair made his final appearance for Glasgow in the win over Cardiff Blues at the beginning of March but has since been sidelined with concussion.
