Harlequins captain Robshaw one of two ruled out through illness for Exeter

Harlequins captain Chris Robshaw and team-mate Stephan Lewies have been ruled out of this afternoon’s Cup semi-final against Exeter.

Former England captain Robshaw has been ruled out through illness, with Will Evans making his long awaited return from injury since breaking his jaw.

Failing a fitness test, second row Stephan Lewies has been replaced by Scottish lock Glen Young.

James Chisholm takes on captaincy for the match.

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WATCH: England player Tom Curry and coach Simon Amor give a press conference ahead of England’s first Six Nations game against France.

Head of Rugby at Harlequins, Paul Gustard said: “Last weekend, against Saracens, we demonstrated exactly how threatening Harlequins can be both sides of the ball. It was a positive all-around performance that we can be proud of, but it was of course disappointing to lose ‘Eazy’ who is enjoying a breakthrough season.

“Injury presents opportunity for other players in the squad and we’ve shown resilience and strength in adversity, which is a huge tribute to the foundations we are building. We are a united group and it’s a great environment to be around as players and as coaches.

“Exeter are currently the pre-eminent side in the domestic game, possessing real quality amongst their squad allied to strong tactical capacity, so to progress to the final we need to put our best foot forward. In the past 12 months we’ve seen the Club in two semi finals and we want to continue putting ourselves in these positions to compete for silverware. The next step of course is to make a final which will require a complete squad performance on Sunday.”

Updated Harlequins Starting XV:

1 Santiago Garcia Botta (12)
2 Jack Musk (10)
3 Will Collier (166)
4 Glen Young (9)
5 Matt Symons (37)
6 James Chisholm (84) (C)
7 Will Evans (9)
8 Alex Dombrandt (39)
9 Danny Care (271) (VC)
10 Marcus Smith (74)
11 Gabriel Ibitoye (35)
12 Paul Lasike (17)
13 Tom Penny (2)
14 Cadan Murley (28)
15 Aaron Morris (40)

Game Changers:
16 Sam Riley (0)
17 Mark Lambert (246)
18 Simon Kerrod (15)
19 Tevita Cavubati (12)
20 Semi Kunatani (20)
21 Martin Landajo (13)
22 Brett Herron (7)
23 Ross Chisholm (117)