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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.
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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.
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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.
The lack of competition isn't down to a lack of genuine competition, it's down to regressive selections. Jamie Blamire and Harry Thacker are both good enough but just aren't selected.