Duncombe fit for toughest test

Harlequins' teenage scrumhalf Nick Duncombe will cap an amazing injury comeback when he faces the might of Leicester in the Powergen Cup quarterfinal at the Stoop tomorrow.

Duncombe suffered a serious neck injury playing for England Under-18s in April 2000 and it was feared he would never play again.

However, after surgery and months of rehabilitation he made a complete recovery and has forced his way back into the international set-up, winning a place in the England Sevens side and being named in the England A squad this week.

He began the year on a threetournament tour to the Southern Hemisphere with the England Sevens team but when Quins ran into problems at scrum-half, Duncombe was recalled after playing one event in Durban. Despite only having 100 minutes of first-team experience, Duncombe is relishing the challenge of knocking out the reigning Premiership champions and Heineken Cup holders, a feat which Quins managed last year. "There is experience all around me and I am looking forward to it," said Duncombe, who is 20 on Monday.

Quins will be without hooker Keith Wood and wing Dan Luger, who are both injured.

Leicester's England wing Austin Healey is suspended which will be a relief for the home side after his two tries helped to see off Quins in the Premiership last month.

Saracens take on Northampton at Vicarage Road tomorrow with the game kicking off at 6.30pm after research found fans preferred this to the traditional Saturday afternoon start.

"This competition and the Parker Pen Shield are very important to us because they both offer a route into Europe," said Francois Pienaar, Saracens' director of rugby.

"We had a close match with Northampton in September but they have a lot of players back since then and have won quite a few games recently."

Saracens will be without injured wing Ben Johnston but Tom Shanklin is back from training with Wales and takes over.

Northampton include their new recruit, Springbok lock Johann Ackermann, in their squad as well as Scotland prop Matt Stewart, who was sent off against Cardiff last week.

London Irish's reward if they beat Gloucester at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday will be home advantage in the semifinals which will be played backto-back on their ground on 9 March.

Gloucester have to field a new front-row because England prop Phil Vickery has broken a bone in his hand and hooker Olivier Azam and prop Trevor Woodman are suspended. Mark Irish, a young prop from Bridgwater, is the new face in the line-up.

The Irish will be without flanker Kieron Dawson, who needs knee surgery and will miss Ireland's Six Nations opener against Wales on 3 February. James Cockle is his replacement.