Charlie Mulchrone will not be able to help his Harlequins teammates on the pitch for the rest of this season - but that won’t stop him from supporting them from the sidelines.

The 29-year-old scrum-half has enjoyed one of his best seasons at the club since joining in 2016 from Worcester Warriors, making 19 appearances in all competitions and scoring two tries.

But the Manchester-born star was withdrawn from Harlequins’ 31-29 win over Bath with his third concussion in four months and will miss the remainder of the season to continue his recovery.

And while Mulchrone admits it is frustrating to miss the business end of the season as his side look to seal a top four finish in the Premiership, he concedes that his health had to come first.

“My season has gone pretty well up to now,” said Mulchrone, who was speaking at a Gallagher ‘Train with your Heroes’ session at Warlingham RFC after their U10s side won a nationwide competition launched by Gallagher.

“I’ve played a heap load of games, a lot of rugby, but unfortunately I picked up my third concussion in four months and I have been ruled out for the rest of the season.

“It’s not something you can risk your brain health, so I’ve been taking advice from the medical team and taken a step back, but I was gutted when I heard the news.

“I’ve got the players, the coaches, the missus and family around me to support me and keep me going. All I can do now is get behind the lads and help them the best I can.”

Harlequins were on a run of five consecutive wins in the Gallagher Premiership before they were beaten last time out against top four rivals Gloucester Rugby at The Stoop.

Despite losing against Gloucester, though, Paul Gustard’s side remain third in the league and have a nine-point advantage over Sale Sharks and Bath Rugby in fifth and sixth, respectively.

And Mulchrone paid tribute to the job that fellow northerner Gustard has done since arriving at the club in the summer of 2018 after a disastrous season in which Quins finished tenth.

“We’re going pretty well at the moment, third in the league and we won five on the bounce before we lost against Gloucester and obviously that was a bit of a pasting,” he said.

“It was possibly the wake-up call we needed and we have a tough game next weekend against Saracens that we need to prepare well for.

“At the moment, we’re doing well and the camp is pretty happy. It’s amazing what a few little changes can do, a good northerner [Paul Gustard] has come in and changed the way we train.

“He’s changed the way we approach rugby and I think that’s made the world of difference. The main thing that’s changed is the attitude of the boys and how we’ve been training.

“That’s been reflected in our results and we can throw out a few cliches, but it is a case of one game at a time, then if you’re in the top four at the end anything can happen.

“It’s knockout rugby by that point but we just need to finish in the top four first. If you look at Leicester they are tenth at the moment but they could still make top four.

“It’s just that tight and you can’t afford to lose a few games on the bounce, you need to keep picking up points and hopefully we can do that at Allianz Park.”

  • Mulchrone was speaking at a Gallagher ‘Train with your Heroes’ session at Warlingham RFC after their U10s side won a nationwide competition launched by Gallagher, a passionate community insurance broker and proud title partner of Premiership Rugby. Warlingham won by describing how their team embodies the spirit of rugby, both on and off the pitch, and helps grow the game locally.