Jamie may stay say Quins as their injury woe starts to ease

HARLEQUINS supremo John Kingston has refused to rule out the possibility of Wales centre Jamie Roberts remaining at the club as he prepares to reveal a “handful” of new signings.

Roberts, 31, has been linked with a move to Japan but could still have a future at the Stoop.

Rugby director Kingston told The Rugby Paper: “Jamie’s out of contract this season and hasn’t signed a new one at Harlequins yet, but you never say never.”

Quins have secured England U20s Nathan Earle for next season and Kingston added: “We expect to have another handful of signings to announce if we can get them over the line. It’s not all about incomings, though, and I’ll be having some difficult conversations in that regard.”

Meanwhile, with Quins ninth in the Premiership and out of Europe, Kingston has fired back at criticism of his regime by angry fans. Kingston said: “There are areas we need to work on – and defensively we weren’t good enough earlier in the season, although that has largely been rectified, as we proved by making 200 tackles at La Rochelle.

“But the mood in the camp is excellent and I get frustrated when I read stuff about Quins being consistently inconsistent. We’ve been ‘on it’ pretty much all the way through this season.

“We’re as near to fourth place as we are to tenth, and while we’ve got some fresh injuries involving Renaldo Bothma (broken arm), George Merrick (knee) and Elia Elia (ankle), a lot of other good players are coming back.”

Kingston expects centre Joe Marchant, full-back Aaron Morris, locks James Horwill and Sam Twomey, hooker Joe Gray and flanker Luke Wallace to be match-fit for the Premiership run-in, while star signings Demetri Catrakilis and Francis Saili are closing in on returns.