Harlequins captain James Horwill attempted to play on despite suffering a gruesome dislocated finger during his side’s 25-6 defeat by Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on Sunday.

The Australian suffered the injury with 10 minutes left on the clock, which left his finger skewed at a horrendous right angle with the bone clearly exposed.

As with most forwards, Horwill asked the Harlequins physios to simply pop his finger back in place and tape it up in order to allow him to return to the pitch.

The 31-year-old did have the finger repositioned but the nature of the injury was ultimately too severe and the Quins management was forced to replace Horwill with Charlie Mulchrone in the 70th minute.

Harlequins ended the game in defeat as Leicester moved to fourth in the Premiership.

Former England international Andy Goode took to Twitter in the wake of the game to praise the Australian’s commitment and resilience.

“Fair play to @JHowrill playing for the @Harlequins,” he wrote. “Hard as nails asking the physio to tape this up and play on.”

“Fair to say my days as a hand model may be over!,” joked Horwill in response.