DAVID STRETTLE is hoping a pair of new boots - custom-made especially for him - will bring his injury nightmares to an end.

The Harlequins and England star's promising career has become a bit stop-start of late due to a string of injuries - most recently a 16-week lay-off with a broken metatarsal - which he blames on his style of play.

But Strettle, nicknamed Stretdog by team-mate Will Skinner, showed off his new innovation on his return to club rugby - Quins' 27-6 win over Northampton on Saturday.

Strettle said: "I've had some new boots especially made for me with a different stud arrangement.

"They've stiffened the sole up for me because I do a lot of twists and turns, meaning there's a lot of torsion on the ball of my foot."

Quins fans were left holding their breath for a moment when Strettle went down in the second-half.

But much to their relief, he was soon back on his feet again.

He said: "Someone came in and tackled me and we just clashed knees. But I realise that when I was on all fours and holding my leg, my folks and mates in the crowd would be thinking 'oh no, he's broken his foot again', so I got up quickly.

"I did feel off the pace and I was blowing a bit. I felt a bit sluggish last time I was off and came back, but by the second game I was okay.

"But after four months off you are going to feel like that."

The win also helped Quins erase the memory of their disappointing December defeat at Northampton.

That Premiership reverse took the gloss somewhat off their stunning Heineken Cup double over Stade Francias.

But Strettle said: "When we played Northampton last time we just came off back-to-back wins against Stade, and people underesti-mate sometimes how hard it is to try to keep those performance levels up.

"We faced a lot of physicality up there, and this time our biggest thing was to try and match fire with fire.

"All credit to our front row, which had Gary Botha back. They dominated the scrum and breakdown, and that gave us space to work with."

Strettle was also recalled to the England Saxons squad this week.

QUINS chief executive Mark Evans is hoping a decision will be made this week on whether or not Harlequins' first Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster can be moved to Twickenham.