Rob Purdham has revealed he was perilously close to losing the fingers on his right hand after the Harlequins RL skipper underwent emergency surgery last week.

Purdham was forced to miss the clash with Leeds last weekend, with a club statement insisting the 29-year-old would miss a week at most due to a blood clot in his hand.

But the Quins forward admits it was a lot more serious than that.

Purdham said: “I had been having pain in my right hand for about the past five or six weeks.

“Then against Hull KR I got a bang on the hip and had to come off.

“I decided to go for a scan and get my hand looked at and that was when I got the news.

“I knew I had a blood clot in my wrist but I did not realise just how bad it was.

“The doctor told me that unless I had emergency surgery I was likely to lose my fingers which was pretty frightening.”

Purdham had to have an artery bypass to correct the issue, and although the surgery went well, not everything went exactly to plan.

He explained: “I had the surgery on Thursday, stayed in on Friday and went home on Saturday.

“But on Sunday my hand was blue and I had to rush back.

“The doctors said that although the operation went well, there was an issue with my blood thinning, so they are keeping me in for another 72 hours.”

The Quins talisman is now expected to be out for six weeks, and Purdham accepted the injury had given him plenty of food for thought.

He added: “My mentality has always been if I can run then I can play.

“I don’t think there has been a single game this season where I have felt 100 per cent.

“So this is a bit of a shock to the system.

“I will be taking it easy for a while and will be looking to be back in August.

“It is very frustrating as the season is going so well, but my target now is to come back and help the final push for the play-offs.”