been so much worse. Not just a case of not playing rugby again, I might not have been able to walk again. So, I do definitely feel lucky.
What happened to me is one of those things that happens a fair bit in rugby. I was at the Millennium Stadium a couple of years ago when the Scotland winger Tom Evans suffered a broken neck against Wales, an injury which ended his career. It happened when he collided with Lee Byrne's hip. You wouldn't have thought that could have done the damage that it did.
Then there was the case of Matt Hampson, the prop from Leicester, who was paralysed after a scrum collapsed in training. He must have hit a scrummaging machine hundreds of times before that and gone into countless scrums, but that one day something happened.
On the other hand, sometimes you see a tackle and hear the impact and you think that player's in trouble, but he just jumps right back up and carries on with the game.
The game we play is a dangerous sport. Players are so strong and so powerful now and the collisions are so big. But the fact is that you can get hurt in any walk of life. When I went to Morriston to have my surgery, there was a bloke in there recovering from the same operation. He actually had fractures at two levels in his neck. I asked him how he did it and he said he'd been shopping! He was filling his car up with bags and as he pulled the boot down it hit him on his head! These things just happen in life. People break bones. The chances are I will break a few more bones along the way, but that's life. You can get knocked down crossing the road.
I don't often think about my accident these days. You soon forget bad times. The only time I've thought about it in the last year or so was when I went back out to Perpignan to play for the Dragons last season. It was the first time I had been back there since I got injured.
Before the game, we went into the stadium for a walk through and I walked over to where it had happened on the pitch. During that whole trip I was remembering things from four years earlier, conversations and images which I hadn't remembered since. It triggered so many memories.
When I walked into the changing room before the game, I looked at where I had sat the previous time. They put the jerseys up and I was seated opposite where I had changed before. I was glad I wasn't in the same place. I was captain of the Dragons that day and before the game I was trying to give my skipper's speech. But I had demons in my head. I shouldn't have been captain really.
We lost the game, but I was happy just to get through it uninjured and walk back into the changing rooms. And I thought to myself, âThat's it, that's that put to bed.'
A lot has happened to me since that day in Perpignan in 2007. And certainly when you achieve something after adversity, it does make it all the sweeter.
When you start playing rugby, your aim is to play for Wales. But when an injury like that happens, you are happy just to walk again. Then, once you restart training, you get the bug again, and again start wondering, âWhat if?'
When I first got capped, I came on for ten minutes against Argentina, and I had to go back out and do fitness training after the match because I'd been on for such a short time. It was hard work, but I was running with a smile on my face because of the feeling that I'd done it. I'd achieved one of my goals.
However, as soon as you get your first cap, you want more. You get the taste, and you to want to win things. For me, that desire to win climaxed last year when we beat France at the Millennium Stadium to complete the Six Nations Grand Slam. When the final whistle went, I felt very emotional. Standing there, having won the Grand Slam, was a really big moment. After everything I had been through, it just meant so much, and I realised again what a lucky man I am.
Chapter Two
THE SLAM BEGINS â WITHOUT ME
Going into the 2012 Six Nations, there was a lot of expectation on Wales. We'd had a
What happened to me is one of those things that happens a fair bit in rugby. I was at the Millennium Stadium a couple of years ago when the Scotland winger Tom Evans suffered a broken neck against Wales, an injury which ended his career. It happened when he collided with Lee Byrne's hip. You wouldn't have thought that could have done the damage that it did.
Then there was the case of Matt Hampson, the prop from Leicester, who was paralysed after a scrum collapsed in training. He must have hit a scrummaging machine hundreds of times before that and gone into countless scrums, but that one day something happened.
On the other hand, sometimes you see a tackle and hear the impact and you think that player's in trouble, but he just jumps right back up and carries on with the game.
The game we play is a dangerous sport. Players are so strong and so powerful now and the collisions are so big. But the fact is that you can get hurt in any walk of life. When I went to Morriston to have my surgery, there was a bloke in there recovering from the same operation. He actually had fractures at two levels in his neck. I asked him how he did it and he said he'd been shopping! He was filling his car up with bags and as he pulled the boot down it hit him on his head! These things just happen in life. People break bones. The chances are I will break a few more bones along the way, but that's life. You can get knocked down crossing the road.
I don't often think about my accident these days. You soon forget bad times. The only time I've thought about it in the last year or so was when I went back out to Perpignan to play for the Dragons last season. It was the first time I had been back there since I got injured.
Before the game, we went into the stadium for a walk through and I walked over to where it had happened on the pitch. During that whole trip I was remembering things from four years earlier, conversations and images which I hadn't remembered since. It triggered so many memories.
When I walked into the changing room before the game, I looked at where I had sat the previous time. They put the jerseys up and I was seated opposite where I had changed before. I was glad I wasn't in the same place. I was captain of the Dragons that day and before the game I was trying to give my skipper's speech. But I had demons in my head. I shouldn't have been captain really.
We lost the game, but I was happy just to get through it uninjured and walk back into the changing rooms. And I thought to myself, âThat's it, that's that put to bed.'
A lot has happened to me since that day in Perpignan in 2007. And certainly when you achieve something after adversity, it does make it all the sweeter.
When you start playing rugby, your aim is to play for Wales. But when an injury like that happens, you are happy just to walk again. Then, once you restart training, you get the bug again, and again start wondering, âWhat if?'
When I first got capped, I came on for ten minutes against Argentina, and I had to go back out and do fitness training after the match because I'd been on for such a short time. It was hard work, but I was running with a smile on my face because of the feeling that I'd done it. I'd achieved one of my goals.
However, as soon as you get your first cap, you want more. You get the taste, and you to want to win things. For me, that desire to win climaxed last year when we beat France at the Millennium Stadium to complete the Six Nations Grand Slam. When the final whistle went, I felt very emotional. Standing there, having won the Grand Slam, was a really big moment. After everything I had been through, it just meant so much, and I realised again what a lucky man I am.
Chapter Two
THE SLAM BEGINS â WITHOUT ME
Going into the 2012 Six Nations, there was a lot of expectation on Wales. We'd had a
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