Byrne relieved to be back following injury hell

ED BYRNE has a new appreciation for the little things that are so often taken for granted as a professional rugby player — 28 months out injured will do that to you.

Having ruptured his ACL in 2014, the Carlow native assumed that his luck had run out, but worse was to follow 10 months later when he damaged his patella tendon.

Another 15 months on the sidelines followed before Byrne eventually made it back for Lein- ster, and the dark days that he endured means that he now relishes every chance he gets to step onto a pitch.

“The days I thought I wouldn’t play again, they were the toughest,” the 24-year-old (right) recalled.

“That lasted for six or eight weeks. I was in an awful lot of pain. We were a long way into the injury and it didn’t seem to be improving much.”

As players filtered in and out of the rehab room in UCD, Byrne remained a constant. The competition at loosehead prop was fierce enough without the repeated setbacks.

Learning how to run properly again sums up the lengths he had to go to, but he has fought back remarkably well and has made six appearances this season, including his first start at the RDS against the Dragons last week.

“I wasn’t running for over 12 months, so there’s a lot of things I had to re-learn,” he explained. “I remember doing simple cone hops, not getting it right and getting frustrated with myself. The physio is looking at me like: ‘Come on, you can do this’. You just completely forget how to do it right.

“It was a long road, but hopefully that’s all behind me.

“Lads were going so well and there were some big games where I’d go: ‘I’d just love to be out there’. I always dreamed of and hoped I’d be getting involved.

“But yeah, I’m absolutely loving it at the minute.”

Now that he is back in contention, Byrne must somehow try to get in ahead of Cian Healy and Jack McGrath, with Leinster visiting Benetton tomorrow. WHILE Ulster’s record at Rodney Parade is steadily improving — they have taken their last two here as part of a five-game winning streak against the Newport-based outfit — there is something about this venue that visiting teams still find uncomfortable.

Cramped conditions and vocal fans virtually on top of the pitch, it is not a place to be travelling with brittle confidence. While the mood in the camp has still seemed largely positive over the past week, the province’s belief must surely have been hit over the past six weeks when they have been beaten by Leinster and La Rochelle, and required great escapes to get out of jail against Southern Kings and Benetton.

Similarly, the Dragons will not be full of self-belief either, having been on the wrong end of heavy defeats against Leinster and Munster of late. They are missing Hallam Amos on the wing, who would have posed a huge threat, while Cory Hill and Elliot Dee are joining him on Wales duty. The breakdown is one area Dragons will target, though — watch out for Ollie Griffiths

(above).