Ringrose keen to leave his bad fortune in past
I’m relishing return, admits sidelined Blues ace
IF one broken jaw was bad luck, then two in less than two months was just plain cruel.
Garry Ringrose had just about gotten used to eating solid food once again when he picked up another nasty bang to his face during the first game of his return.
That the freak injury occurred a week before Christmas meant there was no chance Ringrose could tuck into a big dinner — he was forced to return to the grim prospect of eating blended food through a straw.
When it was all eventually behind him and his jaw healed, Ringrose did at least treat himself to a Mcdonald’s, a welcome alternative to downing puréed chicken breasts.
It has been a tough few months on the injury front for Ringrose, who, after missing most of the Six Nations due to a broken thumb, later found himself facing another spell on the sidelines when he caught an Italian boot flush to his jaw as he attempted to block down a kick.
A metal plate and a few screws later, the centre was back in action, only for his luckless spell to continue as he clashed heads with Leinster team-mate Jimmy O’brien.
The forceful collision narrowly avoided making direct contact with the previously broken jaw, as the implants held firm, but the impact reverberated through his face and caused a fracture elsewhere in the jaw.
“Thankfully there was no displacement,” Ringrose explained.
“It was just a matter of letting the bone heal, which was a big bonus. It obviously meant the injury was a lot shorter and I didn’t have to go through an operation or anything. It was just unlucky, but thankfully it wasn’t as bad as the previous one.”
Amid the setbacks, Ringrose enjoyed an excellent season, which saw him pick up the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year award.
The 25-year-old is well on the comeback trail now and is sure his jaw will stand up to the physicality that awaits upon his return.
“Players go through their whole careers without ever having a jaw issue. I’ve just been unlucky to have one and then do the same thing the first game back,” he said.
“Hopefully that’s all my bad luck used up and I’ll be good to go because in terms of it being healed, I wouldn’t be let back out until it was medically clear.
“Once that’s the case, from my confidence perspective, then it’s fine.
“It’s just unlucky, I could go out and do any injury really when it’s a broken bone or something like that, it was just a matter of bad luck.
“I won’t think about it, just hopefully I can get back out playing as soon as I can. Certainly what has been introduced at the start of this week, it feels okay and there are no issues confidence-wise about how it feels. Probably as a consequence of not having an operation, it feels good, so that’s positive.”
Elsewhere in the awards, Ireland star Beibhinn Parsons was named Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Women’s Player of the Year.
The teenager will hope to kick on again in what is a huge season for Ireland, with the Six Nations and World Cup all due to take place later in the year.
“Winning the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year award is a real ‘pinch me’ moment,” Parsons said.
Leinster’s Guinness PRO14 success saw them named the Dave Guiney Team of the Year, with Ballynahinch crowned Club of the Year.
“I accept (the award) on behalf of the wider Leinster Rugby organisation, the staff and the coaches here and of course (captain) Johnny Sexton and the 53 players that represented this club over the course of the Guinness PRO14 and Europe last season,” head coach Leo Cullen said.
Meanwhile, Munster’s late CEO Garrett Fitzgerald was honoured with the Tom Rooney Award as former British and Irish Lion Trevor Ringland, along with ex-ireland prop Fiona Coghlan, were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Tullamore flyer Jordan Conroy was awarded Men’s Sevens Player of the Year for the second year running, while the now-retired Louise Galvin picked up the Women’s accolade.