IT WAS SCANNHELL
Slow recovery had Niall fearing worst
NIALL SCANNELL feared his career was over after breaking down three times during his attempted recovery from injury.
It was a sweet feeling for Scannell, 31, to play for Munster in Toulon in January – and not just because the Reds pulled off a vital Champions Cup pool victory.
The game also marked the Ireland hooker’s return to action after a six-month struggle to come back from an osteitis pubis groin injury.
The Corkman came off the bench in the URC final victory over the Stormers but what followed was challenging.
“I’m just delighted to be back playing,” Scannell said. “Toulon was just a huge day for me – genuinely six weeks earlier I wasn’t sure if I was going to play again.
“We tried a few things and they didn’t work. There was definitely a period when I thought, ‘I won’t get better’.”
He’s thankful to Munster’s medical team for trying different methods of recovery after trips to specialists didn’t work out.
“I just didn’t really respond great to what would be the traditional groin-osteitis pubis treatments,” he said.
“It’s something that probably shouldn’t be a six month injury.
“So to be fair to them they went outside the box and did a few different things and it just clicked then near the end.
“It was just great when we rolled the dice that time that it panned out well.”
Three starts on for the Reds, the front row is fully match sharp and ready to go as Munster head to the Ospreys this weekend.
“I feel like it’s coming at the right time where I’m in the routine, I’m probably back up to full speed and we have hopefully a long, long run of games coming now,” he added.
“Potentially, all going well for us, it could be up to 15 weeks at the big business end of the season, so hopefully that’s exciting for us. I’m ready to go.”