Yarde targets return after ‘scary’ injury
MARLAND Yarde is confident he will return from injury in time for the start of Sale Sharks’ 2019-20 season.
The winger ruptured his MCL and ACL ligaments and dislocated his knee back in October - towards the end of the 20-7 Gallagher Premiership win over Newcastle.
It was a blow that will cost him almost a year of his career and has likely ended his hopes of being involved in the World Cup.
However, the former Harlequins man is remaining positive, and focusing on making sure he is back fit and firing by September.
“It has come at a really good time to be honest, in terms of when I’ll be returning back to rugby, which is in that pre-season phase. Sometimes it can be difficult when you come back in mid-season, and you almost feel you need to rush back a little bit,” he said.
“Being able to come back running and training over that pre-season period will enable me to have a good two-three months of training ahead of the season, and go into September where we’ve got the Premiership Cup.
“The first Premiership game isn’t until October, which is ideal from a playing point of view, so it’s a really good position to be in.”
The injury came after Yarde had scored three tries in the opening six games of the season, and the England international recalled the difficulty of facing up to the reality of the problem, once the extent of his injury was known.
“I knew I’d done something really bad, initially when it happened just looking down at my leg and seeing it was in a position it shouldn’t have been, that was probably the worst part,” Yarde outlined.
“Once I got back into the changing rooms and saw the replay, and I saw the extent of the injury I had done, it was a bit of a scary thought.
“For the first couple of days I was feeling a bit down, but it was then about what can I do next to fix it and get it right.”
Yarde also revealed how his recovery has taken over much of his life, and how he is constantly thinking about how he can improve the rehabilitation process.
He said: “It’s really hard for me to focus on anything else but my knee. My every second thought is what can I do to improve it, especially in that early stage when it was all about icing, doing the controlled passive movement machine and what nutritious meals am I having.
“For the first two months I don’t think I was at the club at all, pretty much all doom and gloom, so it definitely challenged me mentally.
“But now I’ve started my weights programme, which is accelerating quickly, and I’ve built up some really good strength. I think every week I’m improving which is great, at times in these rehab processes you can have little dips, but now it just seems I am on a massive upward curl.”