‘tackle from hell’ others get well
and my rugby world came crashing around my ears,” he says.
“It was very disappointing. “It’s maybe a reason why I do knee surgery now because I have got a lot of empathy for the guys that suffer that injury. It’a an absolute nightmare.”
There was to be a real twist of fate when Roy went in for his subsequent operation.
“I had it done by the surgeon who had been my examiner in Cambridge the day after that punch in the Neath game,” he reveals.
“He said he remembered me coming in with a massive black eye!”
Roy fought his way back to fitness and in March 1998 he was named on the Wales bench for the Five Nations game against Ireland at Lansdowne Road. It was to be a case of so near, yet so far.
“It was half-time and Andy Moore was in the treatment room, having stitches put in a cut,” he says.
“I was out on the pitch warming up and the minutes were going by.
“The second half was about to begin and we all lined up in position as forwards.
“I was literally ready to receive the kick-off. Then, all of a sudden, Andy came running out of the tunnel. The shepherd’s crook came out and I was off. If only the surgeon had put one more suture in, I would have doubled my cap tally. But there we are.
“Certain people might argue technically it was a cap!”
After playing more than 150 games for Cardiff and having spells with Ponty and Newport, Roy hung up his boots at the age of 30 in 1999 to focus fully on his medical career.
Inspired in part by his own experience, he opted to train as an orthopaedic surgeon and for the last 15 years he has been a consultant, with a particular interest in sports injuries.
“There was certainly an empathy because of what I went through,” he says. “That was definitely part of it.
“There is an affinity between rugby and orthopaedics and it’s a nice way of keeping in touch with the game. I have done thousands of knees over the years and plenty of rugby players, from weekend warriors to semi-pros.
“There are people you have done interviews with that I have done surgery on.
“It’s very satisfying to see people you have operated on running round a rugby pitch and there are plenty of them out there, still.
“I do knee reconstructive surgery, as in ligament repair, and for the older, more mature patients I do knee replacements as well. That’s my contact with former players. They come and hunt me out.”
A consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, the 51-yearold father-of-three has an NHS practice at Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant, while he does his private work in Spire.
“It’s a great career. I am very pleased that I did it,” he said. “My son is doing it now. I would highly recommend it to anyone.”