Leeming hitting top form after beating cancer

JERSEY Reds fly-half Sam Leeming is making up for lost time after his 20month break due to cancer.

The 24-year-old believes the pause from the “crashand-bash” of rugby has made him physically and mentally stronger.

He has been a key component for the islanders as their form has picked up in recent weeks, taking inspiration from Exeter boss Rob Baxter.

Leeming recently started against Ampthill and Richmond having been diagnosed with NonHodgkins Lymphoma shortly after joining the Championship club at the start of 2020.

Leeming said: “With Jersey there is huge emphasis on togetherness, everyone doing their job and mucking in together.

“We take inspiration from Exeter and like them, we’ve had to come back from losses in recent weeks which has been a real reality check for us.

“Rob Baxter (Exeter DoR) says you can’t take wins for granted and coming away from home like we do, with everyone from Jersey travelling to games and the set-up we have, we do feel like we have a bit of a target on our head.

“But I love that as I have huge confidence in the team meeting big tests each week.”

On his continual recovery from cancer, Leeming added: “I genuinely feel everything happens for a reason so the year out, even though my body was getting peppered with other stuff, was a break from rugby and the crashand-bash week in week out.

“Mentally it was a chance for me to refresh and it helped that the covid season was delayed so I wasn’t missing so much. I feel physically like I’m 21.

“You see people that are happy off the field play better on it, and I had to find other stuff while I was laid off to fill that void. I did a degree at Hartpury, read a lot in hospital and feel I’m in a better place personally which is also helping my game.

“You never know when it’ll be your last game so you’ve just got to enjoy being out there on the field.”