He feared for his career... in action and determined
ROSS Moriarty has revealed the full extent of the back injury which kept him out of rugby for more than six months and the fears he had over his playing future.
The slipped discs he suffered in the opening game of last summer’s Lions tour of New Zealand left him unable to walk up and down stairs or to stand on one leg.
So serious was the problem that four surgeons declined to operate on the Wales back rower because of the potential nerve damage.
That left him facing the alternative route of injections and rehab which led to a return to action for Gloucester in November.
But when he then suffered a relapse, it was hard to take. Looking back, he admits it was a worrying and upsetting time.
Happily, he has now managed to overcome the injury and lines up at No.8 for Wales against Scotland this weekend.
Understandably, his mood is now very different from those dark days of the autumn.
The saga began in Whangarei in early June of last year when Moriarty made his Lions debut in the tour opener against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians.
It was to be the start and end of his trip as he sustained the injury which was to force him home and leave him facing such an uncertain future.
Reflecting on how the damage was caused, he said: “I think it was a twist in a tackle in the game.
“There were two instances when I felt something pop in my back. I thought it was my hip cracking, but it was obviously my disc popping out of place.
“Seeing the video, I get twisted quite awkwardly and when I tried to get back up and run off I fell down.
“But then I got back and somehow stayed on the pitch for 80 minutes.”
However, it soon became clear after the game that things were not right.
“Two of the discs had slipped in my back and jammed into the nerves of my legs, so the muscles on my legs stopped working,” he said.
“I couldn’t run, I couldn’t stand on one leg, I couldn’t walk upstairs, couldn’t walk downstairs.
“It was really tough to have to come away from the tour early, which was hard to take.
“I was in the Lions team and all I wanted to do was be able to play and continue my time there, but my body wouldn’t let me. It was quite a tough time.
“Both the nerves jammed, so the muscles in the front and the back completely switched off.
“Sometimes I’d stand up and the nerve would get jammed by the disc and I’d fall over. So it was pretty serious.
“It was worrying because I’d obviously not had a problem like that before.
“It wasn’t until the doctor realised the reflex in my knee had stopped working that they realised how bad it was.”
Once home, it became even clearer just how serious the situation was.
“No surgeon would go in there because they said it was too close to the nerve and if they damaged it that would basically be me done,” he revealed.
“It was a lot more serious than I expected.
“I went to see four different surgeons and none of them would think of it.
“It was tough to hear.
“A lot people who have disc of problems have a bit shaved off and they’re good to go again. “But because of my age and obviously the job and how far the disc had slid out and the angle it had slid out on, they wouldn’t risk damaging that nerve further. So, they just wanted to let it heal itself over time.” That healing process seemed to have worked when Moriarty returned to action in an Anglo-Welsh Cup match against Leicester in early November. But it was not to go well. “I came back and played and thought I’d be fine,” he said. “But in the week following that game a tear in my disc was leaking fluid again, so that was giving me a lot of problems in my leg. “I couldn’t train or run again, so it was a tough time. “After that first game, I actually was really, really worried and really upset. “I’d worked so hard and it had been a long time. “I played the game and I felt absolutely fine and then the week following that in training it was obvious that something had happened again. I was really disappointed and took it quite badly. “It’s always tough when you can’t play rugby. Some take it better than others, but personally there’s not much for me without rugby, so I took it quite tough after that second time. “I wasn’t sure when I’d play again.”
It was a difficult period as he was left wondering what the future held, but fortunately he had the experience of his ex-international father Paul to fall back on.
“There were a lot of conversations with family members and people around me,” he said.
“Obviously I’m fortunate to have the experience off my father and he had the misfortune to suffer a few injuries.
“His advice was just to knuckle down and forget about it, take each day as it comes and focus my energy on those sessions every time.
“It’s nice to have people around me who have been through similar sort of things.
“After that second time I just had to refocus myself and go again.
“I realised I just had had to get up, go to training and hopefully walk out of training better than I had been when I’d walked in, because there’s nothing worse than when you’re going in and making yourself worse.”
To tackle the fresh problem, Moriarty had another epidural injection straight into the disc area to heal the slice and the leak.
Thankfully, it seems to have done the trick.
He made his second comeback last month, having a couple of outings for Gloucester, and now in just his fourth game of the season he will pack down to win his 18th cap against the Scots at the Principality Stadium.
“The injection into the disc area helped and it’s all sorted now,” he said.
“It could have taken a lot longer than it has, but luckily it’s only taken this long.
“I’ve had no problems leading into those two games, or afterwards, so I’m really confident.”
There are a still issues to contend with, but ones he can manage.
“The reflex has gone in my knee, but the muscles are firing properly again and I can hop off my leg,” he said.
“Over the past few months, a lot of rehab and hard training has meant it’s back to where it was before.
“One of the things I had to do after training, to see how it was coming on, was to be able to walk upstairs without using the bannister.
“I’ve had to learn to use my leg muscles again really and now they are back and working properly, so I can stand on one leg without falling over.
“It is something I’ll have to look after for the rest of my career because the disc hasn’t gone back completely.
“I just have to stay on top of what I’m doing and manage it and make sure I’m not doing things that make it worse again.
“Obviously it is a tough experience to go through for anyone. It does put things into perspective.
“I have been fairly lucky over the last four or five years, but I guess it was my time to have a bad one.”
In the midst of his injury concerns, Moriarty also had to deal with the fall-out from his decision to join the Dragons from next season, a move that provoked flak from some Gloucester fans on social media, which he responded to at the time.
“I am a very straight person,” he said, with a steely eye.
“If someone comes up to me and speaks to me personally, I am happy with that.
“But when people are saying other things and people are being told things that aren’t necessarily true, and then writing them on the internet, then that doesn’t swing right with me.
“If someone has a problem, that’s absolutely fine. Come and speak to me personally. That’s the way I deal with things.
“But if someone wants to take things to another level, then I will make things worse for them.
“It’s easy for people to say things which aren’t true to people who don’t really understand what is going on.
“There are a lot of people who say things on the internet who have never had any experience in rugby, in professional sports, but act like they’ve coached the All Blacks.
“That’s the way it is. That is the sad reality. That is the way social media works.”
With that unsavoury episode and the injury issues behind him, it is now a much more positive time for the 23-year-old.
And, despite the limited gametime under his belt, it is clear he feels ready to take on the Scots and is straining at the leash.
“I feel right physically,” declared.
“I have been pushing myself very hard with the fitness and gym work I have been doing.
“I have made sure I am ready and tip-top. I know if I wasn’t right I wouldn’t get picked.
“I have confidence in the coaches and conditioning staff and I will go out there and give 100 per cent.
“I am just really looking forward to it. I haven’t played too much rugby this season, but I have confidence in what the conditioners have been doing with me. I wouldn’t be starting this game if I wasn’t right.
“If I need to come off after a certain amount of time then so be it, we he