Bounce back following two years at Colomiers
here,” he revealed. “So when they told me last month they weren’t going to be going to be offering me a new contract, it wasn’t really a surprise.
“I’d had a inkling of that. I felt my time was up here.
“I’m not the only one who is finishing. There is something like 10 players who haven’t been offered contracts.”
After his testing time in France, it would be understandable if Czekaj decided to call it a day on the rugby front.
But when you’ve been through what he has in his career, you are not about to give up easily.
In June 2007, he suffered one of the most gruesome injuries I have witnessed during all my years covering the game, sustaining a compound leg fracture during Wales’ second Test against Australia in Brisbane.
Having defied the medical odds to not only resume his career but play for his country again, he is not about to be defeated now.
“I’ve never had the attitude of giving up,” said the Llandaff lad.
“Even when I broke my leg very severely a few years ago, straight away I thought this is not going to stop me from playing rugby, even though they said it might.
“It never crossed my mind to stop playing then and I’ve certainly no intention of doing so now.
“I am still young. I’m only 30. I’ve definitely got the hunger and desire to keep playing professionally. It’s still burning in there.
“The fact I’ve not played that much over here makes me want it even more.
“I don’t want to stop. I feel I have got another five or six years in me.
“Even though things have not gone great over here, I still want to play rugby. I’ve still got that desire.
“I am pretty open minded about where I might go.
“We know the lifestyle and the way things work over here now. I would go home as well to somewhere in the UK.
“I certainly think I could contribute to a Welsh region. I still feel I am at that level. I just need more games and more time on the field.
“There has been interest from various places and hopefully something will come up for me.”
Given how things have gone for Czekaj with Colomiers, one wonders now whether he wishes he hadn’t made the journey across the Channel?
“No, I don’t regret the move to France,” he insists.
“It was an opportunity that came up and I always wanted to experience it.
“Life out here is good. Where we live, Toulouse is just 10 minutes away, while it’s an hour and a half drive to the beach and two hours from the mountains where you can go skiing in winter. So the lifestyle is great.
“It’s part of our life we will always remember, especially my son, Ellistan, who is four now.
“For him, it’s been amazing. He speaks better French than we do!
“Rugby wise, it’s not gone well, but in terms of what we have experienced as a family lifestyle-wise, it’s been great.”
And now it’s a case of onwards and upwards for one of Welsh rugby’s most determined and durable characters.