MORGAN MOVING ON BEING ROBBED OF A
MORGAN Stoddart wasn’t meant to be starting that day. Yet fate has a funny way of doing things. They say a person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.
Stoddart wasn’t trying to avoid it. But, to reiterate, he was not meant to be starting when Wales played England in early August, 2011.
He was 27 years old and on the brink of selection for that year’s World Cup.
He’d had to wait for his opportunities. Despite being closer to 30 than 20, that cap against England would be just his eighth in the red jersey.
Injuries to others provided him with opportunities that he took with both hands. Injuries of his own opened the door for others to step him.
Yet here he was, finally sitting at the table and ready to reap the rewards.
Instead, that August afternoon in South West London would prove to be one final microcosm of his career.
Injury provided him with the opportunity. Injury snatched it away. This time for good. Stoddart started his career as an 18-year-old, playing fly-half for Treorchy. A move to Pontypridd followed and soon the Scarlets were sniffing about.
He started his time in Llanelli as Barry Davies’ back-up, but a string of fine performances for both the Scarlets and Llanelli RFC made the national side take notice.
Less than two months after their humiliating World Cup exit at the hands of Fiji, Wales were back in action against world champions South Africa.
Not for the first time, it would be injury that provided Stoddart with a chance.
“It was quite quick how I went from Treorchy through to international rugby – I hadn’t done any age grade or academy rugby,” he says. “It was a bit surreal.
“I remember Lee Byrne got injured before the game so I was playing.”
Nigel Davies’ men went down 34-12 to the Springboks that day, but Stoddart impressed on his debut by scoring one of Wales’ two tries.
“I found it ok,” he says. “I didn’t really feel nervous. I knew it was a big occasion for my family, but you just get on with it.”
Despite that impressive showing, Stoddart wasn’t included in Warren Gatland’s first Six Nations squad the following year when Lee Byrne established himself as the firstchoice full-back.
Another injury to Byrne would give Stoddart a shot in the summer tour to South Africa. That would prove to be the reality check that Test rugby was a step up.
“That was a difficult tour,” he explains. “I came off the bench after Jamie Roberts had started the first Test at full-back and then I wasn’t involved in the second Test.
“We scored a good try when I made half a break and then Shane (Williams) cut inside Bryan Habana. Two minutes later, Percy Montgomery went around me and handed me off to score in the corner.
“That was more of an eyeopener of what international rugby was rather than my first cap.”
Stoddart would win his third cap later that year against Canada, once again crossing the whitewash. Three caps, two tries. So far, so good.
But he wouldn’t pull on the red jersey for another two-and-a-half years, with a serious knee injury keeping him out for over a year.
He was back in for the 2011 Six Nations though, starting the tournament opener against England after Leigh Halfpenny was ruled out with an ankle injury. Three more caps, and two more tries would follow in the tournament.
“I felt like I was arriving at the peak of my career,” he says. “I was 27 and felt I was at the top of my game.
“I’d learned lots when I was younger, especially as I’d come through a slightly different way.
“I maybe had to learn on my own, and work on other parts of my game, but in 2011 I felt I was starting to become a more complete player.”
With the World Cup on the horizon, things were looking good for Stoddart. Yet fate has a funny way of doing things.
Stoddart wasn’t meant to start that August afternoon as Wales faced England in a World Cup warm-up match. But in the warm-ups, Stephen Jones pulled out injured. In stepped Stoddart.
“I was calm about it,” he adds. “I felt confident at that point.”
But Stoddart’s chance to shine would turn sour. After 48 minutes, he was tackled from behind by opposite number Delon Armitage.
It was immediately clear something was wrong. Stoddart had broken his left leg badly, his tibia and fibula bones having both snapped.
His memory of what happened next is scant.
“I remember being in a bit of pain,” he says. “The next thing I really remember is waiting for the crowd to calm down around the stadium before they could move me from the stadium to hospital.
“Unfortunately, the London riots had just started so my operation was delayed by a few days!”
After nine years, Stoddart has become somewhat philosophical about the injury.
“Sometimes you think of things a different way, looking back,” he says.
“Because I was on the bench, none of my family were there. They were watching it at home.
“My now-wife was working at the time so she was bombarded with messages saying I was injured. She was probably just thinking ‘not again!’
“The fact I was on the bench and thrown into the starting line-up late on almost makes you think it was meant to happen.”
The World Cup was instantly off the cards. All Stoddart could do was