Horne rebuilding his life after losing the use of arm

Former Saint is refusing to be a sob story despite suffering paralysis, he tells Daniel Schofield

Stephen Myler, the Northampton fly-half, sent the ball high into the air. The opening kick-off in any game presents an opportunity to make a mark. A dominant tackle can set the tone for the match, particularly in one as highly charged as the East Midlands derby.

Leading the Northampton chase was centre Rob Horne, who was captaining the club for the first time in the match in April. Sione Kalamafoni, the Leicester No8, fielded the ball and turned his hips as Horne dipped his right shoulder for the impact. So far, so ordinary. It is a scenario that is repeated hundreds, if not thousands, of times a season without any great consequence. Except on this particular occasion.

Horne instantly fell to the floor. His first concern was that his legs were not moving. He kicked and kicked until his toes moved. He told the medics that he had dislocated his shoulder, but he could tell from their expressions that something was wrong.

“I was thinking: ‘Why are they approaching me like this?’,” Horne, 29, said. “That was the moment when I thought possibly something more serious has happened.” It was only later that Horne was informed by his surgeons that he had detached all the nerves connecting his right arm from his spine. He had suffered an avulsion of his brachial plexus, an injury more commonly associated with motorbike crashes or gunshot wounds rather than a routine rugby tackle. Either way it resulted in total paralysis of his right arm with no hope of recovery.

“That was the hardest moment, but from hearing the worst news from the get-go, I’ve had time… there hasn’t been any false hope this could get better,” Horne said. “From day one, I’ve known the outcome, so I’ve had time to come to a real understanding of what I’ve been confronted with.”

Horne says he does not want this to be a sob story but it is hard not to feel emotional when he discusses life with paralysis and without rugby. On Saturday, Horne will be the guest of honour for the next instalment of the Northampton v Leicester rivalry being staged at Twickenham. “This

Staying positive: The former Northampton centre Rob Horne suffered a horrific injury making a tackle against Leicester in April

‘If one thing is taken away, you work out ways to achieve things’

is extremely humbling and pretty unfathomable for me,” Horne said. “I started playing rugby in southern Sydney, I played rugby on Saturday, league on Sunday and now, to have my name associated with one of the biggest games in English rugby, is overwhelming.”

With other fundraising efforts, the club hope to be able to present a six-figure cheque to Horne, who still lives in chronic pain even after undergoing an operation in which nerves from his rib were placed in his triceps. “My capacity to deal with the pain has grown hugely since the day of the injury to where I am today,” Horne said. “Your brain’s a pretty amazing thing. I suppose that’s what the lifechanging nature of it is. You do confront things and you’re forced to operate in different ways and I’ve been amazed with the ways the brain can divert and can function in different ways.

“To live with paralysis is something that is very new. I’m still learning ways to do things. It’s funny how the body is. If one thing is taken away from you, you become pretty innovative and you work out ways to achieve things.”

It is easy to focus on what the sport has taken away from Horne, when he prefers to dwell on what it has given him, including the opportunity to captain Australia, for whom he played 34 times with great distinction. He played in two World Cups and a Lions tour, as well as winning the Super Rugby Championship with the Waratahs in 2014 before last year moving to Northampton.

At every juncture of his career, the chance of injury was present, but he acknowledges the risk of paralysis “doesn’t come into your thinking”. Even now, it does not cloud his feelings towards the sport. “It’s not something I hold against the game, it’s just one of those things that happens,” Horne said. “I still love the game. It’s been a big part of my life since I was a little kid and will continue to be.”

Tickets for ‘The Derby’ at Twickenham Stadium in aid of Rob Horne are on sale at northamptonsaints.co.uk/buytickets