Frankenstein foot to the floor in bid for higher honours
HIGHLY rated Harlequins lock Sam Twomey is ready to relaunch his quest for Test honours after recovering from a horror foot injury that condemned him to 15 months of mental anguish and fearing for his career.
Twomey was in contention for a Test call-up in October 2016 when he was inadvertently trodden on at a lineout in an accident that broke his navicular bone.
After making a long awaited Premiership return against Leicester last week, Twomey, 25, told TRP: “You get stamped on hundreds of times but as I tried to sack that lineout a stud caught me in the wrong place.
“The navicular is a rare bone to break but it’s the big one above your metatarsal where the ankle inserts into the foot – because it has a poor blood supply, it can be very slow to heal.
“I had surgery that October and then had to wait for six long months – but a scan the following March showed there’d been no meaningful healing, which was pretty devastating at the time as it’s hard to accept you might never play again.
“But the specialists came up with a surgery they thought might do the job. It ended up being 10-hours on the operating table with three or four surgeons doing all sorts like moving arteries and doing bone-grafts.
“It looks a bit like Frankenstein’s foot now but after lots of rehab I finally got the all-clear to resume full training in December and I’m so pleased to be back playing.”
Twomey admits he prepared for the worst, adding: “It was 50-50 which way it would go. After my second surgery I tried to get it through my mind that it might not be good news so I went out and did some work experience with the corporate side of Harlequins, who I have to say were brilliant in keeping me involved throughout.
“James Horwill, our captain, has been a great role model, having suffered many injuries himself, and he told me to stay engaged in the game, not drift away too far. All the boys have been supportive and my fiancée, Mary-Anne, has been a rock. I owe them so much because the mental side is hard to deal with. There’s been a fantastic support network – it’s something Quins do well.”
Having earned a second chance, enforcer Twomey is now determined to fulfil his potential. He said: “I can’t go from zero to 100 straight away and there’s pretty fierce competition from Horwill, Charlie Matthews, Ben Glynn and Stan South, but I’m feeling fine now and it’s time to kick-start my career.
“The injury came at a bad time but I’ve ticked all the boxes and my challenge now is to be better than I was before my injury. Quins have got some big games coming up and I want to play my part.”