1. Tell us a bit more about your injury?
I tore the cartilage in my left knee on the summer tour in Argentina and had surgery to repair it within a week. I was fighting to get fit for the Rugby World Cup and fortunately I was fit enough to go. My knee was still giving me a bit of trouble but I worked hard and hoped that all the rehab would help, unfortunately that wasn’t the case. After France I had about another month of rehab to try to put things right again, but my knee was still giving me problems so I had another operation and I’ve now had the joint cleaned out and tidied up the cartilage again. There was a lot of scar tissue from the previous operation which could have caused some of the pain.
2. How is the rehab coming along?
Rehab has been going really well, it’s been really positive. It has been hard work, sometimes I think people seem to think that when you are off injured you get an easy time of it but you don’t. Everyone has had a week off this week but I’ve been in training with a few injured players working with Phil. My knee has come along really well, GG and Phil have been tremendous and their input is really paying off!
3. When do you expect to me back training on the pitch?
I hope to be back training with the rest of the squad by the 31st. I’ve been on the pitch with Phil a lot this week so should be ready to join the rest of the squad next week.
4. When do you expect to be able to play?
The aim is to be ready for the Dragons game – that is the target and I’ve reached my goals so far so I’m feeling confident.
5. What has Phil been making you do to get back on the pitch?
Too much!!
The last two weeks the intensity has been rising –I’ve started to get the lungs burning a bit more. I was out on the pitch on Tuesday running for the first time. It feels weird but feels good to be getting back out there. I’ve been doing sled walking for my endurance- it’s not nice especially when you’ve had 3 or 4 weeks of rain and you’re dragging a 100 kilo sled through puddles for about a mile all together! But you definitely feel the benefits – when you have someone like Phil doing it with you and in your ear all the time there is definitely no slacking
6. Do you miss being away from training?
Being injured can be extremely hard- not just because you are sore and you are missing out but it’s mentally draining. Not being involved, missing out on matches at Ravenhill and going on the away trips is hard but more than anything I hate not playing the sport that I love. At the end of the day you train to play and when you can’t do that it is very frustrating. Mentally I’ve been in some low places over the past few months particularly over the world cup because it was a hard time, but there’s always an end in sight and I’m looking forward to getting back onto the pitch
7. What do you think Matt Williams will bring to Ulster?
Matt’s coming back into things soon and I’m really looking forward to working with him. My impression of him in the few days that he was here was very good, but, more than anything I’m looking forward to getting back on the pitch playing for Ulster and playing for the jersey again.
8. Ulster have 6 games left to play at Ravenhill this season – how important will the crowd be to the team?
The crowd is crucial. I think that people know that Ulster is on the up and we all have to get behind the guys on the pitch. We are not where we are at the minute through lack of effort, we’re going out there and giving it everything but the results just didn’t come. In the last few weeks I think we have become a different team altogether. I know that the crowd will turn out to give us their support like they have always done over the years, I have no doubt about that and we most definitely appreciate it.
9. What did you think of the Gloucester game at the weekend?
The Gloucester game was excellent; I thought the guys did really well. There were some great individual performances but I thought the team as a whole played really well together. We were unlucky at times but Gloucester are one of the top sides in Europe and it just shows that we can compete with them and if we can do that week in week out I’m sure in time we could be back were we should be and that’s at the top!
10. If you had a week off now like the rest of the squad, where would you be spending it?
I just got a new puppy this week. He’s a Shih Tzu and he is a little fluff ball- everyone keeps telling me it’s not a very manly dog to choose but my previous dog was a miniature Yorkshire terrier so I’m going up in the world a bit but. His names Bailey Frank Ferris so I would probably be spending a lot of my time looking after him!