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JDCSR wrote:Article nabbed from the Glasgow forum:
At the time, it didn’t feel like anything out of the ordinary. Certainly not to a man whose definition of “ordinary” has been shaped by almost eight years in the professional game.
Just before half-time in Edinburgh’s win over Toulon last October, Matt Scott surged for the line and was caught by the swinging arm of Romain Taofifenua, a 6ft 7in, 21-stone lock. “He got me on the side of the head, and I remember thinking, ‘Jeez, that’s a big dunt’, but you get them quite often,” says Scott. “You’ll get a real big hit, go black for a second then you’re fine.
“I still felt fine on the Sunday when I went up to the Scotland camp in St Andrews, but we had a really light gym session on the Monday morning and I felt sick and dizzy. That’s when it all started.”
It is not uncommon for concussion to become apparent some hours, or even days, after sustaining an injury. There is no suggestion that anything was missed by the Edinburgh medics. Scott, who had never before missed a game because of a head knock, assumed he would be back before the end of the autumn Tests, but November became December, December became January and February rolled round without any shift in his symptoms. He could lift weights and he could run, but the headaches were a constant reminder that something wasn’t right.
“Pat Lambie [the former Springbok stand-off who retired in January due to “persistent post-concussion symptoms”] said it’s like waking up hungover every day without having had any fun, and that’s bang on. It’s only now I’m not getting them I realise how bad it was. If it’s only a mild headache, you’re like, ‘Oh I feel quite good today’. But you’re still not normal.
“It was sensitivity to noise as well. My wife, Ruth, and I had folk round to watch one of the autumn Tests and I just didn’t want to be in that situation; the noise and the busyness. I just wanted to lie in a darkened room.”
Scott saw a specialist who put him on medication used to control migraines but which can also cause drowsiness. The 28-year-old’s low moods weren’t helped by the lack of the clear timeline you get with other injuries: as John Barclay and Fraser Brown previously discovered, you can pass the cognitive and recall tests but still be nothing like symptom-free.
Was there, then, a temptation for him to lie, both to himself and the medics, much like the long-suffering Duncan Taylor, another of his Scotland teammates, has admitted doing in a similar context?
“Not to do full contact,” emphasises Scott. “I’d say, ‘I want to try and run today, try to do weights and see how it feels.’ But I had no pressure from the coaches; they were great. It must be difficult for them to see me running around, looking sharp and fit, but not being able to really contribute. I’d feel good during the session, but afterwards I’d have a headache.
“The hardest thing was feeling like a spare part. You can understand why there will always be players who put themselves in a compromised position. I could have played months ago [if he had lied about the headaches]. There’s no way of telling if someone has headaches or not; it’s just up to them to say.
“Imagine your contract’s up in the summer. There are players thinking they’ll be out of a job and they will play. There’s just no way of monitoring that or stopping it.”
Having spent two years at Gloucester as a non-England Qualified Player, Scott knows what it is to fret about being expendable. He also wonders how his 20-year-old self, the one who signed for Edinburgh from Currie and was playing for Scotland eight months later, might have acted in the same situation.
“If you’re one of the higher-paid players at a club and they’re not getting value from you, you’re always very susceptible. Likewise, if you’re a young guy, you’re worried about missing opportunities, worried about getting kept on. Realistically, a lot of pro sport is about timing and luck. Half the battle is staying fit.”
Scott — now headache-free for about four weeks — sustained his concussion four days after being recalled to the Scotland squad on the back of his early-season work in the capital. Like Barclay, another high-profile summer recruit who has had to beat a long and frustrating path back to fitness, the centre is on track to be available for selection in Friday’s Pro14 match against Leinster.
Eight days later, Munster visit in the Champions Cup quarter-finals and beyond that lie a trio of further regular-season league games. There is still time to make an impact, still time to nail a place in the wider World Cup squad and hit the summer camp in full flow.
“I’ve had pretty much another full pre-season; I’ve actually had to cut down on the gym because at 110kg [17st 4lb] I was getting a bit heavy,” says the 39-cap Scott. “Now I’ve come through the other side, I’m looking at it as me being fresh at a point in the season when most guys are knackered.”
Having had too much time on his hands perhaps explains the new bleach blond look, one from which Stuart Hogg seems to have drawn inspiration. Quite rightly, Cockerill insisted Scott explain himself in front of the Edinburgh squad.
“It’s a great dressing room, and we all know how fortunate we are to get to do what we do,” says Scott. “It does play havoc with your body, though. Nobody cares if, when they’re older, they’ve a stiff knee, stiff shoulder or dodgy hips. The one injury you can’t push is this. Rugby is not more important than the things you would be risking.”
biffer wrote:17st 4? Blimey.
I genuinely think that we look after players in this situation better, mainly because Doc Rob wouldn't stand for anything else across the SRU programmes.
Looking forward to seeing him back.
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