Thursday 1st February 2007
Tony Roques is one of the most experienced sevens players in the England squad. He has been involved with the set up since 2002, and has played in a Rugby World Cup Sevens and a Commonwealth Games. And yet on 1st October 2005, Tony suffered such a bad leg break that his rugby career was seriously threatened.
Playing for his National Division One club Exeter Chiefs against Rotherham, Tony was tackled and his studs got caught in the ground. He says, “I was tackled on my right side and my left leg just snapped in half. I knew it was bad and it was seriously broken as I couldn’t feel my ankle anymore and the bone was sticking out the skin. It was pretty painful to say the least.”
Tony’s subsequent surgery required a framework of wires to be connected to the remaining good bits of bone which held the leg in place so that the bone could re-grow. “My whole leg was shattered but the surgeon was fantastic and within two months of the operation I was able to walk without crutches.”
“When it happened I still didn’t really think about how serious it was. It was more when the frame came off and I was trying to run on it. I kept limping and it became really swollen and that’s when I realised that it was going to take much longer than I thought. There were definitely a couple of months where I really doubted if I was ever going to play again.”
Tony credits his Exeter Chief’s physio and his surgeon as helping him turn himself around. “I started making real progress with my recovery and from then on there was no doubt.”
Another major boost to his determination to return to full fitness was when former England Sevens coach Mike Friday named a then unfit Roques in his core sevens squad for this season. Tony explains, “Mike’s belief in me was a massive boost. He put me into the core squad when I wasn’t even fit or playing. In fact, my very first training session back was with the sevens squad in London. That involvement with the sevens gave me such a lift, and gave me something else to focus on and head towards. I knew that I wanted just one more chance to play sevens again and now I have, I have leapt at it and can’t wait to get going again.”
Being off the pitch for over a year, and away from sevens for 19 months, has changed Tony as a player. He says, “I am definitely a lot stronger mentally and I have noticed that I can push myself a lot harder than before. I think once something is taken away from you, and you are out for over a year, you are mentally a lot stronger and more determined.”
Tony’s first game back for Exeter was early November and now, less than three months later, he is preparing for a full return to international duty in Wellington.
“I have played here three times before and enjoy the tournament. The first time I played here England got to the final and lost to New Zealand but it was one of the best sevens games I have ever been involved with. It was very close, and it was also Eric Rush’s last New Zealand Sevens so it was a special occasion. I think to blame the jetlag and travel is a bit of a poor excuse as it’s the same for the southern hemisphere teams when they come to Twickenham. We need to win consistently all over the world and are trying to get out of the mindset that Wellington is a tournament we can’t win. We have trained well and have a great squad out here, so it is down to us and we have to perform well.”
At 28 Tony is the old man of the team which has an average age of 23. He says, “I don’t actually feel like the oldest. My body is in pretty good shape right now having had so long out of the game so I don’t feel that different.”
However, he does admit that one or two things have changed since his last sevens tournament. “The music has definitely changed. I can’t really say I know all the music nowadays! Also this is such a laptop generation. All the players seem to have their laptops constantly open and tapping away, sending emails and listening to music whenever they are not training. It never used to be like that!”
England play Scotland, Papua New Guinea and Samoa in the pool stages of the IRB Sevens in Wellington which begins tomorrow (Friday 2nd February).
Ends.
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