Happy ending to Horgan’s nightmare
The Munster's team's preparation for their ill-fated clash with Leicester was coming to the end and the players were indulging in their usual carefree backs versus forwards tip rugby game. The red hair of Anthony Horgan was prominent and, along with the other backs, he revelled in putting one over on the so-called 'donkeys'.
At least, that's his story. Little did he realise, however, disaster lay in wait.
"The losers go through a cauldron where the winners smack the losers' ass and once more the backs won easily," he grinned. "As we were walking back, the forwards decided to leg it, obviously to get through it earlier.
"As a couple of them were running back, I decided to stretch my ass and was pretty much scratching my back when one of their knees hit my hand and broke two bones in my wrist.
"I was devastated. It ruled me out of the Heineken Cup final and also the tour of New Zealand. It may have also cost me a cap, who knows. The timing could hardly have been worse."
That, however, was only half the story. Horgan had been troubled by his right shoulder for the best part of a year and things weren't improving much through the early months of summer. He realised he must confront the problem.
"I got it operated on in the middle of August having returned from the Irish session in Poland. I had been hoping to get away with it, but I couldn't do the majority of my weights and certain movements were causing me difficulty, there was a lot of clunking.
"Initially, I was fearing the worst, that I was going to be the same as Wally (David Wallace) and it would be six months before I played again, so I was happy when I came out of the anaesthetic to be told by the surgeon I would be out for only 12 weeks.
"And he'd have been right, too, if my hamstring hadn't gone in a club game for Con.
Luckily Carol O'Callaghan, the Munster physio, saw it immediately and basically I got it treated for two weeks and now I'm back for my first match since the European Cup warm-up game against Ulster last May."
The presence of Horgan on the Munster left wing against Viadana in tonight's Heineken Cup tie at Musgrave Park will do wonders for the morale of the side. He has been a key member of the set-up since 1997, playing in 33 European Cup matches, scoring nine tries and none more valuable than the beauty against Stade Francais in Stade Jean Bouin last season when he sliced open the defence of the renowned French side in a 30-metre dash to the posts.
It was the combination of power, pace, determination and skilful angles of running that brought him to the edge of Irish team selection and it's good to know Eddie O'Sullivan hasn't forgotten and has included him in the squad for warm weather training in Lanzarote in a couple of weeks.
"You wouldn't believe how frustrating the lay-off has been," Horgan sighed. "No matter how much you are involved, training away and everything, it's not the same as playing. It's even hard to go to the games and watch from the terraces when you know you would otherwise have a good chance of being out there, and have been out there for the last four or five years. Now I'll be happy with 80 minutes and a good result.
"Mossy (Lawler) has been superb since he came in. He offers something different from me. I'm a bit bulkier, whereas he's very light on his feet. There have been changes, a lot of people went at the end of last season, and we knew it was going to be different. But things have gone well. Alan (Gaffney, the coach) is a class bloke, a gentleman, and the same with Brian (Hickey, assistant coach). I worked with him before, and that made it easy enough.
"The squad is as much together as it was last season, on and off the field, and the craic is still there.
"My goal now is 80 minutes and whatever comes after that is a plus. It's just been so frustrating over the past eight months. I mean, rugby is my life, it's been my job more or less since I left school, so not being able to play has been tough."
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
