All fired up

TOM Wood should be the standard-bearer for English rugby. The flanker ought to be captain of the national team. He should be starring for a club that have been the coming force in the English game for the past three years.

Instead, he sits in a marquee at the back of Northampton Saints’ Franklin’s Gardens and ponders exactly what he has done to deserve such luck.

The only thing that brings him comfort is a brutal black eye, proof that he is back playing the game he loves.

The hope is still there too, the competitive instinct still burning bright. Now the challenge is whether the body can support the stresses and strains that he’s desperate to put it through.

The past year has been a travesty, evidence that sport cannot be glorious and life-affirming if it doesn’t claim a series of victims en route. In August of 2011 Wood was tipped as the coming man, the player who could wrestle the World Cup out of South Africa’s grasp. Instead, he didn’t play a minute as England traipsed home with tales of drinking, dwarves and debauchery trailing in their wake.

Conversely, Wood’s reputation was enhanced; he wasn’t tainted alongside the likes of Mike Tindall and Nick Easter, and his shy demeanour saw him labelled as England’s next captain.

The reality was that Wood’s career went off at an angle, that angle being precisely the one that developed between the sesamoid bones in his left foot.

If nothing else he can reassure himself that he has made medical history; no other person has had such a problem — which in layman’s terms means that the bones that spread the weight across his foot were no longer able to do their job — or at least not to the same extent.

That was of little consolation when science was unable to come up with a solution beyond rest, perhaps the most frustrating of all courses of rehabilitation.

Two comebacks were aborted; Wood began to wonder if he would have to consider early retirement.

Yet now he’s back, hungrier than ever. The immediate focus is Saints, and primarily their Heineken Cup campaign.

“The injury I had has never been seen before, or at least not to this extent,” he explains. “The bones in the ball of my foot have separated and won’t go back together. When people pick up an injury of that sort they just rest rather than playing six months of rugby.

“I did it back in November and I played all across the winter months and Christmas and I battled on it and eventually it got worse and worse. I felt I could tolerate it and play at around 60% fitness but at the same time I wasn’t the player I knew I could be.

“I was worrying that it would continue to go downhill and thinking where would it end — even in terms of my career.

“It has been desperately tough and was infuriating because I didn’t have any clarity on the injury. It’s a relief to be back. I am strong enough to play and am getting through games and tolerating it.

“It’s about day-to-day management of the injury to make sure we don’t go backwards or do too much early in the week that jeopardises my ability to play.”

Wood’s quiet disposition should not mask his desire to be at the forefront for both England and Northampton, though. Watching Stuart Lancaster and Chris Robshaw transform the national team has been difficult, even though he has been involved in team meetings from the start of the former’s reign.

He admits to jealousy at the seamless manner in which Robshaw has moved from second-choice flanker to first-rate skipper, the journey which was meant to be his.

“Was I jealous of Chris? I was jealous in that I was desperate to play rugby. That’s what I do for a living, enjoyment and a hobby. It was taken away from me for six months and my best rugby was taken away. I was gutted.

“It’s tough when you see a new coach picking a new young side and new young captain doing well,” he added. “I was desperate to be a part of it.

“Stuart has been in touch, he has been supportive and has talked about me being 100% fit and getting back in contention.

“He invited me to the summer training camp in August and it was good to be part of the meetings and meet the new guys.

“And I would hope to be in the mix for the Autumn internationals. I can’t take anything for granted and there are a lot of good back row players out there.

“If I can improve my form and we keep making the progress we are slowly making then I hope to not be too far away.”

And to do that Wood must prove his worth in the Heineken Cup. A Pool with Ulster, Castres and Glasgow is seen as an opportunity to progress, particularly because they’ve retained much of the squad that led Leinster at half-time in the 2011 final.