Jerry Flannery helped Mike Sherry in long road back

Rugby players returning from long-term injury often talk about needing plenty of game time to get themselves fully match sharp but for a specialist position like hooker, there is rust to shake off on other facets of their game.

Having undergone three shoulder surgeries, Munster and Ireland’s Mike Sherry spent almost two years out of the game, the location of his injury sending him back to square one with coach and fellow hooker Jerry Flannery as far his lineout throwing was concerned.

“When I first came back in pre-season and started throwing I couldn’t believe how crap I was,” he said. “The Ireland coaches were down looking at our training one day and the hookers were in early to do a throwing session and I couldn’t even reach Fla when I was throwing to two. He was only five or six metres away and the ball was going left, right and barely reaching him, so that was a bit of an eye opener.