From My Sunday Column : The Joys of Being Injured!

Even that wasn't too bad, as it fell over Christmas, so I only missed one actual league game in rugby, and to be fair the x-rays made a wicked souvenir. I remember having a habit of getting knocked out quite a bit in egg chasing games for my school, setting a new record once of four in one season, to be fair though one of those was my via my own player anyway.

The moral of the story there is not to get your head in the way of one of your props with steel toe cap boots, when he is trudging to the next breakdown, and the others were........well down to me being a mouthy scrum half and playing against guys 4 years older than me as I was captain of the 6th form side when I was in year 8.........still it was fun!

So I have been extremely gutted this week to find out that I have managed to, in highly technical terms, ruin my neck. I am not sure how it happened, although playing a game where I make a habit of running head first into very big blokes probably didn't help, but it finally went in the gym the other day, and now I face a long wait on the sidelines.

The main feeling I have is of frustration, not only at the fact that by the time I get an MRI on the NHS I would have been better off writing a letter to a Mr Claus of the South Pole and asking for one under my tree, but mostly because I now can't do what I love doing most.....namely playing sport.

I unfortunately have to rest from all exercise, but to be fair, until the migraines go away, the thought of running anywhere or even breaking into a sweat is about as appealing as a night out with Vanessa Felts.

"Them's the breaks" as they say, and of course it does mean one thing, which however upset I may be, does give me some cheer, and that is that I now have a lot more time to sit down and actually watch a lot more sport over the next few weeks.

The Lions tour, the Ashes, and having my Sundays back from cricket to actually get to watch the rest of the Formula one season! Don't get me wrong, I would much rather be out on a pre pre-season training run (that's how old I am - I have to train to get fit for.....well......for training!) in the boiling heat, sweating off 800 calories as I pound the roads for 10k, but as I write this I am sitting on my balcony with a nice cold glass of something in my hand, because I don't have to get up and train at stupid o'clock tomorrow), catching some rays after a long week at Kerrang....................suddenly things don't seem so bad!