NECK injuries in rugby are always a huge worry. For a front row player they are even worse. For a player who converted to hooker late in his career, they are the ultimate nightmare. So for Stuart McInally, the agony of damaging his neck winning his second cap was compounded by uncertainty over whether he could ever play again.
To make it even worse, he learned the true extent of the damage as he was heading with his colleagues in the Scotland squad to their departure dinner before the World Cup. Not only did it mean he would miss the biggest tournament of his career, but there were still those lingering worry about the long term.
Which made the delight of getting back into action last weekend all the more sweet, and he is hoping for an even longer run, and possibly a start, on Friday when Edinburgh take on Agen in the European Challenge Cup – all perfectly timed for the start of the RBS Six Nations Championship.
"I have not even thought about the Six Nations," he said. "You get neck injuries and the first thing is to make sure you can play again. For me, I have this first game done, and maybe I will set myself some goals for the future, but at the moment all I am thinking about is playing for Edinburgh and getting back on the pitch because I have missed a lot."
He admitted, though, that for all his naturally positive outlook and the reassurances he was getting from the medical staff, the pain he was in and the concerns over front row stresses did leave him worried for a while.
"That weekend [when he hurt his neck] was incredibly tough to take, it was horrible," he recalls. "Everything I was told was that I was going to be fine and all that, but it was pretty bad at the start. I was in pain, pain in my arm.
"The worst case does cross your mind, I would be lying if I said it didn't, but fortunately everyone I saw, everyone I spoke to, was very confident. I was hitting all my markers week on week and I am now stronger than I have ever been in my neck, I am totally comfortable.
"These things happen, though, and I have just had to make sure I come back a bit stronger. I've put a good couple of kilos on and feel in better shape than I was at the end of the World Cup campaign, I hope I come back a better player."
The problem for McInally is that after a solid career in the back row, good enough to earn him Scotland A caps but not fulfil his ultimate ambition of full Scotland caps, he was 22 when he decided to make the radical positonal switch. Leaving it that late was always a gamble – he had no idea if he could fit into the new role and absorb the different skills; at the same time he would also need to bulk up around the neck and shoulders to cope with the demands of scrummaging.
When McInally did damage his neck, the extra pressure on the neck in scrums meant he was going to have to be extra careful. In the end, it took four months, but he did make it back exactly on schedule. "The target game was always Treviso," he said. "I don't know if I would have played if Ross [Ford] had not picked up a little niggle but that is the way it goes sometimes. I am just glad I got the first game out of the way, I have been thinking about it for a long time."
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