GLASGOW fans are only going to have to wait about three weeks into the new season before seeing Finn Russell back in action. The main reason for the delay in his return is not concussion, as had been assumed, but fractures to the bone around his left eye.
The full extent of the injuries he sustained when he clashed heads with Zander Fagerson in the first minute of Glasgow Warriors' Guinness PRO12 semi final in Connacht last season explain why he and the medical staff have taken things so slowly in getting him back into action.
"With the fractures, you really do not want to rush it. There was one above the eye and one just to the side of it, a broken nose as well," Russell said as he was being unveiled as an ambassador for BadmintonScotland as they prepare to host the World Championships in Glasgow next year.
"Because it was facial fractures, they didn't let me do anything the first four weeks. I had some holiday and when I came back I went back into training but there was no contact. Basically I have been doing all the games and stuff as long as my head is okay.
"They reckon fractures heal up in eight to 12 weeks. It is about three months now, so the end of September is the target. If everything goes well, I should make that or the beginning of October. That would be four full months and that is kind of what the doctor said at the start."
There is a stark warning of how close he came to suffering even worse damage. When he was in hospital in Ireland, while the doctors made sure there was no hidden damage, his mother was being helped by the family of Dave McSharry, the Connacht centre who had to retire last week on medical grounds after failing to recover from concussion he sustained a couple of months before Russell got his injury.
Luckily everything turned out to be much less serious for Russell.
"I was in hospital for four nights but I think that was more precautionary," he recalled. "They could see I was getting better and was stable, so I was okay to fly home. I thought I would have to get the ferry, but they were okay for me to fly. That was good.
"I remember everything up to the time it happened. Then I remember bits – being taken off the pitch, going in the ambulance and at the medical room. There are bits I remember but not the whole thing. I didn't lose much memory, which is quite good.
"The family were all at the game, apart from my little brother who was in Thailand and found out on Facebook that I had come off injured. I think he got the biggest fright because he wasn't there and just saw but I had come off with a head injury and that I was in hospital.
"My dad, my brother and sister all flew back that night but my mum stayed over. The Connacht locals were amazing. The McSharry family put her up in a hotel, and AJ McGinty's family [he was Russell's opposite number in the Connacht team] looked after her and made sure she was okay. Although it was worrying, they had support over there, which helped."
Now that he is able to contemplate a return to action within a few weeks – just in time for Glasgow's European kick off against Leicester and in plenty of time for Scotland's November Tests after missing the tour to Japan – he is confident there won't be any lingering issues after the scare.
"I am not too worried, I will just get on with it," he said. "I might wear a scrum cap – or I might not, I haven't decided. The medical staff want me to wear one and I am wearing one in training at the moment to try it out. I will have to see if I feel comfortable in it.
"Psychologically I am not that fussed, I am just looking forward to getting back into it. I guess for me, it is just part of the sport, there is nothing you can do about it, these things happen.
"When I first started in the gym, I felt a bit heavy. Since then, however, I have not had any symptoms, no headaches or anything worrying. I have been able to do everything, I have not been held back. It has been good."
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