Darryl Marfo’s form having been the major revelation of Scotland’s autumn Test series, the back injury that brought about a lengthy injury lay-off could not have come at a worse time for the Edinburgh prop.
Arriving last summer, the essentially unknown 27-year-old had been very much seen as a squad player when he was signed on a one year contract having played little in the way of top flight rugby.
As the front-row injury crisis that had created that opening broadened into one affecting Scottish rugby as a whole, he was called into the national squad on the evidence of the way he had performed in the first month of the season and was to play a significant part in allowing Scotland to perform as they did in beating Samoa and Australia, either side of narrowly failing to claim a first ever victory over the All Blacks.
Then came that setback which included having to watch Scotland’s Six Nations campaign from the grandstands, an experience he says he tried to enjoy while also using it as motivation.
“Any injury, especially a long one, is mentally tough,” he admits.
“I had just had the massive high of the autumn, getting to experience international rugby with Scotland, and the plan was to come straight back to the club. I did that after a week off when they were in South Africa and the plan was to crack on and get straight back into things with Edinburgh.
“I was preparing for the London Irish match that we had in the European competition and it was just unfortunate that my back went during that week. It was meant to be a one-week thing, but it turned into two weeks and then a bit longer.
“The toughest part was the beginning, with the unknown. Once we found out what the problem was we could address it properly with more clarity, but it was quite a tough period.”
It ended last weekend when he finally returned to action as an early second half replacement in Connacht, as Edinburgh successfully battled to preserve their 100 per cent winning record in the Pro14 this year.
“Chomping at the bit is the phrase I would use to describe it,” he says of his mood as he awaited the chance to take the field. There were a few nerves and apprehension before Friday night, my first game back in roughly four months. It was nice to dust the cobwebs off and I now have a foundation to build on. That’s what I want to be doing.”
His clubmates having done such a fine job of negotiating the schedule in his absence, his reinvigorated return could not come at a better time as they look for big shoulders to put behind their final push towards achieving this season’s goals which were initially confined to finding a way of claiming a place in the European Champions Cup for the first time since the competition was re-branded, but can surely now include the pursuit of silverware.
“Talking in terms of physically, mentally a bit more refreshed, that’s maybe a better way to put it,” he said. “It is a long season and it’s not possible for guys to go week in week out so an element of squad rotation and mixing and matching does come into things.”
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