Rugby World Cup 2019: Anthony Watson turned to his father to beat ‘injury nightmare’ ahead of England recall

Bath full-back is poised for his first England appearance in 17 months after two serious injuries to his Achilles tendon saw him turn to his own father for the mental strength to get his rugby career back on track

It was inconceivable 17 months ago that Anthony Watson would miss the Rugby World Cup. The England back started all three British and Irish Lions tests in 2017 and had grown into a mainstay of Eddie Jones’ starting XV, regardless of the sudden loss of form that hit the national team in the 2018 Six Nations. But that season brought more than just disappointment for the Bath star as it triggered the start of his year-long injury “nightmare”.

Watson is back in the international fold after recovering from a serious Achilles injury, having initially torn his ankle tendon before suffering a major setback when surgery failed to fix the issue.

On Sunday, Watson is in line to make his return to Test rugby in England’s first Quilter International against Wales, nearly a year-and-a-half since the last time he pulled on the red rose. That came in the 2018 Six Nations defeat against Ireland, which proved to be the start of his torrid journey through surgery, dark thoughts and rehabilitation - only to do it all over again.

“There were a few days,” recalled Watson from England’s training HQ in Bagshot. “Over the 13 months I’d say I had two or three days where I was particularly like ‘this is a nightmare’, but I think the quicker you can snap out of those days, snap out of those moods and try to focus on what you’re trying to achieve then the better you are for it.

“I texted my dad saying I was struggling with something and he just replied ‘mate you’ve got to get on with it or you’ll never play rugby again’, and I was just like (wow) you can never hit more home than that. It’s so black and white but it’s so true, if you really want to play rugby again you’ve got to do everything you can to get back playing rugby again. You can’t just sit and mope around. That was a real kick up the backside.”

The frustration soon returned, though not as bad as the really hard days at the start of his recovery when he spent two weeks in a cast unable to leave his house.

The 25-year-old was expected to return towards the start of last season, only to begin his rehabilitation all over again when the injury recurred during an NFL commercial photoshoot. Given the failure of the initial surgery, it was a ticking timebomb until Watson re-tore his Achilles. It meant that he had to repeat the six months on the sideline, and even when he was finally close to a return for the final chapter of the club season, the full-back was still forced to wait until the final three matches of Bath’s faltering season before getting back on the pitch.

“It was slow progress I guess,” Watson said. “The injuries I’d had previously, hamstrings and (a broken) jaw and stuff like that, they were really one day it’s sore, the next day it’s not as sore and then it gets better and better and better. With an Achilles it can go up, down two, up one, up three. It’s very variable so it was just dealing with those days when you thought it was all going so smoothly and now it’s not going so smoothly.”

Watson is poised to make his England return this weekend after 17 months away through injury (Getty)

But there was a welcome boost in February when Eddie Jones called Watson into his Six Nations training camp, helping to give the 36-cap flyer a motivational boost that he was still in the head coach’s plans. Such is the way that Jones forms his thinking though, Watson feared the worst last month when he was sent away from the squad to undergo individual training with sprint coach Jonas Dodoo. Once his fears of being dropped were allayed when his name was back among the main squad list for the training camp in Treviso, he realised just how important it is to fully complete each step of his recovery.

“I was lucky with the support group I had in terms of my friends and family,” he added. “They kept me on the straight and narrow, but you’ve got to figure it out for yourself as well. You’ve got to figure out how important the little things are. That became a reality for me pretty early on, in terms of being fully committed to the injury and doing everything possible to come back from it.

“I’m talking about little things like coming back from training and being on your game in terms of icing, recovering as best as possible; stretching and whatever so that you can do the same thing the next day, so you don’t miss out on a day. A little bit of stuff maintenance-wise, but there was a little bit of maintenance stuff that I had to do before with my Achilles as well.

“That week I had with Jonas away from camp (in Loughborough) was hugely beneficial for me. I came back feeling a lot better. At first I was a bit sketchy, not being with the lads was definitely sketchy but when I had it explained to me why I was going up there and what it was for, and then on the back of the week, how I felt coming into the Italy week.... I didn’t see it right at the start it was definitely the best thing that could have happened.

“I was told I had a conditioning week away from here and that it was what was best for me at the time.”

Watson suffered two torn Achilles tendons that ruined saw him miss 13 months of rugby (Getty)

But while injuries may be behind Watson, they remain a very constant problem for England. Wednesday’s update on Jack Nowell, Brad Shields and Mako Vunipola proved more of the same, with scrum coach Neil Hatley unwilling to reveal what their predicted timeframes are as the trio recover from surgery.

Vunipola is the closest to a return of the three, with the loosehead prop taking part in scrummaging this week along with running after an operation on his hamstring, and he could yet return in time to face Wales in their return fixture in Cardiff next week – if not against Ireland and Italy in the remaining World Cup warm-up matches.

But the news was less convincing on Nowell and Shields. “It’s ongoing. We’ll see with Jack. He saw the specialist last week and is in with us this week now,” added Hatley. “We’ll make the decision that we can closer to the time with all the information that we have.

Nowell’s return from injury remains an unknown (Getty)

“He’s been doing a lot of work with us, before this. Jack’s the sort of guy who will work his backside off. There are no real concerns.

“Brad with his heel will probably be three or four weeks, but it’s the same thing...he still stays in contention. The door is open and Eddie will make a decision on that closer to the time.”