Sale Sharks winger Tom Arscott has hinted that he can return to full form following knee surgery.
Arscott underwent an operation in the summer to realign the ACL ligament in his knee and have cartilage repair.
An anterior cruciate ligament injury – more commonly referred to as an ACL injury – involves the over-stretching or tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee.
The former London-Welsh player suffered the damage towards the end of last season during a defeat against Northampton in March.
“I stepped and I felt a pop, then my knee started to bend the wrong way and I felt a big snap, it just went,” the winger told MM.
“Recovery’s gone well. I’m hoping to be back training with the boys this week, it’s a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve been integrating slowly over the last couple of weeks.”
After a successful summer of rehabilitation, Arscott is not only confident of being fit for selection within three weeks, but is adamant that he can be the player he was before his time out.
“A lot of it’s just in your head and the confidence about getting back to full fitness.
“I think it’s so common now – the surgery, the recovery and the rehab is so much more advanced than it was a few years ago.
“The statistics on ACL recovery show that it’s your good leg that’s the weaker side.”
The winger also refused to let his side’s heavy loss away to Bath last Friday dampen his optimism.
“We all know we underperformed. We’ve got a lot things in the right place, there’s just a final few things we need to tweak which will enable us to get the wins that we need.”
Arscott was speaking while helping with the presentation at the Aviva Landrover Cup at Manchester Rugby Club, as part of a national initiative which supports grassroots rugby.
“Doing the presentation for them is great for us – hopefully it will inspire them to keep playing rugby and to come down and watch some of our games as well,” he said.
“It’s massively important to have these young lads being encouraged and being able to come down and support them.”
“When you’re that age it becomes everything to you,” he added, commenting on an under-12 player he had just seen crying after losing the final.
Image courtesy of Sale Sharks via YouTube, with thanks.
