Ben Morgan’s reaping rewards of lay-off

Ben Morgan admits he feared for his rugby future before making a Lazarus-like recovery to be included in England‘s World Cup training squad.
Six months after suffering a badly broken left ankle and severe ligament damage in a Premiership match against Saracens on January 9, Gloucester‘s destructive No.8 is targeting a place at next week’s high-altitude training camp in Denver.
A determined Morgan, 26, told The Rugby Paper: “It’s great to be in camp with England again and it’s the sort of environment you really crave to be in.
“Having had that experience before you don’t want to let it go, but after I had my injury the first two questions to the surgeon were: Is this career ending? Am I going to make the World Cup?
“You never know, do you, and that was going through my mind. But I got the answers I needed and that was it; there was no chance to feel sorry for myself, I just had to crack on, put some hard work in and fight to get myself into contention again.”
Gloucester boss David Humphreys recently praised Morgan’s positivity and courageousness to overcome such a serious, mind-numbing injury.
Morgan added: “You can’t get down about it, I can’t change what happened. But what I can change is how much work I put in, so that was my main focus, to really work hard and give myself every opportunity to be here and play in a World Cup.
“There’s nothing bigger than that and I’m a very determined person. I wanted to come back stronger and be a better player and there aren’t many times in your career where you’ll get six months off, so I’m coming back fresh, that’s one thing for sure.”
The last fortnight has been about fitness, but Denver is for rugby skills and although Morgan has yet to take a full part in training, forwards coach Graham Rowntree believes the player is in peak condition ahead of the mountainous challenge.
“Ben’s in the shape of his life,” said Rowntree. “He’s had a six-month pre-season in many respects and I can’t wait to see how he shapes up now.”
For his part, Morgan concedes his greatest challenge lies ahead: namely, overcoming the challenge of fellow No.8 aspirants Billy Vunipola and Nick Easter.
Morgan said: “It’s one challenge for me to get back, but there’s a whole new challenge to get selected as Billy and Nick are class performers.
“Billy was great in the Six Nations and for Saracens, and Nick has been on fire for Harlequins and forced his way back into the England squad as well, so it’s not going to be easy for me to make that World Cup.”
Morgan is philosophical, though, adding: “If I can get back to full fitness for Denver that would be brilliant, but I’m not going to put pressure on myself.
“My body will only let me do what I can do and if it’s not going to be for me at this World Cup, then I’ll be in great form for next season.”
NEALE HARVEY