Hughes taking confidence from his recovery

Former Wales Under 20s captain Steffan Hughes is fully aware of the severity of the ‘potentially career-ending’ knee injury he sustained representing Llanelli RFC back in January but is now on the mend and targeting a return before 2015 is out.

The 21-year-old centre from Five Roads, Llanelli, admits that a few more years on the clock would have seen his career come to a premature ending.

“I did the works! It was potentially a career-ending injury; had I been a bit older, or the surgery hadn’t been a success we’d have been looking at that but so far it’s been brilliant and that’s definitely not going to happen.

“I think I’ve dealt with it quite well. It’s obviously not a great thing to happen but it’s given me an opportunity to focus on improving other parts of my game.

“From day one I set myself little goals, that’s kept me going to be honest, now I can start doing a bit more exciting things like standing up and passing and different things in the gym – it’s nice! It feels like I’m getting places now.”

Hughes made six appearances for the region last season including coming on as a replacement against Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium and believes he can return to his pre-injury form.

“That’s the nature of the game. I knew that when I came in to it. The most important thing is that I learn from this experience. Hopefully I can come back a stronger person. That’s one thing I’m hoping to work hard on is mentally getting to the right place so when I get back playing I can get back to that form as quickly as I can.”

Springbok centre Jean de Villiers suffered a similar injury in his side’s 12-6 defeat to Wales last November and Hughes says he’s taken comfort from his recovery.

“I definitely take some comfort out of that; I’m quite positive in myself, touch wood so far its gone well. Experts say that when you come back the knee isn’t the biggest issue; the issue is maybe pulling your hamstring. The work I’ve been doing on that is important.

“It was such a potentially terrible injury but so far it’s all good. To get back to where I am now I’m taking a lot of confidence out of it. There’s no reason why I can’t come back and hopefully play professional rugby for another ten years. That’s the plan anyway!”