Dan Lydiate has made more comebacks than he has carted bales of hay on the family farm in mid-Wales, but Welsh rugby’s true iron man continues to battle on with no thoughts of calling it a day just yet.
How many times has he defied the odds to make it back after injuries?
“I don’t know, you tell me,” he says at the Ospreys midweek press call.
“I had a tough injury to start my career [a broken neck] which gave me a desire to know what I wanted to achieve in my career.
“Every setback I’ve had, I always reflect back to that injury.
“It was a difficult time but it gave me the character to push on.
“Every time I have a setback I think ‘I’ve done it once in terms of coming back, I’ll do it again, and again, and again’.’
“I’m not delusional in thinking I’m going to play for ever, but as long as I’ve still got the want and the smile on my face to get up and want to go to work every day I’ll carry on doing it until they tell me there’s no contract left for me.
“I’ve enjoyed my career, even though it’s been up and down [with injuries].
“If I didn’t enjoy it I would have hung up my boots a long time ago.”
Lydiate’s resilience is indeed a thing of wonder.
The broken neck occurred when he was 19. It could easily as finished him as a player and worse.
Major knee, bicep, shoulder and hamstring problems have also taken chunks out of his career. But he has responded not with despair but with fortitude.
The cruciate ligament issue he sustained playing for Wales against Ireland in 2021 had the potential to be a career-ender. But before a date for his retirement party had been inked in, he was channelling his inner Arnie and announcing ‘I’ll be back’ from his hospital bed.
And how Wayne Pivac would have been delighted he did make it back, with Lydiate meeting South Africa’s challenge head of for Wales in the summer and tackling his heart out. In particular, his effort in the second Test was somethin else as big Springbok ball-carriers were repeatedly cut down as Wales scored their first-ever victory over the men in myrtle green in an away Test.
It was a day when all the effort involved in all those comebacks would have seemed worthwhile.
“It probably ranks in the top two of Tests that I’ve played,” says Lydiate.
“It reminded me of the Wales v France Six Nations Grand Slam game of 2012. You could tell on the field that things were just falling into place. You were in position to make the tackles and the feeling afterwards…well, I got substituted, but there was this feeling of euphoria of winning a major Test match and with it all the emotions.
“I’ve played rugby for a long time now and there are massive highs like that one.
“The 2012 game was the last time I felt like that in a Welsh jersey.
“So there are massive highs, but there can also be massive lows.
“There’s the grind of the mill and a few bumps and bruises along the way.
“Not many people see what you have to go through to get back to those highs.
“So when you do play in a game like that, you want to savour it.
“It was a special tour.”
Never mind Wales, Lydiate knows there is enough talent at the Ospreys to keep him on his toes, with Will Griffiths, Ethan Roots, Justin Tipuric, Morgan Morris and Jac Morgan also in the region’s back-row pool.
But he relishes the battle, insisting: “Competition makes you a better player.”
Certainly the Ospreys are glad to see him back after his exertions for the national team over the summer.
Ahead of their BKT United Rugby Championship game with Glasgow Warriors in Swansea on Saturday afternoon, head coach Toby Booth said: “Everyone knows what Dan Lydiate’s strengths are.
“He’s an absolute monster when it comes to effort.
“He’s into everything defensively and he’s extremely consistent.
“Last week, he negated a lot of things the opposition wanted to do by his presence.
“And a lot of the things we did well Dan Lydiate was at the centre of them. I think he’s a bit of an unseen hero in relation to the stuff he does.
“We’re pleased to have him out there, back at ramming speed, and keeping that momentum going.”
Back at ramming speed.
It's not a phrase many opponents would want to hear.
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