Consider, if you will, the last seven months in the career of Dan Lydiate.
November saw him back in the Wales squad after an injury, only for the back rower to go through the tragic loss of his father John on the eve of the game with New Zealand. He trained the following week and started against Argentina while still grieving — “I didn’t sing the anthem before the match because, to be honest, I was crying my eyes out,” he later said.
An arm injury early in the match brought an awful week to an end and left one of Welsh rugby’s most popular players facing a four-month layoff.
