News

Flynn on the comeback trail

August 14 2008

Injured Crusaders hooker Corey Flynn is nearing a return to playing duties with Canterbury in the Air New Zealand Cup.

The 27-year-old has resumed taking contact for the first time since breaking his right arm in the Crusaders' Super 14 semi-final win against the Hurricanes on May 24.

"It's coming up about three months this weekend and I've had the clearance from the specialist to get back into it, so that was basically my first run with the team," Flynn told The Press newspaper.

"I broke my radius. It was a complete break and I had a rod inserted through the canal in my bone and I've actually had the same one done in the other arm.

"It was quite a severe break. (Huricanes wing) Hosea Gear was running with the ball, I went to tackle him and my forearm hit his knee. He's a strong boy and bringing his knees up, through sprinting. There was a fair bit of force behind it and I was going in quite strongly with my arm, too.

"It was two forces colliding so someone had to come off second-best and the radius isn't that big a bone."

Having been relieved of the Canterbury captaincy this season to focus solely on trying to regain a spot in the All Blacks, the timing of his injury could scarcely have been worse.

"But that's just rugby," said Flynn.

"It comes with its ups and it comes with its downs and it's about how you manage them. At the end of the day I'm nearly back, so the frustration has been and gone."

Hawkes Bay's Hikawera Elliott was drafted into the All Blacks squad ahead of the recent Bledisloe Cup Test at Eden Park. He is a promising player but hardly in Flynn's league.

"I'm not a good watcher of rugby and I've tried to stay out of it as much as possible, because I found myself getting frustrated," Flynn said.

"Obviously I was around at the start of the campaign when we were doing our team-building, but once we got into the season, leading up to the Manawatu and Otago games, I pretty much kept clear and let the boys get on with their jobs."

So when can we expect to see Flynn playing?

"I can't really say. If I'm able to get through (training) and tick all the right boxes, then I could be anywhere from one to three weeks (away). But it all depends on how it (the arm) reacts to getting stuck in.

"I mean the wrist is still a bit weak. I threw a ball about two weeks ago and it was quite painful, so I've got to try and get back into that.

"Even though I want to get back and play, I can't come back too early because then I won't be doing the team justice and I'll end up looking a bit of a fool. There's a little bit of a confidence thing, too.

"Just with that initial shudder of contact, you are thinking about it and you favour it a bit."