On the Comeback Trail

Injuries in sport are commonplace nowadays and the rough and tumble of Super League is no different.

However, for Leeds Rhinos star Ben Jones-Bishop a far from run of the mill injury has kept him on the sidelines since the turn of the year.

The winger was preparing for the annual Boxing Day friendly, with Wakefield Trinity Wildcats the visitors to Headingley Carnegie over the festive period, when a routine scan showed evidence of a blood clot on his lung.

By this point, the Rhinos preseason training schedule was in full force. A warm weather training camp in Portugal was scheduled for January, and two months remained until the new Super League season was due to start in February, Jones-Bishop would miss out on both.

‘My initial reaction was of shock and disbelief, straight after the scan the doctor was so concerned he wanted me to stay in hospital over Christmas and that was probably when I realised this was very serious. A Christmas that will never be forgotten! He immediately told me that this would mean 6 months out of rugby, I was devastated.’

On diagnosis of the pulmonary embolism, doctors advised the 24 year old to avoid all full contact training for three months, and all exercise would be stopped with his rehabilitation beginning immediately.

A course of warfarin medication was then given to thin the blood and dissolve the clots.

‘For a month I wasn't allowed to do any exercise. The beginning of February I began training again. I had to wear a heart rate monitor and was capped at 140 bpm. Each week the cap went up 10 beats and training gradually picked up intensity. This continued for 6 weeks then after another ECG scan that showed the pressure had reduced I was allowed to train with no restrictions.’

Five months on from the initial diagnosis and the long-term casualty is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.

‘The recovery is going well. After 3 months the clots were gone and now it's just a case of waiting for the specialists to be happy before I can return to full contact training and ultimately being back on the pitch. Other than contact, I've been in all forms of training for a while now so am pretty much fit and ready to go once given the green light.’

When quizzed on when Rhinos fans would likely see the winger back in action, the player remained tight lipped.

‘Training is full on at the minute and am literally waiting for the green light to be back in action. We have a date lined up but I'd prefer to keep that to myself so ill say in the near future.’

A product of the Leeds academy, Jones-Bishop ran out second top try scorer with 23 tries from 32 games last season.

Most notably he registered tries against both Manly Sea Eagles and Warrington Wolves in the World Club Challenge and Grand Final respectively, in addition to terrorising the Wakefield backline to record two hat tricks against the Wildcats.

His club form over the last couple of years was rewarded by England coach Steve McNamara with a call up to the England Knights squad and being included in the squad for the Four Nations.

In 2011, the England Knights programme was created to bridge the gap between club level and the national team for the younger players.

The squad is comprised of 25 players from 11 Super League clubs.

The players’ main target will of course be to regain his place in the Rhinos 13, but with 2013 being World Cup year, the former Queens amateur knows it will be an uphill task to be selected in time for the curtain raiser against Australia at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on October 26^th.

‘It will be tough I reckon as I would have missed two thirds of the season. But if I come back and hit the ground running, then I'd like to think there's a chance. I’ve been fortunate to be selected for a few England squads over the last couple of years so hopefully I can put myself in the picture come selection time.’


**This interview piece was conducted at the end of April. Since that date Sky Sports have reported Ben is looking at returning to the field by the end of June.