ON FRIDAY NIGHT TV3 will air ‘Rugby’s Wheelchair Challenge, a programme which sets rugby players past and present with the difficult task of travelling from Aviva Stadium to Thomond Park while using a wheelchair.

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At the centre of the show will be Munster and Ireland fullback Felix Jones. The Dublin native speaks about his own close call in 2009, when he damaged neck ligaments in a head-on collision against Connacht.

“I heard a massive crunch in my neck and I think ‘Jesus, that’s definitely not good,’ Jones says on the show.

“I got tremendously lucky in that my cord wasn’t damaged.”

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Jones accepts the challenge of Stephen Cluskey, who was left paralysed by a fall from a bail of hay at the age of 18, to make the trek between iconic stadia and the 28-year-old Munster stalwart was joined by fellow international Jamie Heaslip along with former Lions tourists Shane Byrne and David Wallace.

Column: I know from experience – it’s not pleasant being stranded using a wheelchair

Archive>> ‘This is my job. What’s my other option, pack it in?’ Felix Jones refuses to be defined by injury