BETWEEN INJURY AND illness, Cormac Izuchukwu has endured a run of bad luck.
But now the 25-year-old is confident that he is firing on all cylinders again.
Having signed a contract extension to keep him at Ulster until 2028, the Offaly man is eager to do battle with Connacht on Saturday and put his combination of power and athleticism back out there to help the northern province avoid a potential third loss on the trot.
“It’s been obviously frustrating because I haven’t been playing,” the three-times capped Ireland international said of the toe, foot and ankle injuries he picked up in October.
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“(But) I’ve been lucky,” he added of the knock picked up in the act of scoring against the Bulls when a visiting player dived on him, “as during that block in November there weren’t many games here (at Ulster) to play.
“Then I had a back problem. I was sick as well (for the Leinster clash after returning for his first game-time the week before against Cardiff). I couldn’t play a lot of rugby, but hopefully I can put some games together now.”
The nature of the injury clearly sticks in his craw.
“I got an inside ball and a complete idiot just landed on my leg,” he recalls. “I actually sprained my toe, sprained my ankle and I had a fracture in my foot, so it was the full works. That’s why it was quite a long time coming back. I had to rehab a few things at once.”
“Because of how bad the foot injury was. I was running, just a little bit weirdly, and it kind of threw my back out. It just kind of seized up for a while, so I was out for two weeks with my back, but I got on top of it.”
The player who can function at either lock or blindside flanker can’t wait to get stuck in at Connacht.
“They’re a bunch of scrappers,” he says of Stuart Lancaster’s squad. “You go down there and they want to fight for everything. They’ll shout and cheer off the ball and then on the ball they’ll get stuck into you too. They’ve got some great ball carriers. They’ve got some great defence. They’ve got a lot of heart there.
“Obviously, they had a bad week last week (at Dragons), but again, they’re going to be even more hungry to come after us.”
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'A complete idiot just landed on my leg... I sprained my toe, my ankle, and I had a fracture in my foot'
BETWEEN INJURY AND illness, Cormac Izuchukwu has endured a run of bad luck.
But now the 25-year-old is confident that he is firing on all cylinders again.
Having signed a contract extension to keep him at Ulster until 2028, the Offaly man is eager to do battle with Connacht on Saturday and put his combination of power and athleticism back out there to help the northern province avoid a potential third loss on the trot.
“It’s been obviously frustrating because I haven’t been playing,” the three-times capped Ireland international said of the toe, foot and ankle injuries he picked up in October.
“(But) I’ve been lucky,” he added of the knock picked up in the act of scoring against the Bulls when a visiting player dived on him, “as during that block in November there weren’t many games here (at Ulster) to play.
“Then I had a back problem. I was sick as well (for the Leinster clash after returning for his first game-time the week before against Cardiff). I couldn’t play a lot of rugby, but hopefully I can put some games together now.”
The nature of the injury clearly sticks in his craw.
“I got an inside ball and a complete idiot just landed on my leg,” he recalls. “I actually sprained my toe, sprained my ankle and I had a fracture in my foot, so it was the full works. That’s why it was quite a long time coming back. I had to rehab a few things at once.”
“Because of how bad the foot injury was. I was running, just a little bit weirdly, and it kind of threw my back out. It just kind of seized up for a while, so I was out for two weeks with my back, but I got on top of it.”
The player who can function at either lock or blindside flanker can’t wait to get stuck in at Connacht.
“They’re a bunch of scrappers,” he says of Stuart Lancaster’s squad. “You go down there and they want to fight for everything. They’ll shout and cheer off the ball and then on the ball they’ll get stuck into you too. They’ve got some great ball carriers. They’ve got some great defence. They’ve got a lot of heart there.
“Obviously, they had a bad week last week (at Dragons), but again, they’re going to be even more hungry to come after us.”
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Fighting Fit Rugby Ulster