Scars of a punishing season won't stop Easterby rising

John O'Sullivan finds the Llanelli and Ireland flanker unfazed by Sunday's near-calamity - the latest in a season of dramatic injuries

Simon Easterby was unconscious by the time he hit the turf at Twickenham, the result of a collision with the Wasps fullback Mark van Gisbergen. Play had drifted farther down the pitch in last Sunday's Powergen Cup final, and it was thanks to the acuity and prompt intervention of his Llanelli team-mate Mark Jones and the medical staff that the Lions and Ireland flanker received the requisite attention immediately.

Easterby partially swallowed his tongue but his explanation for the blueish-purple his face turned is delivered in a deadpan, "I might have stopped breathing, or so I'm told."

Jones, appalled at his captain's pallor, had quickly turned him onto his side, putting him in the recovery position. The medics did the rest.

Easterby's explanation of the accident and all the attendant fuss is typical of the man and the player. He did his best to play down the whole incident, his tone of voice what you might expect from someone who had perhaps grazed a knee or suffered a nosebleed.

It's important to put this in context. Easterby is a genuinely tough man with a high pain threshold, for whom his own physical safety in the heat of battle is low on the agenda. This season alone he played against New Zealand a couple of weeks after suffering a badly broken nose and had a stud go through his lip in that match. He suffered a lacerated eyelid and a scratched cornea against Wasps in a Heineken European Cup match. And he was knocked unconscious in the incident under present consideration. And that's without reference to sundry stitches and bruises.

So what was his last clear memory prior to the collision?

"I think it was when Barry Davies scored the try. I don't recall much more and that was probably about 10 minutes before I was knocked out."

And after?

"The first thing I remember is asking the doctor whether I had given away a penalty. Then I looked over and thought I saw the referee Alan Lewis (who retired with a calf injury during the match) so I assumed I must be still on the pitch. I was unconscious for about 10 minutes so it was just into the second half when I came round. I actually felt okay initially and went out to watch the game.

"Things went downhill in terms of the way I was feeling. I went back inside to the medical room and was sick. The first I time I really appreciated what had gone on was when I read a few of the newspapers the following day and they suggested that I had swallowed my tongue and turned a nasty colour.

"Mark (Jones) did a great job, putting me in the recovery position. He tried to attract the referee's attention but play had moved down the pitch so he just shouted to the sideline. It probably looked a lot worse on television than it actually was; when you're involved you fail to see what the fuss is about.

"My mum, dad and wife were at the game so it wasn't too bad for them in the sense that they could come and see me in the medical room, but I did feel sorry for my sister and Guy (Easterby, the Leinster scrumhalf and elder brother)."

Simon underwent a scan - it gave him the all clear - and a battery of psychological tests - "I told them if I failed any of those it wouldn't be down to the blow on the head," he joked.

In times past there was a mandatory three-week rest for any player concussed, but players are now monitored individually.

He won't play for Llanelli against Leinster at Lansdowne Road on Friday night and is likely to be out for at least another two weeks, probably ruing that he must accept medical advice. He'll be assessed again in about a fortnight.

Easterby also put through a phone call to his Ireland team-mate Johnny O'Connor, the Wasps flanker having preceded him on the stretcher in Sunday's game.

"He seems alright although he was worried about a lack of feeling on one side (at the time)."

Injuries aside it's been a decent enough calendar year for the Llanelli man; he was outstanding on the Lions tour of New Zealand, scoring a try in the second Test. He also captained Ireland against the All Blacks in the November series.

The flipside was the occasional flak he copped in a section of the Irish media.

"I did come in for criticism. I suppose in the autumn international we were missing some senior players and didn't play well enough or get the results we were looking for. I don't need someone else to tell me how I played.

"I'm self-critical, too much so at times. In a long season there are periods when you don't perform at your best.

"I think there was a lot of outside expectation after the Lions. Sometimes my performances haven't hit the levels that I want, never mind others. I play the game a certain way, and at 30 I'm not going to change."

The priority now is to get back to lead Llanelli and then tour with Ireland to New Zealand and Australia this summer. Both camps will celebrate his return.