Warriors Swindall puts injury hell behind him

Sep 25 2008 By Matthew Leslie

Stevie says he loves game too much to call it a day

WARRIORS flanker Stevie Swindall claims that the day an injury gets him down is the day he'll quit rugby.

The Newton Mearns man made his Glasgow comeback in last week's 15-8 defeat at Connacht after a year on the sidelines.

An horrific ankle injury sustained in the 11-all draw against Munster early last season put paid to what was intended to be Stevie's big year.

Previously Swindall had put in a string of fine performances after a wake-up call from boss Sean Lineen to quit munching the Jaffa-cakes.

Now he's back and is eager to make up for lost time.

He said: "It seems like someone upstairs wants me to put in a course of serious character building.

"Last year did look promising for me with Scotland boss Frank Hadden saying I was on his radar but then came the injury and now I'm back to square one.

"But if I didn't love rugby so much, I don't think I would be here as I probably would have walked away from it.

"It has always been my dream to play rugby and go on to the highest level possible so I'm delighted I'm still here and have been given another chance.

Swindall's recall split up the back row Killer Bees trio of Kelly Brown, John Barclay and Johnnie Beattie - the latter being sacrificed for Stevie.

However, the 25-year-old feels there should be no reason to take the sting out of a good nickname.

He laughed: "Stevie Bindall has a good ring to it so I can be a 'Killer Bee' too.

"As for fitting into their system, I've no worries on that score as there's six back row forwards - including myself - who are at the club and we practise the same plays in training so if one has to drop out, Sean can bring another in who will fit in comfortably."

Meanwhile, Warriors boss Sean Lineen has blasted his troops for the below-par display in Connacht.

He fumed: "They didn't have to do anything for their win. We just handed it to them through a series of free gifts.

"We had begun well to go 8-0 ahead and then we gave it all away. They got a try out of nothing thanks to an interception and Dan Parks missed four kicks in quick succession. Then we gave away a silly penalty which allowed Connacht to set up another try from the aftermath of a lineout in the corner.

"Dan had gone off with a bruised leg and Colin Gregor took over the kicking duties - but he missed one in front of the posts.

"We are missing everything at the moment. When you take the previous loss over a week ago to the Opsreys into account, we have lost 30 points from the boot.

"The whole match was a comedy of errors and the referee didn't help by allowing Connacht's forwards to kill the ball time after time.

"Our big challenge now is for us to see how the guys react to what has been happening."