Onyeama-Christie back for Scotland after 'biggest test'

BBC News

9 hours ago

Suffering serious injuries is an occupational hazard for top-level rugby players, but Andy Onyeama-Christie has endured more than his fair share of setbacks.The Saracens flanker broke his arm for the second time in a year in a match against Northampton in March 2024.Despite missing Scotland's summer tour of the Americas, Onyeama-Christie battled back to fitness for the start of the new season. But by October, he was on the treatment table again after suffering another horrendous injury against Harlequins, a fractured and dislocated ankle which he described as causing "the worst pain imaginable".Now as he prepares to pull on a Scotland jersey for the first time in over a year on the summer tour to New Zealand and Fiji, Onyeama-Christie has been reflecting on how he has had to rebuild."I think it's tested me more than anything else in my life really," he said."Tested my strength, my resilience. I've broken my arm and broken my ankle, so a lot has happened."In all honesty, it was the first thing I thought of when the injury set in was, 'I'm going to miss the autumn and the Six Nations' and that was quite heart-breaking."
"I'd worked so hard from my arm and then you can't control these things. Scotland's always been a big driver for me."It's always tough to watch your teams playing without you. The Six Nations, everyone knows how special that is."Watching it from home and, whilst I was coming towards the end of the injury, still working hard to get back and knowing I wasn't quite there, was tough."In order to tackle the rehabilitation process, Onyeama-Christie tried to detach himself from rugby rather than obsess over what he was missing."Because I'd had a few long-term injuries, I sort of tried to take a bit of a step back from rugby things," he said."I'd spent so much time, it felt, over the last year leading up to that, setting goals and then not being able to reach them for various things that are out of my control. "So I actually kind of went the other way and just said, 'let me have a full reset and focus on other things and just relax a little bit'."I think in a way it's changed my outlook a little bit. It's made me a lot more grateful for this opportunity. It's made me a lot more grateful to actually be able to play."Now back to fitness, Onyeama-Christie hopes to feature when the Scots face the Maori All Blacks in Whangarei, Fiji in Suva and Samoa in Auckland.Returning to New Zealand, where he played as a teenager when making his way in the game, is particularly special."I played club rugby at Petone, a great club in Wellington, and I enjoyed that stuff," Onyeama-Christie said."You drive around Wellington on a Saturday morning and you just see the clubs are all packed. Everyone seems to get down to the rugby pitches, which is great."Hopefully the stadiums that we'll play in will be packed out and people will be welcoming us and excited to see us."I stayed with a great half-Scottish family when I was there, so hopefully going to be able to connect with them as well."