Marc Stcherbina was injured in a Heineken Cup match in Toulouse

Dragons centre Marc Stcherbina fears he may not be able to resume his rugby career following a serious neck injury.

The ex-Australia A cap, 32, suffered the blow in the Dragons' 26-7 Heineken Cup loss in Toulouse on 6 December.

Stcherbina underwent a successful neck operation in France but remains in a special neck, chest and head support.

"[At] 32 years of age to come back and depending on the recovery, if it takes a long time I'd have to say that it's doubtful to play again," he said.

"It is wait and see... and I'm going to see the surgeon at the end of this month and then we'll reassess and I think it's going to be a case of that, just reassessing as we go.

"I've lost a lot of function in my right arm because my nerve was damaged to that part of the body, so I'm working on regaining that and at this stage it's just too early to tell."

Stcherbina was taken to hospital after being taken off on a stretcher in the 49th minute of their defeat in Toulouse.

The Dragons were trailing 7-0 at the time of the incident and there was a 10-minute break in play while medics attended to Stcherbina.

The Australian tackled a Toulouse runner but was then caught under a pile of bodies at the breakdown.

But Stcherbina, speaking on Scrum V Radio, said he realised his injury could have been much, much worse.

"I'm well, very well, very happy obviously to be here and to be on the road to recovery after early December," Stcherbina added.

"It didn't help that it was actually my birthday as well, I think, the day after the accident, so I spent my birthday in a French hospital flat on my back being fed through a straw.

"But I've come a long way since then and really pleased to say that's a distant memory now.

"I thought I'd be on my back for a lot longer but I'm feeling great and with each day I feel I'm improving quite well.

"It was an horrific thing and when I think about what happened I'd hate for that to happen again.

"I'd love to be able to play and finish my career on my terms but... that's not always the way and as I say I'd like to finish not with an injury like this.

"But at the same time I have to look at the fact that I was very lucky to walk away from that.

"So in terms of playing rugby again there's two voices in my head, one saying I'd love to get back and give it a go - I felt pretty good, I felt I had a couple of years left in me at least before the injury."

Stcherbina joined Newport Gwent Dragons from rival Welsh region Cardiff Blues in the summer, following stints playing for the ACT Waratahs, Biarritz and Northampton.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version