For a man who has played no more than 30 minutes of rugby on the Lions tour of South Africa, Riki Flutey is pretty chipper. Firstly, he is still on active service which is more than can be said for his unfortunate injured colleagues, Stephen Ferris and Leigh Halfpenny. Secondly, he has genuine hopes of playing against Western Province on Saturday at Newlands, one of his favourite grounds, and pressing for an international place in midfield.
None of this looked likely during the lonely night watches of last week. Then Flutey was waking himself every two hours to ice the knee injury he received during the opening tour match, against the Royal XV; he was worn out during the day, his touring future looked anything but bright.. “It was quite a lonely place for a few days,” the London Wasps centre, who joins Brive for the new season, said.
“I was stuck in my room while the boys were out sight-seeing but I know my body, I know what it takes to get it right. At the back of my mind, I thought it was possible my tour could be over and I told my wife on the telephone that if it didn’t come right, I could be coming home.” Since Sarah Flutey and the family are back in his native New Zealand, there was an even greater distance to be covered for the comforts of home.
But Flutey has always had the reputation of being utterly professional, something he learned in his early days of representative rugby in Wellington. He would take a chance with injuries and find that, for lack of basic attention, it took him that much longer to recover; during his playing career in England, with London Irish and then Wasps, he has been meticulous in treating himself according to medical instructions and even though his time frame in South Africa is so limited, that approach has now paid off.
Flutey, 29 and capped nine times by England last season, knows he is well behind Jamie Roberts in pursuit of an inside centre berth alongside Brian O’Driscoll against the Springboks on June 20. But 16 minutes of rugby as a replacement against the Sharks last night were enough to give the knee a thorough test and convince himself that he can mount a challenge.
Advertisement
His problem started innocuously enough, a twist during a tackle when he appeared as a replacement for Keith Earls against the Royal XV in the opening match. “I didn’t think anything of it at first but during the night it started to stiffen up,” he said. So the icing began, the exercise in cold water to reduce the swelling, helped by Mike Phillips, the Ospreys scrum half who was recovering from a dead leg.
The Lions management have been quick to decide whether injured players can contribute or not to the success of this tour and they gave Flutey the time he needed. “It was good to get out on the field, take a few hits, regain confidence in the knee and now it’s 100 per cent,” Flutey said. “Our medical staff have been fantastic and I hope now I’ll get the opportunity to start on Saturday.
“We’ve had some tough games in the provinces but the tighter the game, the tighter it makes us. There’s great competition throughout the squad but if Jamie plays as he did against the Sharks, that forces up the standard and gives the next starting XV every opportunity to win the game. I’ve played for the Hurricanes at Newlands, it’s a great ground, the crowd are so close, and I’d love to make my first start there.”