Scrum half Tavis Knoyle returned to competitive action for Dragons against Glasgow Warriors on Saturday evening after nearly a year absent through injury.
The Men of Gwent suffered a 33-14 defeat at the hands of the Scottish outfit at Scotstoun on Saturday night in the United Rugby Championship.
But the game saw Welsh international Knoyle make his return as a second half replacement to make his first appearance since tearing his ACL against the Ospreys in January - almost a year ago.
The 31-year-old admits it was a special moment to be back on the field with his team-mates and praised his family, the coaching staff and colleagues for getting him through some dark times over the last 12 months.
“It’s nice to get back playing to be honest, to play with these players is always really special. It’s been a hard 47 weeks - not that I have been counting,” smiled Knoyle.
“It can be lonely sometimes when you’re injured, but the hard work is all worth it in the end. When you come back and then playing in front of fans especially, so this has been a really special moment for me.
“It’s great to be involved again. My family has been behind me which has been massive for me through the tough times, but to be back training and now playing with the boys has been good.
He continued: “I’ve had a lot of support from the physios at Dragons, the strength and conditioning team, coaching staff and the players have been excellent as well.
“When you’re injured you miss that camaraderie with the boys, you want to be involved in the banter, but it can be difficult when you’re in the gym training on your own and you see the boys training outside.
“But the hard work is worth it in the end to be back out there and it’s just really positive to be fit and healthy and now just take every day and game as it comes.”
Next up for Dragons is a European double header starting with a trip to the South of France to face Perpignan in the European Challenge Cup.
Dean Ryan’s men will look to put in a strong performance after the result against the Warriors.
Knoyle will be hoping to continue his return to action against the Top14 side and admits it will be a tough challenge against a powerful team.
But the Pontneddfechan-born half back believes the players need to be hard on themselves and more disciplined if they are to come away with a result.
“We just need to be harder on ourselves because there are too many errors and there is no way you can get a foothold in the game when you’re giving away that many penalties, especially in good attacking positions,” said Knoyle.
“We then compounded the penalties and you concede moments after being in their 22m, which is difficult.
“It’s really hard to get a foothold in the game then, but we just need to be harder on each other and realise the penalties we are giving away are costly and it’s not us. We know we can play some good stuff, but it’s very difficult when we give away penalties like that.
He continued: “They’ll be a bigger pack than Glasgow but it will be nice to go out there and play in another amazing country, in an amazing stadium.
“It's also nice for us to get stuck into a new competition, hopefully we can rectify some issues this week in training. That’s the benefit of playing a week later - we get to try and rectify the performance quite quickly.
“Hopefully we can make less mistakes and playing away we have got nothing to lose - we will go out there and give it our very best shot."
I’ve had a lot of support from the physios at Dragons, the strength and conditioning team, coaching staff and the players have been excellent as well...
