Out On The Full Meets Anthony Allen

Anthony Allen has certainly had a dramatic season and not one that could have ever predicted or wished for; it has been a roller-coaster from start to finish that has included some stunning rugby and arguably one of the most serious injuries he has ever had to endure.  Out On The Full spoke to Anthony on the Tuesday before Round 21 to find out just how he has coped with such a season. 

Anthony started his Premiership rugby life at Gloucester Rugby, he made the move to the Leicester Tigers five years ago and throughout his career he has made significant waves both on a domestic and International level. Allen carves his trade at Inside Centre and does a stunning job there, he is often described as the ‘unsung hero’ of the Leicester back line whilst his very famous centre partner; Manu Tuilagi makes the headlines. I was intrigued to find out just what it is like to partner the mountainous Manu;

"Well I’m mighty glad that he is on my team and that I’m not playing against him that’s for sure!! It is great having him there; he is always an option and a threat but he also pulls people towards him and makes life much easier for the rest of us. It is equally important that we all play well and pull the right triggers in order to unleash him."

Leicester will need every ounce of muscle from the entire squad in order to tackle the last two rounds of the domestic season, the first stop on their journey is a tasty fixture away to the Sale Sharks. The Sharks have been flying recently and whilst Anthony didn’t share too much in terms of their game plan they certainly have one man in particular on their radar;

“Obviously Danny (Cipriani) has been playing extremely well and we will need to put as much pressure on him as possible when he gets the ball. Equally from a personal perspective I’ll be paying close attention to the centre partnership that has been going well recently, Tuitupou and Leota and will be focused on shutting them down and not giving them any room to move at all.”

What was extremely clear from speaking to Anthony was just how relieved he is to be back playing week in week out, for those of you who aren’t aware Anthony was part of Leicester’s injury crisis this season as he spent 3 months on the sidelines between October 2013 and January this year. Whilst many Premiership players have had to contend with ruptured biceps Anthony’s injury was a little more unusual than the rest and extremely serious;

“On 5^th October I think it was, we played against Northampton, I was picking the ball off the floor and in the motion of getting tackled I got my foot stuck and ruptured a muscle on the side of my calf. Initially it felt like just an impact injury, the X-Ray didn’t show a break so I just put it down to impact, however after an MRI we found it to be a little more serious and found what is called compartment syndrome and that meant that I had to have quite a major operation.”

Compartment syndrome is most commonly found after road traffic accidents, I believe that it is when a muscle is so badly compressed that it struggles to get blood to it and if it is not treated then it can result in a loss of limbs. Thankfully the Leicester Tigers medical team and specialists that were looking after Anthony caught it early and thoroughly treated it through a rather gruesome sounding operation. 

"When they went in to sort things out the muscle kind of fell out of the side of my leg, then they removed about 65% of it and then reattached what they could." 

Hearing Anthony talk about his surgery in such a matter of fact manner proved just how mentally and physically strong our Premiership players are, it sounds obvious but it hammered home to me just how much this game isn’t for the fainted hearted. Injuries are part of the course as a professional rugby player, very few players go through their career without experiencing a period of the sidelines however as inevitable as they are it doesn’t make dealing with them any easier;

"It is frustrating, normally you are by yourself rehabbing and trust me it can get pretty monotonous doing the same thing over and over again by yourself.... however luckily for me this year there were quite a few guys out at the same time so I had company. You certainly feel a little bit better with friends and you can bring in a competitive element through little games in the rehab gym in order to keep the banter flying. However it is really difficult, especially when you see that the team is struggling to perform on the pitch and you can’t do anything to help."

Anthony worked extremely hard to get back into action as quickly as possible, often the fans and even sometimes the pundits expect players to be at their very best immediately after an injury and that is an extremely tough ask especially given injuries of such a serious nature;

"My first game back was against Treviso in the Heineken Cup, I played for about 35 minutes off the bench... playing your first game back after injury is nerve-wracking, no matter how much training you put in you cannot replicate the intensity of a game and in the back of your mind you do doubt your injury still slightly. It took a good five or six games for me to really stop thinking about it and get the body match hardened again."

Richard Cockerill describes Anthony as a 'consummate professional' and speaking to him you can understand why, he has dealt with a most serious and frightening injury like it was breaking a finger-nail and it is no surprise that his return has coincided with an upswing in his team’s form. Leicester have a job on their hands if they are to push for their tenth consecutive playoff and then look towards retaining their Aviva Premiership Title however with players like Anthony Allen in their ranks you’d be foolish to dismiss them just yet, even if others are flying high at this moment in time.

Anthony Allen Photos - Tigers Images