‘I was a machine’: England’s Abby Dow on her World Cup recovery

Abby Dow can still recall every painful detail. It was 9 April and she had broken her right leg in the early stages of England’s game against Wales at Kingsholm. Lying on a stretcher in the tunnel, with her family and friends around her, she thought her World Cup dream was over. “You always hear the horror stories of that person who was on form and then all of a sudden gets injured and misses out. We’ve been building for this event for five years and ‘It’s me’ was going through my head.”

Even after being transferred to London and placed in the care of a specialist surgeon she still feared the worst, with the World Cup due to kick off on 8 October. “I remember crying in my hospital bed as people broke the news to me that it was extremely unlikely. The surgery involved quite a big operation and the surgeon can’t say: ‘You’re going to make it.’”

It has required a huge effort effort, therefore, for the 24-year-old Dow not just to be back on her feet but in New Zealand as an active member of the Red Roses squad. At one point she was utilising five different rehabilitation machines, including a bone healing machine and a device to keep her joints moving. “It was ridiculous,” she says now. “I basically was a machine.”

Driving to physio appointments was also impossible, requiring a roster of friends and family members to act as taxi drivers. “They’ve been dragged through the whole situation with me. Because it was my right leg you obviously had the classic situation of: ‘Oh, I can’t drive. Could someone drop me off?’ Rehab isn’t just about yourself, it’s about all the people around you.”

The pacy Wasps wing also credits the Red Roses’ head physio Emily Ross – “If there was a witchdoctor it would be Emily” – for getting her back