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Lockie Kratz: 'I have used it as a massive learning curve in my life'
By Joe Harvey
When Lockie Kratz captains Canada at HSBC SVNS 3 it will have been 721 days since he sustained the injury that halted his career in its tracks.
The 25-year-old remembers that morning in Perth well. Competing at the Australian leg of the 2023/24 HSBC SVNS Series season, Canada’s clash with Spain was the first men’s match at HBF Park that day.
He can even paint the picture of a Spanish player evading the tackle of Phil Berna and the adjustments he made to make, what transpired to be, a life-changing tackle.
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“It’s a tackle I’ve made maybe 100 times before,” Kratz told RugbyPass. “My left boot didn’t really catch on the turf, and I just got an overwhelming feeling two bodies and a bunch of pounds on me.
“My leg didn’t catch, it was in a compromising angle, and it just popped out. I knew something wasn’t right and there was this overwhelming amount of pain.
“I looked down. My right leg was straight. My left quad was straight, but the lower part of my left leg was absolutely dislocated.
“I couldn’t even tell you what was going on. It looked like I had two kneecaps.”
After he was stretchered off the field, a doctor told Kratz the news that he had feared. He had fully ruptured his ACL, PCL and MCL.
With nearly two years to reflect on that day Kratz describes his reaction to such devastating news as ‘interesting’.
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Because, instead of hiding himself away and wallowing he rejoined his teammates for lunch.
“I decided to walk into that catering hall and not show a lot of emotion, if any emotion,” he said.
“Just to inflict some positive energy onto the guys that were about to play again.
“I remember watching them watch the clip of me and they asked; do you want to watch this? So, I watched it and got it over with.
“There are mainly five steps in grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. It goes in that order. But I found that I went to acceptance in half an hour.”
Over the next day and a half Canada finished last in Perth. At the end of the 2023/24 season Canada lost their status as a core team on the HSBC SVNS Series.
But from the moment he got back to Canada the only priority for Kratz was recovery.
He endured a six week wait to see if his MCL could reattach without surgical intervention. That entire time the 25-year-old knew it would not. He was right.
After surgery he could not walk for six months. He even noticed the slow changes to his body composition and the muscle atrophy on his left leg.
Now out of a relentless cycle of rehabilitation and conditioning, he calls it the ‘hardest period of my life’.
“The three things that I’ve been able to attribute to coming back to rugby is my level of faith, patience and discipline,” Kratz said.
“Faith is something that can’t be proven and there was really no telling if I was going to be back or better or if my knee could ever handle sevens or rugby again.
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“I think if I had no faith, patience or discipline it would be impossible to be here. Having faith in myself was really strong, but it was nice to have Rugby Canada, my coaches, my teammates, my family and my friends have their faith in me as well.
“It made me truly believe. If they thought I could do it, then I had to get back and nothing was going to stop me.
“Just to touch on patience, I am not the most patient guy. I like progress. But there was times (during rehabilitation) where there was no progress at all.
“So, I had to learn how to be patient. If that was putting my head down, listening to my physio and surgeon, doing what they were telling me to do, that was the least I could do.
“I have mixed emotions looking back on it now. It has taught me a lot about life. It is such a weird thing to say that I am happy this happened. I’m not happy this happened. I’m definitely better for it. I have used it as a massive learning curve in my life.”
It was at the end of a gruelling return to contact and multidirectional session that Kratz was told he could get back on a rugby field. He was not expecting that news.
As it was a Thursday he contemplated getting back on the pitch in two days’ time. In the end he waited a week but did mark his return with a try for UBCOB Ravens Rugby against Meralomas.
A smattering of match minutes in 15-a-side rugby and a sevens tournament later, Kratz can only be honest about where he is in his return to play.
“I always had my goal of being back to where I was before this injury happened and playing at that level,” he said. “That still hasn’t happened for me. We have a lot of stuff to do before I get there.
“So far as me feeling at home again or in that flow state, hopefully that comes in this (HSBC SVNS 3) tournament.”
Shortly after his efforts for UBCOB Ravens Rugby the 25-year-old was back in rugby sevens training ahead of the Rugby Americas North 7s in Trinidad and Tobago. When he took to the field for that tournament, 22 months had passed since that early afternoon in Perth.
Of the 12 players that travelled to the Caribbean, five of interim head coach Christiaan Esterhuizen’s squad were making their international sevens debuts.
Putting pride back into a Canada jersey is at the very top of Kratz’s agenda.
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He grew up on a diet of Nate Hirayama, Phil Mack, Harry Jones, John Moonlight and Justin Douglas, as well as Canada’s 2017 Series win in Singapore.
As one of the only players with HSBC SVNS Series experience, Kratz was named captain for the tournament and scored in the final against Barbados to help Canada secure their place at HSBC SVNS 3.
“It was daunting,” Kratz said of his captaincy. “Even just having that jersey on again was one of the best moments I’ve had in quite some time. To be named captain was really, really big. I think I rose to the occasion, and I want to put our best foot forward in this tournament.
“I guess I am one of the older guys now. It is just instilling the values that we share of hard work, discipline and trying to be the best we can be.
“It is about creating the responsibility and connection to the standards we are trying to restore. The goal is to put this programme back to where it needs to be and is meant to be. That’s the main goal, aside from holding the trophy in Dubai.”
This weekend in Dubai, Canada have been named in Pool B with Madagascar, Belgium and Italy. There is no denying that it is a tough group, but a challenge that the Canadians are ready to contend with.
A place in the final will guarantee a place in HSBC SVNS 2. A finish in the top four of that competition after legs in Kenya, Uruguay and Brazil will secure a spot in the HSBC SVNS World Championships.
Ktraz is even looking forward to seeing Canada host the HSBC SVNS Series in his new home city of Vancouver when the world descends upon the Canadian west coast between 7-8 March 2026 at BC Place.
The 25-year-old recognises all the challenges that lay in front of him. He also knows that everything is absolutely all to play for. And there is not much longer to wait.
