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Scotland's Molly Wright: 'I tore my hip flexor off my pelvis'
By Gary Heatly
Having spent a large part of the last two years recovering from a couple of serious injuries, front-rower Molly Wright is delighted to be back on the pitch and is looking forward to the end of the PWR campaign with Sale Sharks.
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Between early 2023 and early 2024 the front-rower, who can play prop and hooker and is currently playing the latter for her club, was out of action with an ACL knee injury.
She returned just before last year’s Six Nations with Sale and was then involved in all of Scotland’s matches in the showpiece tournament.
Then in May, post-Six Nations, she picked up another long-term injury in a league game that Sale won at Leicester Tigers.
“I had been so happy to get back playing for Sale and Scotland after the ACL injury and being involved in last year’s Six Nations having missed the 2023 event was great,” Wright, the 33-year-old who grew up in New Zealand and who qualifies for the Scots via residency, said.
“It feels unbelievable to be back out there playing for my country in Wales in round one and to get a first win down there for 20 years made it even better.
“In game two of the Six Nations, I came off the bench versus France and suffered a concussion almost straight away, but as we had two weeks until the round three game against England I was able to recover and play my part in that one and against Italy and Ireland.
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“After the Six Nations the PWR continued so I played and trained and was feeling good before the injury away at Leicester.
“We didn’t know it at the time, but I tore my hip flexor off my pelvis.
“When it happened I wasn’t too stressed about it because there were just a few games of the season to go and I thought it might just be a muscle tear, but obviously when I heard from the medics that I had torn my hip flexor off my pelvis I readied myself for another spell out.
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“I had to have an operation and that has been me just back playing since January, so really the last two years or so have been pretty tricky for me.
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“Both of the injuries, the ACL and this one, were on the same leg while they were both non-contact injuries too, for example with the second one I was just running in open space.
“It was difficult to get my head around another long period of rehab at first, I’ll be honest, especially as the injury isn’t a very common one.
“With an ACL you are pretty much told straight away it’ll be 12 months out, but with the hip flexor injury, no one was really sure how long it would take to get back to playing with the same power as before.
“It was all up in the air and I really wasn’t looking forward to another six months or so of rehab, but Sale and Scotland were so supportive and the medics with both have been brilliant.
“After the operation and the initial part of the rehab, I was able to use the time out last summer to get back to New Zealand and see my mum and dad and other family and friends.
“Looking back on it now I think that time away from everything was so important for me as I was able to switch off and reset a bit and just spend time with people I had not seen since the Rugby World Cup in 2022.
“That break meant that when I came back to the UK I was ready to kick on with my rehab and get myself fully fit against ahead of a bit 2025.”
Her first game back from injury number two was the PWR clash away to Leicester on January 5 at Mattioli Woods Welford Road off the bench.
“I was making my comeback at the same ground as the hip flexor injury had happened and these things sometimes happen in rugby, I didn’t mind where I was playing I was just excited to be back out on the pitch again,” Wright, who now has 23 Scotland caps to her name and is contracted to Scottish Rugby, added.
“We lost the match [38-17] which was frustrating, but for me, I wanted to feel that joy of playing rugby again and really getting involved and it was quite a buzz.”
In her second game back, where she started, there was a 43-10 home defeat to Harlequins at the CorpAcq Stadium at Heywood Road which left Sale bottom of the standings with 12 defeats from 12.
However, something special happened next time out on a dramatic day at Sandy Park in Exeter versus the Chiefs.
“The weather was horrific, the wind was really gusting in one direction,” Wright, who started the game, recounted.
“Exeter had the wind in the first half and had lots of pressure in the first 30 minutes, but we held firm and then scored a try of our own and that felt like a big moment.
“That was 5-0 and it soon became 12-0 after half-time. Exeter then scored a converted try and, with just less than 10 minutes to go, we were really digging in when the referee stopped the game because of lightning.
“There then followed quite a long stoppage before we came back out to complete the game and when the final whistle went we were all exhausted but so pleased to get our first win of the season 12-7.
“It wasn’t just for the players, it was for all the staff who work so hard behind the scenes and the supporters who come to watch us and now with two home matches and one away one to go [first up versus Trailfinders this coming Saturday] we can end the regular campaign on a positive note.”
It is now eight years since Wright made the move from New Zealand to these shores to work within the NHS and she really could not have imagined the path her life would have taken.
“When I got to Dumfries in 2017 after a short spell in London, I wasn’t even playing rugby at the time and I thought I’d hung up my boots,” Wright explained.
“Then I moved to Edinburgh and after a few weeks, my flatmate was sick of seeing my face around the place and nudged me out the door in the direction of training at Watsonians – it was the best thing they could have done.
“Playing at Watsonians was great and then building up to a Scotland cap in 2020 versus Spain was unbelievable.
“Having been called in as cover at Sale prior to the World Cup in 2022, when we got back from New Zealand I decided I really wanted to give full-time rugby a go with the club and with Scotland.
“The period since then hasn’t gone quite to plan with the injury lay-offs, but as someone who was given the opportunity to play top-level rugby in my late 20s I will keep working hard to take every opportunity I am given and with the Six Nations and then the World Cup coming up I just want to keep playing rugby and put myself in the frame.”
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