David Pocock is back, fit and will captain Australia against France on Saturday.
The Wallabies back-row missed out on some of The Rugby Championship after breaking his hand in a 36-20 win over Argentina.
Pocock put his hand where it hurts - a hotly contested ruck - and suffered a nasty bone break. He dipped in for some surgery after getting fitted for a cast to avoid any further damage in the weeks that followed.
https://twitter.com/pocockdavid/status/777772793437880320
When he did go under the knife, Pocock was somehow permitted to take a snap of the procedure that inserted metallic plates and binds hold everything together.
Be warned, the image below is graphic.
Quite graphic.
https://twitter.com/pocockdavid/status/780018777035374595
The hand was miraculously healed in time for Pocock to come off the bench in a heavy defeat to New Zealand. He has since played in autumn international wins over Wales and Scotland and will be hoping to feature in the November 26 game against Ireland.
"It was a pretty decent break," Pocock tells us, "so they decided to put a plate in to make sure it didn't move the bones as they were healing.
"I've got pretty decent range back and it is moving fine now. I've had a few big screws in my knees from two knee reconstructions."
Two major knee surgeries had Pocock out of the Australian team for 29 months and questioning his career. Ever since his 2015 return, he has been flying.
We doubt having the equivalent of a bike chain inserted into his broken hand was ever going to stop him.
Aaron Kernan joins Colm Parkinson on The GAA Hour to explain the work he's doing for the Club Players Association. Derry captain Chrissy McKaigue talks Slaughtneil and a Dublin club advertising for hurlers gets a sore touch. Subscribe here on iTunes.
