Ifan Phillips has relived the horror motorbike accident which ended his rugby career and led to his leg being amputated.
The former Ospreys hooker and Wales U20s international was involved in a collision on December 5 last year while riding his motorbike in Swansea. He was rushed to Morriston Hospital but doctors were unable to save his leg, with an above-the-knee amputation performed.
His dad Kevin, a Neath cult hero, revealed during a TV interview that Ifan had sent him a text just moments after the crash saying: "I'm sorry".
Both appearing on S4C's Jonathan show with Jiffy, Nigel Owens and Sarra Elgan, Ifan walked onto the set to applause from the live audience, including from his former club Crymych RFC and opened up about the day his life changed.
"It's coming up to a year since it happened on December 5," he told the show on Thursday evening. "From a situation that was quite sh*t to be honest, I feel very lucky. I'm alright talking about it.
"It's odd because when I look back at it, the first 20 minutes after the accident, no word of a lie it was a bit of a joke. Me and my friend, excuse the pun, were pulling each other's leg. I was going for a spin on the bike and I hit my friend's back tyre. We were both out riding on the bike and I lost control of the bike. I went up the kerb and went straight towards the traffic light pole.
"My leg was dangling because I was losing balance. It came off straight away. I remember sitting on the side, when I came off the bike. I didn't notice straight away that it was off. The moment I noticed it was off was when I tried to get up and go to my friend. I got up and I fell down on my face! I remember thinking 'there's something wrong here'. Because I had my helmet on, I couldn't see properly. I remember thinking 'I've dislocated my knee'. I was trying to knock my knee in and I hit nothing. That's when I noticed. I looked to my left, there was the bike. I looked to my right and there was my leg."
There was then a scramble to find a suitable device to act as a tourniquet to stem the bleeding. "Luckily about two minutes later, an off-duty fireman came," Ifan explained. "There were four of us - my best friend, me, the off-duty fireman and a guy behind holding me up. [The fireman] asked us all 'has anyone got a belt? I need to tighten his leg to stop the bleeding'. None of us had a belt. A car stopped and a woman jumped out, 'is there anything I can do to help?'"
After being asked about a belt, Ifan said: "She went into the car, she came back with a bikini! It was no good. We looked at each other. 'No, that's no good for this!'"
Ifan's dad Kevin, and Jiffy's ex-teammate, told the TV show of his first response when receiving a phone call to say his son had been in an accident. "The first thing you ask is 'is he alright, is he alive?'" he said. "The first thing he did was text and say 'I'm sorry'. About a minute after it happened. He was sat on the side of the road with his leg on the other side.
"I can't understand how he accepts it especially considering his job and the things that were in front of him. He's been positive from the off. He's told us 'pull yourselves together! I'm here, I'm talking to you'."
Ifan's positivity and the rugby and Crymych communities' fundraising efforts since then have been exemplary, with Ifan being fitted with a prosthetic leg and foot just 100 days after his accident. "If I wouldn't have got the money and the support I've got off everyone, I still wouldn't have a leg now," Ifan added. "You have to wait 12 to 18 months to get a leg through the NHS. I've been very lucky to be able to go privately. I'm very glad."
While appearing on the rugby-based chat show, Ifan also took his chance to challenge referee Nigel Owens on a yellow card he had once brandished at him.
"You gave me a f***ing yellow card! That was a mistake. That was wrong!" Ifan claimed, to which Owens replied: "I have to apologise, the yellow card was wrong. It should have been red, not yellow!"
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