Former Welsh rugby star Ifan Phillips has bravely spoken about the harrowing motorbike accident which caused his right leg to be amputated.
Phillips, 26, was firmly established as a hooker with the Ospreys when his life changed forever on December 5 last year. The ex-Wales Under 20s international was involved in a collision while riding his motorbike in Swansea, and was duly rushed to Morriston Hospital.
However, doctors were unable to save his leg, with an above-the-knee amputation performed. Despite his situation, uplifting photos emerged of the Crymych RFC product smiling on his hospital bed. And on Thursday, Ifan and dad Kevin, himself a former player at Neath RFC, appeared on S4C's Jonathan show with 'Jiffy' himself, former international referee Nigel Owens and Sarra Elgan.
And with friends from his hometown in the club in the audience, Phillips received a rousing reception before opening up on the accident: "It's coming up to a year since it happened on December 5," he told Davies and co. "From a situation that was quite sh*t to be honest, I feel very lucky. I'm alright talking about it."
And Phillips, who also played for the Carmarthen Quins before stepping up to regional rugby, also explained how the accident came about: "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."
After coming off his bike, Phillips admitted he didn't realise at first he'd lost a limb: "I looked to my left, there was the bike. I looked to my right and there was my leg," he said. After an off-duty fireman and a local resident came to help, Phillips described how a female motorist then stopped off, but after being asked if she had a belt in her car to stop his blood loss, she returned with a bikini: "We looked at each other. 'No, that's no good for this!'" he said.
Since that night, the Crymych communities' fundraising efforts have helped Phillips get fitted with a prosthetic leg and foot. And he admitted: "I wouldn't have got the money and the support I've got off everyone, I still wouldn't have a leg now.. I've been very lucky to be able to go privately. I'm very glad."
His positivity also shone through in a jovial conversation with referee Owens, recalling a yellow card the famous official once dealt him. "You gave me a f***ing yellow card! That was a mistake. That was wrong!" he shouted, to which Owens quipped: "I have to apologise, the yellow card was wrong. It should have been red, not yellow!"
