'Nothing was going right. It was dark, dark, dark': After starring for Scotland in their win at Twickenham last year, former England youth star Cameron Redpath has been dogged by injury and tragedy - now he’s ready to make up for lost time
Cam Redpath on his injuries
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Which Tyler
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Cam Redpath on his injuries
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby ... gland.html
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Mikey Brown
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Re: Cam Redpath on his injuries
Jesus Christ that website is almost unreadable on a phone, and I already felt like a dick for even clicking on it.
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Cameo
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Re: Cam Redpath on his injuries
Haha, I didn't click for the same reason.
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Which Tyler
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Re: Cam Redpath on his injuries
'Nothing was going right. It was dark, dark, dark': After starring for Scotland in their win at Twickenham last year, former England youth star Cameron Redpath has been dogged by injury and tragedy - now he’s ready to make up for lost time
Cameron Redpath is still only 22, but he has already experienced the exhilarating highs and crushing lows that rugby – as well as life – can bring.
It has given the Bath and Scotland centre valuable perspective ahead of his second Six Nations.
In February last year, Redpath marked his Test debut with a starring role against the team he had played for at age grade level as Scotland downed England and won at Twickenham for the first time in 38 years.
Lifting the Calcutta Cup was not a bad way for the former Sale man to mark his international bow, but soon after, Redpath’s life descended into darkness as injury and grief struck.
He missed the rest of the Six Nations with a bulging disk in his neck. In May, he ruptured his anterior cruciate knee ligament. As if that wasn’t bad enough, worse was to follow. 'I spent 304 days of 2021 injured,’ Redpath told Sportsmail.
‘I injured my knee and had my operation two weeks later. A week after that one of my good mates died and then I caught Covid. After recovering from that, I also needed a shoulder operation.
'At that time, nothing was going right. It was dark, dark, dark. My friend’s name was Henry Foster. I went to school with him at Sedbergh and we were good mates.
‘He was over at university in America and he died of a sudden cardiac arrest. Henry was a good lad and I stay in contact with his family – they are great people.
‘It’s a great shame he’s not with us anymore, but what happened to him has changed a lot for me 100 per cent. It has given me the perspective injuries and rugby are not the be all and end all.
‘Unfortunately, Henry will never come back and that has made me grateful for what I’ve got.’
Redpath certainly has plenty going his way. Now back fit, the five serious injuries he’s had are now in the rear-view mirror. For such a young player, Redpath has had his fair share of time on the treatment table.
On Saturday, he is poised to return to a Scotland shirt for the first time in a year with the aim of repeating the heroics he showed against England last year. It will be just his second cap.
Redpath’s classy Test debut was all the more remarkable given, by his own admission, he was nowhere near fully fit. ‘I couldn’t throw the ball over my head,’ he said.
‘It was not enough to stop me playing, but I couldn’t do a press up. I carried in my right hand the whole time and had to use my left to hand off! One of my discs bulged into my arm which was why I was out of the rest of that Six Nations. I got back fit again, but then I did my knee and got the shoulder sorted as well. Then the floodgates opened and all the other stuff came too.’
Born in France, raised in England and with former Scotland scrum-half Bryan as his father, Redpath wore a white shirt rather than a blue one at junior Test level.
He was picked by Eddie Jones for England’s senior tour of South Africa in 2018 despite still being a teenager, but was unable to travel due to, you guessed it, injury.
Four years later, he came back to haunt Jones with a man-of-the-match display against his England side at Twickenham. Redpath’s cool and calm display in filthy conditions helped Gregor Townsend’s side to a famous 11-6 victory. He has not played international rugby since.
‘When we played England in last year’s Six Nations, Eddie said congratulations to me and told me I’d played well,’ Redpath smiled. ‘I’d like to think there are no issues there.’
On Saturday, Scotland will aim to make it back-to-back wins over their oldest rivals for the first time since 1984 when it was then the Five Nations. This time around, they will be backed by a sold-out Murrayfield crowd. So, can Redpath and his team-mates do it again?
Not happy with just that, the young Bath man wants to go all the way.
Asked if Scotland can win the Six Nations, Redpath responded: ‘Definitely.
‘We have so many talented players and players who went with the Lions last summer. You can’t beat England and not expect to win it.
‘If you can beat England, you can beat anyone. We beat both England and France last year. If you win your first two Six Nations games, all the momentum is with you.
‘Anyone can win the Six Nations these days, but consistency is definitely something we’ve got to try and achieve. I want to make the most of my rugby career because it is very short.
‘If you’re not enjoying it and can’t look back on good times, what’s the point? With Scotland we have players like Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell who enjoy their rugby.
‘On my debut, Finn said to me “Go for it, go for a cross-field kick!” I was like “Really?” I didn’t do it in the end – he did – but it just goes to show how relaxed he is. That is how I want to play rugby.
‘Hoggy let me and Dave Cherry lift the trophy. We only had waters on the flight home! It was a night I’ll remember for the rest of my life. When I turned my phone back on, I had videos and messages from my friends, family and grandparents celebrating the win. It was nice to see that me choosing Scotland has caused a lot of happiness for them.
‘My mum and dad are both Scottish and as a kid, I always supported Scotland. I feel now I’ve made the right decision for more than just rugby reasons.
‘Now I’m in the Scotland mix it really means a lot to my family.’
Redpath only returned from his latest serious knee injury on January 15. He warmed up for England by helping Bath, who have struggled badly this season, to just their second win of the season.
Redpath is still getting back to his best, but his performance against Harlequins last Friday was quietly impressive. There was one searing break. A crucial pass sent team-mate Will Muir over.
‘It’s been a long time since I suffered the knee injury,’ Redpath said. ‘It was the last play of the game against my old club Sale. I went to step and my knee fell inwards. I knew something had happened at the time. I got back up to run, but it felt like the top of my knee near my quad was falling back.
‘I’ve had five operations and done both my knees and shoulders, so I knew that feeling wasn’t great.
‘My main aim has just been to get back playing and I wasn’t really expecting to get back into the Scotland squad.
‘I was always hoping for that, but I was planning on being back at the start of January and then we had some games cancelled at Bath because of Covid.
‘At that point I was thinking my Scotland chances were done for the Six Nations and I could just focus on getting fit for the summer tour. But when I found out I was in the squad, I could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was singing songs in the car to celebrate!
‘Hopefully, if all goes well, I can play in the Six Nations. There are a lot of good centres playing for Scotland so hopefully I can train well and be ready to go.
‘If I do play against England, it will be a nice reward for eight long, long months of solid gym and rehab with the physios. I’m just buzzing to be back.’
Cameron Redpath is still only 22, but he has already experienced the exhilarating highs and crushing lows that rugby – as well as life – can bring.
It has given the Bath and Scotland centre valuable perspective ahead of his second Six Nations.
In February last year, Redpath marked his Test debut with a starring role against the team he had played for at age grade level as Scotland downed England and won at Twickenham for the first time in 38 years.
Lifting the Calcutta Cup was not a bad way for the former Sale man to mark his international bow, but soon after, Redpath’s life descended into darkness as injury and grief struck.
He missed the rest of the Six Nations with a bulging disk in his neck. In May, he ruptured his anterior cruciate knee ligament. As if that wasn’t bad enough, worse was to follow. 'I spent 304 days of 2021 injured,’ Redpath told Sportsmail.
‘I injured my knee and had my operation two weeks later. A week after that one of my good mates died and then I caught Covid. After recovering from that, I also needed a shoulder operation.
'At that time, nothing was going right. It was dark, dark, dark. My friend’s name was Henry Foster. I went to school with him at Sedbergh and we were good mates.
‘He was over at university in America and he died of a sudden cardiac arrest. Henry was a good lad and I stay in contact with his family – they are great people.
‘It’s a great shame he’s not with us anymore, but what happened to him has changed a lot for me 100 per cent. It has given me the perspective injuries and rugby are not the be all and end all.
‘Unfortunately, Henry will never come back and that has made me grateful for what I’ve got.’
Redpath certainly has plenty going his way. Now back fit, the five serious injuries he’s had are now in the rear-view mirror. For such a young player, Redpath has had his fair share of time on the treatment table.
On Saturday, he is poised to return to a Scotland shirt for the first time in a year with the aim of repeating the heroics he showed against England last year. It will be just his second cap.
Redpath’s classy Test debut was all the more remarkable given, by his own admission, he was nowhere near fully fit. ‘I couldn’t throw the ball over my head,’ he said.
‘It was not enough to stop me playing, but I couldn’t do a press up. I carried in my right hand the whole time and had to use my left to hand off! One of my discs bulged into my arm which was why I was out of the rest of that Six Nations. I got back fit again, but then I did my knee and got the shoulder sorted as well. Then the floodgates opened and all the other stuff came too.’
Born in France, raised in England and with former Scotland scrum-half Bryan as his father, Redpath wore a white shirt rather than a blue one at junior Test level.
He was picked by Eddie Jones for England’s senior tour of South Africa in 2018 despite still being a teenager, but was unable to travel due to, you guessed it, injury.
Four years later, he came back to haunt Jones with a man-of-the-match display against his England side at Twickenham. Redpath’s cool and calm display in filthy conditions helped Gregor Townsend’s side to a famous 11-6 victory. He has not played international rugby since.
‘When we played England in last year’s Six Nations, Eddie said congratulations to me and told me I’d played well,’ Redpath smiled. ‘I’d like to think there are no issues there.’
On Saturday, Scotland will aim to make it back-to-back wins over their oldest rivals for the first time since 1984 when it was then the Five Nations. This time around, they will be backed by a sold-out Murrayfield crowd. So, can Redpath and his team-mates do it again?
Not happy with just that, the young Bath man wants to go all the way.
Asked if Scotland can win the Six Nations, Redpath responded: ‘Definitely.
‘We have so many talented players and players who went with the Lions last summer. You can’t beat England and not expect to win it.
‘If you can beat England, you can beat anyone. We beat both England and France last year. If you win your first two Six Nations games, all the momentum is with you.
‘Anyone can win the Six Nations these days, but consistency is definitely something we’ve got to try and achieve. I want to make the most of my rugby career because it is very short.
‘If you’re not enjoying it and can’t look back on good times, what’s the point? With Scotland we have players like Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell who enjoy their rugby.
‘On my debut, Finn said to me “Go for it, go for a cross-field kick!” I was like “Really?” I didn’t do it in the end – he did – but it just goes to show how relaxed he is. That is how I want to play rugby.
‘Hoggy let me and Dave Cherry lift the trophy. We only had waters on the flight home! It was a night I’ll remember for the rest of my life. When I turned my phone back on, I had videos and messages from my friends, family and grandparents celebrating the win. It was nice to see that me choosing Scotland has caused a lot of happiness for them.
‘My mum and dad are both Scottish and as a kid, I always supported Scotland. I feel now I’ve made the right decision for more than just rugby reasons.
‘Now I’m in the Scotland mix it really means a lot to my family.’
Redpath only returned from his latest serious knee injury on January 15. He warmed up for England by helping Bath, who have struggled badly this season, to just their second win of the season.
Redpath is still getting back to his best, but his performance against Harlequins last Friday was quietly impressive. There was one searing break. A crucial pass sent team-mate Will Muir over.
‘It’s been a long time since I suffered the knee injury,’ Redpath said. ‘It was the last play of the game against my old club Sale. I went to step and my knee fell inwards. I knew something had happened at the time. I got back up to run, but it felt like the top of my knee near my quad was falling back.
‘I’ve had five operations and done both my knees and shoulders, so I knew that feeling wasn’t great.
‘My main aim has just been to get back playing and I wasn’t really expecting to get back into the Scotland squad.
‘I was always hoping for that, but I was planning on being back at the start of January and then we had some games cancelled at Bath because of Covid.
‘At that point I was thinking my Scotland chances were done for the Six Nations and I could just focus on getting fit for the summer tour. But when I found out I was in the squad, I could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was singing songs in the car to celebrate!
‘Hopefully, if all goes well, I can play in the Six Nations. There are a lot of good centres playing for Scotland so hopefully I can train well and be ready to go.
‘If I do play against England, it will be a nice reward for eight long, long months of solid gym and rehab with the physios. I’m just buzzing to be back.’
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Mikey Brown
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Re: Cam Redpath on his injuries
Thanks for sharing. He does seem to have a fantastic attitude. Nice to read he was always a Scotland supporter growing up, though that should be no surprise I guess.
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Tobylerone
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Re: Cam Redpath on his injuries
Jeez, his twenty-two year old body has already had an international career`s worth of surgery.
There`s one type of injury missing so far, which I`ll not mention, to avoid the jinx.
There`s one type of injury missing so far, which I`ll not mention, to avoid the jinx.
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Mikey Brown
- Posts: 12349
- Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2016 5:10 pm
Re: Cam Redpath on his injuries
Just seen he's on the latest Ryan Wilson podcast.
Not seen it yet but hopefully interesting, assuming it's not just the presenter asking him for gossip about Finn Russell or who he'd pick at fly-half for England.
I'll admit we've been so desperate for a 12 with a rounded skillset that I've become a bit of a fanboy already. Let's hope his body can hold up to the hype and expectation.
Not seen it yet but hopefully interesting, assuming it's not just the presenter asking him for gossip about Finn Russell or who he'd pick at fly-half for England.
I'll admit we've been so desperate for a 12 with a rounded skillset that I've become a bit of a fanboy already. Let's hope his body can hold up to the hype and expectation.