‘Well worth it’- Warrington Wolves’ Marc Sneyd opens up on his shock return just 16 days after surgery

Warrington Wolves scrum half Marc Sneyd has opened on the decision making process that led to him playing just 16 days facial surgery. Sneyd played a key role for the Wolves last weekend as Sam Burgess’ side beat Leigh Leopards to book their spot in the Challenge Cup final next month.

The half-back kicked four goals and a drop goal in the game and ultimately, that proved to be the difference in the 21-14 win. However, he did it all after fracturing his eye socket and cheekbone in a Super League clash with St Helens last month.

He was expected to miss a considerable amount of action with surgery required to fix the issue, but his lay-off saw him miss just one game in the end, with Sneyd stepping onto the field just over two weeks after initially sustaining the injury.

It’s a decision that caught many off-guard, but it was absolutely vital for Burgess and Warrington, who would have been without three of their first choice spine members had Sneyd been absent, with George Williams and Danny Walker ruled out.

Marc Sneyd on his Warrington Wolves comeback

“I don’t pick up that many injuries, especially contact injuries, so when I hit the deck, I felt my face and I couldn’t feel my cheekbone,” Sneyd said in an interview with Sky Sports. “I came off and the doctor said I’d done my eye socket and cheekbone, luckily enough I managed to get in the hospital that night, prepped and ready for surgery the next day.

“The magnitude of the game probably planted a seed in my head and I had a lot of conversations with the doctors and the physios and what have you and it was on me. With having the surgery, the structure of my face was absolutely fine. It doesn’t need as much time to heal and it was just about managing the pain as best I could.

“We took it day to day speaking to Sam being like ‘I’m not sure, I’m note sure’, but there was a point where I was like I’ll train and see how I go. I got through training and went from there. The decision got made and I was there.

“It’s human nature to try and avoid (contact) a little bit but it was inevitable that I was going to have to do it so I tried my best to get involved early just to reassure myself. I got through it and we got to the final – well worth it!”