LAURA KEATES: THE ROAD BACK TO RUGBY

Laura Keates did not know if she would return to rugby until she visited Loughborough Lightning.

The 2014 World Cup winner had spent over 12 months rehabbing her second anterior cruciate ligament injury in the space of four years. 

And, as a potential return to play neared, a trip to Lightning confirmed to Keates she was not ready to give up the sport that has given her so much. 

“I wasn’t definitely sure that I wanted to come back after everything but as I started to get nearer to being able to play I felt like I wanted to play,” Keates explained. 

“I just wasn’t sure where and after I had spoken to Loughborough and spoken to Nathan [Smith, head coach], it was somewhere I could see myself being able to contribute. 

"I am doing my foundation year in dentistry, so it is a set year in practice, I’ve got certain targets I’ve got to meet and certain things I have got to do and one of the parameters is that it is full-time.

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“It was working how I could fit that in alongside training with Loughborough and then with the distance and travel but I was able to work it out. 

“Rugby has been a massive part of my life for a very very long time now and that passion and enjoyment came back pretty quickly and it was something I realised I wasn’t ready to give up yet.  

“There was a drive to end things on my terms and playing a season in the PWR is what I wanted to do and have been aiming to get back for when I have been injured over the last few times.” 

After an Achilles injury ended her 2017 World Cup hopes, a second ACL rupture did the same for Keates’ 2022 dreams. 

But after 714 days away from the game, Keates made her return against Sale Sharks, the team she suffered her first ACL injury against.

Last week, the front-row stalwart scored her first try in purple, what she described as a ‘classic prop try’. 

It was set up by good friend and fellow World Cup winner Emily Scarratt, with Keates crediting the support she has had from people in the game in getting her through tough times. 

Another outlet has been her dentistry career, with the skills Keates requires in that remarkably similar to those needed on a rugby pitch. 

She added: “I love it as well. I’m really lucky to have found a career that I am probably just as passionate about as rugby, I didn’t think I would because rugby has been so important. 

“I really enjoy it, the challenge of it, it is a mixture of lots of different things, you’ve got be creative, you’ve got to work as a team, you’ve got be independent at times, you’ve got to really think on your feet.  

“I am learning so much each day that it is keeping me really switched on and motivated, I can’t ease off.

“Not many people speak about injury apart from saying it is pretty rubbish. 

“You lose that identity a little bit, you’re not with your squad. After my Achilles operation, I didn’t even go into the club for long periods of time because I couldn’t be on my feet for long. 

“You forget once you are back playing how hard injury can be, but it was great to have something to focus on and something that is really challenging as well.” 

Keates will line up in Loughborough’s front row against Harlequins this weekend alongside Katie Trevarthen who will become the first Lightning player to make 100 appearances for the club. 

The knowledge the two props share is invaluable and is why Keates is intent on giving back and not gatekeeping. 

“I’m really lucky that all my career I have spent in the front row and I can’t count the number of scrums I have done,” she laughed. 

“So I am really excited to pass on that knowledge it is not something I have ever thought I’m going to keep to myself and that is for me to know. 

“I have always enjoyed chatting scrums and giving advice to people who want it and ask for it.  

“We have amazing opportunities at the moment for people to play full-time and grow into the game and if they want help I am happy to give it.”